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Translator: Silavin
Su Bai stood up and shook his hand. Last night, besides drawing ceramic patterns, he also made some Shaman Bone Tablets in his spare time.
He had made quite a few Shaman Bone Tablets in recent days, enough for each Totem Warrior in the Tribe to have several pieces. Moreover, there were Shaman Bone Tablets for all three types of Shaman Technique.
He had been staying up late every night to make them, for no other reason than there was not much time left before he wanted to reclaim the Ancestral Land. They needed to stockpile a large number of Shaman Bone Tablets. Otherwise, when war broke out and they did not have enough, it would be truly troublesome.
The current situation in the Tribe was one in which they could not afford any more mishaps. They were already short on people. If there were heavy casualties due to inadequate preparation, Su Bai knew he would regret it for life. Thus, even though it was getting late, he continued to work overtime by the dim light of the campfire.
“Today is very hot again…” Su Bai got up from the hay pile and poured himself a cup of water. He scanned the Teepee. It was still the morning and the fox eared girl was not around, so he mentally checked in with the System and opened the Assistance Package.
<Ding! Congratulations Host, check in successful!>
<Ding! Congratulations, Host has received Low Grade Assistance: one jar of glaze and one book on glaze making.>
As soon as Su Bai heard the System’s voice, his black eyes widened. After all, glaze was an essential component for firing ceramics. He had been worrying yesterday about how to make the glaze. He had been unable to recall the specific materials needed. Even if he could remember all the materials needed for making glaze, he would not know what these raw materials looked like. Thus, this book and jar of glaze were truly a godsend.
[This is truly a timely rain after a drought.] Su Bai’s lips curved up in happiness.
He had been thinking about these things till very late last night. The glaze on the surface of the ceramics was extremely very difficult to make.
[Glaze is a colourless or coloured glass-like thin layer covering the surface of ceramic products. Its main raw materials are typically minerals. From what I remember, it’s made by combining feldspar, quartz, talc, kaolin, and other materials in certain proportions to yield varying colours. We would grind them into a glaze slurry before applying it to the surface of the clay body. Once applied, we would fire the whole thing at a certain temperature. Adding this to the clay increases the mechanical strength, thermal stability, and dielectric strength of the ceramic products. Not only that, it also serves to beautify and smoothen out the product, making it easy to wipe clean, and preventing dust and filth from corroding it.]
[In short, good ceramic requires glaze. It is an essential item. Just that, given the current situation of how primitive the Tribe is, the materials to make glaze are hard to come by. We haven’t even touched upon minerals and metals yet …]
“With this ready-made glaze, we can start making ceramics a lot sooner.” Su Bai was already a bit impatient to test things out.
He put the large jar of glaze aside and began to flip through the glaze making book in his hand.
[The jar of glaze would eventually run out. Thankfully, this glaze making book provides recipes to make more glaze, and depict what the minerals look like.]
[Need feldspar, quartz…] Su Bai said in his mind as he flipped through the book in his hand.
As he looked at the image of feldspar in the book, it seemed increasingly familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.
Su Bai took the book and got up from the wooden table, stepping towards the two big boxes. He opened the boxes with one hand and started searching.
He picked up a whitish yellow stone and compared it with the feldspar image in the book. He was delighted to find that they were the same.
[Nice! I always thought these things would come in handy one day!] Su Bai smiled. When he was checking the contents of the boxes before, he found many strange things, like this stone.
There was also the black liquid discovered last time, which he thought could be used as ink, but later found Black Stone Nut Juice, so the black liquid was set aside.
He put the feldspar on the ground and continued searching. He remembered that when cleaning the boxes last time, he found not just one kind of stone, but many strange stones.
At this point, he felt a bit regretful that he was not a geologist or someone who dealt with ores. Otherwise, he would not need to compare them one by one, just a glance would suffice. Moreover, knowing more about ores would be very helpful for the development of the Tribe.
[This is…] Su Bai quickly flipped through the book, trying to find a match to compare it to. He was holding a transparent crystal. It was not very regular in shape, composed of several crystal rods forming a small piece.
[This must be quartz. Great. Found two at once.] Su Bai was holding the quartz.
[Quartz was a raw crystalline material. Its mullite crystals formed with clay at high temperatures give the ceramics higher mechanical strength and chemical stability. Not only that, it can also increase the translucency of the ceramic and is a good material for making white glaze.]
Su Bai was delighted, inwardly thanking the Old Shaman for leaving these things. He was also glad that he had deliberately kept these things.
He composed himself, put the quartz next to the feldspar, and continued searching the box.
One of the boxes in particular contained many different kinds of stones, as if they were deliberately collected. There were not many of each type, but there was a huge variety.
[There are just too many different types. I can’t really identify all of them.] Su Bai could not help but roll his eyes. There were at least ten to twenty different types of stones in the box. At most, he could only recognize one or two; it was impossible to recognize them all.
He took out all the different types of stones from the box and placed them on the wooden table.
Su Bai flipped through the book while looking at the stones on the table, slowly comparing them.
“This one looks similar, but it’s not. This one is clearly not…” Su Bai eliminated the stones one by one.
“Shaman, what are you doing?” Yu Ying asked, puzzled.
The fox eared girl had just returned from watering the fields, still holding a wooden bucket. As soon as she came in, she saw the table full of stones.
“I’m looking at stones.” Su Bai said.
“Looking at stones?” Yu Ying scratched her head, not knowing what this was for. [Yesterday the Shaman was looking at mud, today he is looking at stones. The Shaman is really hard to understand.]
Su Bai put down the book in his hand, took a sip of water, and said, “These are stones used for making ceramics. You’ll understand later, you won’t be able to understand right now.”
He did not really want to explain it. After all, the whole thing was too complex. The best thing was for them to see the results. That would serve as the best way for them to understand.
“Okay.” Yu Ying put down the wooden bucket and continued, “Shaman, Ah’Hua’s archery is getting better and better.”
“Oh? Is that so? I haven’t seen her shoot arrows in a while.” Su Bai put down his wooden cup and continued, “Let her come for lunch this afternoon.”
A smile immediately appeared on Yu Ying’s face, and she nodded. “Yes. I’ll go tell Ah’Hua later. She’ll be very happy.”
“Good.” Su Bai smiled.
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