I thrived in the primitive tribe

When the chief and the hunting team returned in the evening, Lu Yao and the others had just finished cleaning up the ashes left from firing the pottery. Lu Yao was so tired that she didn't want to eat. All she wanted to do was go back to the cave and lie down for a good rest.

“This won’t do. Every time we fire the kiln, it’s such a big operation, and that’s with so many people helping to clean up. We’ll be firing the kiln more often in the future, and we can’t have so many people helping every time. We need to think about whether we can build a pottery kiln.”

The leader saw a group of people standing there, so he came over to see if something had happened. When he got closer, he saw that the group of people were covered in dust, and some of them had patches of black ash on their faces.

"What are you doing standing here? How did you get that on your body?"

They turned around and looked at each other's disheveled appearance, and immediately burst into laughter.

"The chief is back. How did the hunt go today?"

"Hmm, everything went smoothly today. What are you guys doing?"

"Isn't this the pottery making that Lu Yao mentioned before? Everyone was curious, so we gathered around to watch and help."

"The pottery has been fired? Where is it? Let me see." The chieftain asked eagerly after hearing the shaman's reply.

The high priest gestured to one side, "Hmm, it's right over there. Be careful not to drop it, it was a lot of work to make..."

The chief looked over there and saw several strangely shaped objects on the ground. He walked over and carefully picked up one of the pottery jars to examine it closely.

Seeing the leader's cautious movements, Lu Yao spoke up.

"Chief, there's no need to be so nervous. Pottery is very sturdy. As long as it's not dropped or bumped, it won't be damaged."

Despite hearing Lu Yao's words, the leader remained uneasy and continued to watch cautiously.

"Lu Yao, is this pottery made from the clay I gave you yesterday? It seems so unbelievable."

"Yes, this is pottery made from clay. We've already tried it, and these few turned out very well. They can be used as storage containers. We can use them to make dinner tonight."

Cooking with pottery? How do you do that?

"You put the meat and bones in this earthenware pot to cook, and the bone broth made this way tastes better than that made in a stone pot."

Won't the pottery be damaged during firing?

"No, this was originally forged with fire and has already been scorched by a large fire. If you put food and water inside, it won't burn."

After hearing Lu Yao's explanation, the chief also wanted to try it out to see what was so special about pottery. Could it be that the food made from pottery really tasted better than that made from stone pots?

"These are all for cooking rice? These small ones can cook rice too? That's too..."

"No, pottery has many uses. It depends on what you want to use it for. Once you have a clear idea of ​​how you want to use it, you can make the corresponding shape according to its intended use. For example, the large pottery jars we made today can be used to cook food or to store things, while the smaller ones can be used to replace bamboo tubes to hold meat soup, and so on."

"Oh, I see." The leader looked as if he had just realized something.

A group of people brought all the finished and cleaned pottery to the square. Everyone busy in the square craned their necks, eager to see what the leader meant by "new gadgets".

They had wanted to go with the chief to watch, but he wouldn't let them, saying they couldn't miss dinner and that he would bring the items to the square for everyone to see after he understood the situation. So they had to suppress their craving for the pottery and quickly process their prey here.

Everyone was eager to finish quickly so that the visitors could come and see it. So they worked incredibly fast, as if afraid that if they were too slow, they wouldn't be able to see it.

So when they arrived at the square, they saw that the tribesmen on this side of the square were constantly working with their hands, but their eyes kept glancing in the direction where the pottery had been. When they saw them arrive, their eyes lit up instantly. Although their bodies were still in place, they could clearly feel that their consciousness had drifted over here. They looked like curious children, which made Lu Yao dumbfounded.

"So everyone is this cute..." Lu Yao thought to herself.

Seeing everyone's curiosity about pottery, the leader stopped keeping them in suspense and showed them the handmade pottery jar. He then told them what Lu Yao had told him earlier. They wanted to use the pottery jar to cook meat, but there wasn't a suitable stove for it. So, they found some stones and built a makeshift stove for the pottery jar.

After placing the earthenware pot on the pot, Lu Yao instructed the tribesmen who were butchering the prey to chop up some bones and meat, wash them, and put them inside. Then Lu Yao added some Sichuan peppercorns that she had collected earlier. There were no other seasonings available, so this was all they could do. They would add salt after the pot boiled.

The salt here tasted bitter, and she figured it might be because the coarse salt contained other compounds besides sodium chloride, such as magnesium chloride, potassium chloride, and magnesium sulfate, which could contribute to the bitterness. So she decided to see if she could refine the salt further to perhaps remove the bitterness.

She had previously gathered information that the salt in the tribe was obtained through trade with other tribes. The Dragon Alliance tribe didn't produce salt, so their salt was primarily sourced through trade. Since salt is a necessity, its price wasn't cheap. If they wanted refined salt, they'd have to find reasonably priced coarse salt. She'd have to look for salt mines or other mineral veins suitable for salt production when she had time…

Lu Yao pondered to herself, feeling that she still had a long road ahead of her.

The water in the earthenware pot boiled quickly. Lu Yao glanced at it and stirred it with a long bamboo stick. She had realized before that when she made the earthenware pot, she only thought about making it for storing things and forgot to make the lid as well. Now she could only make do with the one she had. She wondered if the meat inside would not be able to cook properly with the opening like this.

By the time dinner was almost ready, the stewed meat in the earthenware pot was also done. There were only two earthenware pots, and although they were both used, since they weren't very big, the amount inside wasn't much, just enough for everyone to have a taste, which was just right to be served in earthenware bowls.

Orcs are very unpretentious, so they passed around their earthenware bowls and each person tasted the food made in the new pot. They found it was indeed different; the food made in this way tasted much richer.

The great shaman wondered if that were the case, would the herbs be more effective if they were used to boil herbs?

So she asked Lu Yao this question.

Lu Yao looked at the person in front of her in surprise, "You are really amazing. Indeed, using a ceramic pot to boil medicine can preserve the original nutrients of food to the greatest extent. If it is used to boil herbs, it can also preserve more of the medicinal properties of the herbs."

"It seems that no matter when, there are always smart people who can draw inferences from one instance to another, and can think of the benefits of using food to brew medicinal herbs just because it tastes better." Lu Yao thought enviously.