Candle

The early stages of papermaking are physically demanding, with the bark material being chopped up and soaked for a long enough time, then pounded until it is extremely fine and poured into water to stir into pulp.

Using the bamboo screen to scoop up the paper later depends on skills. Although the system has marked the skills in the method given, "light swing makes it thin, heavy swing makes it thick." However, due to lack of skill, the paper is either too thin to be formed or too thick to be convenient for writing.

Practice makes perfect, and there is no rush. Although thicker ones are not convenient for writing, they are not unusable.

Shen Liu prepared the glass decolorizer and put it into use, and the effect was very good. Then he returned to the Mu tribe. When the first batch of paper was produced, Shen Nong showed it to Shen Liu, who was very satisfied with it.

Their interstellar paper is a rare and precious commodity, but Shen Nong was able to make it here, which made him extremely satisfied.

Shen Nong was satisfied, but Shen Liu was not satisfied with the rough texture and dark yellowish color of the paper. How could paper be like this? It should be smooth and pure in color!

Shen Liu, who couldn't stand the imperfections of paper, started looking for raw materials as soon as he returned to the Mu tribe, determined to improve the paper into a smooth and white state.

After a few days of tinkering, Shen Liu finally managed to make it. But it was hard for the orcs in the paper mill. Shen Liu had high requirements and asked them to be just like machines. After pounding the papermaking raw materials every day, even the second-level orcs were so tired that they didn't want to move a finger.

After Shen Liu improved the paper, he also made the charcoal pencil. For Shen Shi, who is engaged in architecture, his carpentry skills are at the top, and making a small charcoal pencil is no problem.

Shen Nong looked at the finished paper and pen, and took out a set to store in the system warehouse. These are rare things in the interstellar world. As humans entered the interstellar era, many things have been lost. The handmade ones are even worse, and only some ancient books handed down have records of them.

Although many things recorded in ancient books are not difficult to make, they can be reproduced by studying the principles carefully, but Xingji does not have the raw materials. Moreover, these ancient books are collected by the government and are not allowed to be borrowed for viewing unless necessary. If Shen Nong was not engaged in plant research and needed to read ancient books to study the plants of the past, he would not be qualified to read them.

There is often more than one reason why a skill is lost.

After the paper and pen are ready, the candles made of beeswax can be put into use. Candles are easy to make. You just need to boil the beeswax from the traded beehive, melt the beeswax, pour it into the mold and cool it.

The wick is made from rushes found near the water. After harvesting and drying for a while to lose some moisture, the yellowish wick inside is easier to extract. Shen Nong broke the wicks in the first few times he extracted them. Later, he slowly found the feel and skills. Although the movement speed was slow, the wicks he extracted were complete. Finally, he combined several wicks and rubbed them into one, so that the candle flame would be bigger and brighter after it was lit.

The first step to learning knowledge is to learn the characters. Shen Nong asked linguist Shen Baxian to compile an introductory textbook. The basic language is Chinese characters. Chinese characters were chosen because the beastmen in the beast world, like the planet Shen Nong belonged to when he was in the interstellar, speak Chinese. And Shen Nong had also noticed before that the characters in the beast world are also very similar to hieroglyphics. There are records in the ancient books preserved in the interstellar that their written language has gradually evolved from this to form mature Chinese characters.

During the course of compiling the textbook, Shen Nong met the beastmen from Beast City who had been left out for many days. Shen Nong already knew their main purpose, which was to bring him to Beast City on the pretext of letting him participate in the Beast City Autumn Trading Day, but they didn't know what they were going to do there.

Beast City was unfamiliar to Shen Nong, but some elders of the Wood Tribe had some impression of it, as they had lived around Beast City for a period of time when they were young. In the end, for some unknown reason, the Wood Tribe was expelled by the High Priest of Beast City and came to the current place.

Shen Nong had no intention of releasing the orcs who came from the Beast City. The people in the Beast City had no good intentions, and if he released them, he would be like letting a tiger return to the mountains.

But if they detained him, there was no instant messaging or pigeon messaging in the Beast World, which meant that the only communication with Beast City was cut off. Unless they sent someone to find out the news, Beast City would not know what happened.

If Beast City sees that the people are taking a long time to come back and then sends someone else, it will be at least next spring.

During this time, Shen Wu will go out to look for gold mines, which will give him some peace of mind and quiet. If he really can't find any, he can find a way to mine the gold mines in the Stone Tribe. With Shen Shi, who is engaged in construction, it is not impossible to build a supporting mine cave, although it will take time.

With more gold, he can exchange more defensive and offensive weapons from the system. If the Beast City really dares to do anything, his Mu tribe will not be afraid.

——

The level of these orcs from the Beast City was neither high nor low, they were all level 4 or 5 orc warriors. Shen Nong didn't want to keep them locked up like this, so he gave them two choices: either continue to be locked up in the cave, or sign a blood contract to join the Wood Tribe.

Most of the orcs chose the latter. They had been traveling in the open air and had taken many detours. That was fine, but they had no fire and could only eat raw meat. In the Beast City, raw meat was only eaten by low-level orcs. As mid-level orc warriors, when had they ever eaten raw meat?

Not only was I not able to eat well, I also couldn't drink well and sleep well. I finally got there, but before I could even get close, I was caught, tied up and thrown into a cave with no light at all.

Now they didn’t even have raw meat to eat, and could only eat wild vegetable soup that was only eaten by the slaves and livestock in their Beast City.

Now that they had a choice, they chose the latter without hesitation. They knew that the orcs of the Wood Tribe ate meat every day, and that meat was well-cooked, not raw.

In the cave, the smell of meat can be smelled three times a day, which means that these orcs eat meat three times a day, which is one more meal than they have in the Beast City.

They didn't ask for anything else, just to be like the orcs guarding them, and do whatever they were asked to do. They really couldn't stand being locked up like this, eating wild vegetables and not being full.

Among this group of orcs, there were three who would rather be trapped in a cave and eat tasteless and insufficient wild vegetables than join such a small tribe.

What a joke! They are beastmen warriors from the Beast City! How could they lower their status to become members of a small tribe in such a remote area! Even if they were to be the lowest slaves in the Beast City, it would be better than being members of this remote tribe!

Shen Nong saw the three men's disdain and disgust for the Mu tribe, and respected other people's choices. When Shen Nong left, he asked the guarding orcs to tie them up tighter and give them less wild vegetables.

If he tried to run away with all his might, and the people in Beast City knew that he refused to go, he would get into a lot of trouble.

The beastmen from the Beast City who joined the Wood Tribe got Shen Nong's permission and were taken to the food-making team to have a full meal of meat. The meat tasted even better than what they had eaten in the Beast City. They even felt that the meat eaten by the young masters was not as delicious as the meat from the Wood Tribe.

After eating and drinking, they were taken to wash and put on fish skin clothes. These beastmen had never seen fish skin clothes before, and they kept touching them with their hands. This was much lighter than the animal skin skirts they wore, and the lightness of this skirt could be compared with the silk skirts worn by the young masters of their beast city.

However, they only knew that the young masters' silk skirts were very light, but they didn't know what it felt like to wear them.

But when the young masters talked about it, they all said that it was very comfortable to wear in summer and would not make them feel stuffy. The fish skin clothes they were wearing now were light, but quite stuffy. However, compared to animal skins, fish skin clothes were better.

All the orcs in Beast City were sent to the military guard. Their orc level might not be a big deal in Beast City, but it was considered very good in the Wood Tribe.

After Shen Nong arranged everything, he began to feel a sense of crisis. Their Mu tribe was developing rapidly, and if they did not have sufficient protection, they would eventually become a fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered.

Shen Nong exchanged all the remaining infrastructure points for Marrow Cleansing Pills, a total of 30 pills. After the autumn competition, the military guards selected 20 orc warriors to give them Marrow Cleansing Pills. The orc warriors who had taken the Marrow Cleansing Pills before were now level 7.

Among them, Tiger Roar is level 8, and Cat Cloud is level 7, but it won't take long for it to break through to level 8. The level of the orcs who have taken the Marrow Cleansing Pill is improved very quickly, and it only takes one year to improve one level. For the orcs who haven't taken the Marrow Cleansing Pill, the orcs level five or above, the best aptitude can improve one level every two or three years. The poor aptitude can't improve one level in ten years.

In addition, Shen Nong took out three more and gave them to Bao Qiu, Lang Yu and Lu Chun from the caravan. The three of them were originally level 7 orc warriors with good qualifications, but if they wanted to move up from level 7, good qualifications were the most common condition.

The Marrow Cleansing Pill can help them break through the bottleneck. The Mu Tribe can have more orc warriors above level seven, which is good for the development of the tribe.

Of the remaining seven, Shen Nong wanted to give two to the Mountain Tribe Priest and the Wind Tribe Priest. After Lu Shuang took the Marrow Cleansing Pill, her spirit core was activated and she could use her supernatural powers. The Mountain Tribe Priest and the Wind Tribe Priest also had spirit cores, and if they were willing, Shen Nong would help them activate them and teach them how to use and cultivate their supernatural powers.

Mu Qi, who met Shen Nong from the Wushan tribe, made Shen Nong realize that the people in the Beast City can use superpowers. Although the means they used to obtain superpowers were despicable, it must be said that this was the most efficient way to use superpowers for one's own benefit.

The energy gained by this disgusting method is proportional to the pain suffered in life. The more pain there is, the more energy is accumulated and waiting to explode.

More importantly, the starting point of the power level is very high, and a person is not limited to one power. As long as there are different crystal cores, a person can use five different powers, and they can complement each other to make the combat power stronger.

The Beast City and the Wood Tribe will have to confront each other sooner or later. If he and Lu Shuang are the only ones in the Wood Tribe who can use their superpowers, their chances of winning the fight will be much lower.

The military guards, the beastmen from the Beast City who had just finished a day of training, all collapsed on the ground. Langmu was panting heavily, too tired to move a finger. The sunset dyed half of the sky red, and the clouds in the sky were arranged like a long line. Langmu looked at the clouds and thought of a person they had forgotten and ignored. He suddenly said, "Do you think Snake Lin is really dead?"

"Why did you think of him when you were fine?" Niu Xia curled his lips with disdain, "He wanted to push me out to block the wooden arrow. Fortunately, the Beast God showed up and made him lose his balance and get shot by the wooden arrow. We all know how powerful the wooden arrow is. A shot in the chest like that would have killed him for sure."

Langmu disagreed with Niu Xia's statement, "But if he was dead, why didn't the orcs of the Mu tribe bring him in at that time?"

Niu Xia was surprised and said, "Why would they drag a dead body into the tribe? They are not cannibals. If they leave it in the woods, it will be eaten by wild animals and it won't take up space."

Niu Xia did not hide his disgust for Shelin at all. He was the one who almost died at that time!

What Niu Xia said made sense, but Langmu always felt something was wrong. Before he was taken away, he saw something moving out of the corner of his eye and looked back. It was the grass where Shelin was lying after being shot by an arrow. The grass was very tall and dense. From Langmu's angle, he couldn't see clearly whether there was anyone else lying on the right side of Shelin.

"If he is not dead, will he return to Beast City to find the Ninth Young Master? Then wouldn't Beast City know about our joining the Wood Tribe?" Listening to the conversation between the two, Hu Shan felt a little heavy when he thought of this.

As soon as these words came out, several other orcs laughed out loud. Niu Xia laughed the loudest. He sat up and looked at Fox Mountain jokingly, "You are young, but you still take yourself seriously. Even if Beast City knows, so what? The young master will never frown for us level 5 orc warriors. He will only think that we who joined other tribes are not worthy of entering Beast City again."

Fox Mountain was ridiculed and felt embarrassed. Langmu stood up and interrupted, "Okay, let's go to the cafeteria and eat meat. If you're late, there will be no more to eat."

"Yes, yes, yes, hurry up, the cafeteria will be closed at a certain time. I was so tired after the first training that I took a long rest, and in the end I missed it."

Niu Xia also became anxious, and grabbed an orc's fish-skin pants randomly, shouting, "Help me! I can't get up!"

As night fell, the stars hung low over the plain, and the leaves in the forest rustled. In a hidden cave not far from the Salt Mountain, a giant snake with bright patterns lay coiled.

The giant snake's body almost filled the cave, and its head pushed against the big rock at the back of the cave and pushed to the side. The blood hole under the snake's head was bleeding because of the force. The giant snake was about to collapse, and the whole snake head began to shake.

At this moment, the big rock moved away enough to reveal a gap large enough for his arm to reach in. She Lin transformed back into human form and reached for the small pottery jar hidden in the space behind the big rock. He couldn't wait to open the pottery jar, and a strange bloody smell rushed to his head.

The smell made him want to vomit. In order to heal his wounds, She Lin pinched his nose and endured the strange taste and poured the water into his mouth.

This was the divine blood that he had traded with the cannibals. After the Wood Tribe sent him the pottery jar, he chose the smallest one and put the divine blood in it and hid it here. He originally wanted to hide some from the old priest and drink it himself, so that he wouldn't have to be restricted by the old man because of the divine blood. Unexpectedly, this saved his life.

I don’t know if it’s because it’s been left for too long, but the wound isn’t healing as fast as before, and my stomach is starting to ache a little.

The closer it got to the end, the more unbearable the stomach pain became for Shelin, but every time he was about to faint from the pain, the pain would ease, and this cycle repeated all night long.

The next day, his wounds had begun to heal and his abdomen no longer hurt. This place was too close to the Wood Tribe and he couldn't stay there for long. Shelin didn't know where to go, so he simply returned to the Beast City and told the Ninth Young Master everything that happened here.

He, Shelin, must avenge this arrow.

——

Because many orcs from the Beast City joined the Wood Tribe, and through them they confirmed that there were no people from the Beast City guarding outside, the drawbridge at the gate of the Wood Tribe finally began to be lowered normally instead of being raised all the time.

The orcs of the Mountain Tribe and the Wind Tribe were busy working all day long, trying to build an extra house before winter and store up more pickled meat and animal skins so that they could survive the winter well.

The orcs from other tribes were extremely anxious. Their priests had repeatedly warned them to report back to the tribe immediately when the priest of the Wood Tribe returned.

After finally waiting for the priest of the Wood Tribe to come back, the Wood Tribe was "sealed off". Although it was not impossible to go out, no tribe orc dared to be the first to ask to go out alone. In this way, we looked at each other and dragged on for more than half a month until the Wood Tribe was "unsealed".

After work that day, each tribe sent out the fastest orcs, who transformed themselves and ran away after leaving the city gate of the Wood Tribe. They all disappeared in a flash.

The priests from each tribe arrived faster than the other. They knew that the Mountain Tribe and the Wind Tribe had already started building houses!

They didn't become the first subordinate tribe of the Wood Tribe, nor the second, but they had to grab the third spot no matter what. Didn't you see the previous ranking of the East and West? Didn't the Wind Tribe have to be behind the Mountain Tribe?

As the sky was about to get dark, the priests of all tribes gathered in the meeting hall of the Wood Tribe. Except for the Rain Tribe and the Grass Tribe, which had always had a good relationship with the Wood Tribe, all the priests of the other tribes, except the Vine Tribe, came.

Although these tribal priests did not have the information from the orcs from their tribe working in the Wood Tribe, they could send orcs to keep an eye on the movements of these five tribal priests.

When they heard that the five tribal priests had all come to the Mu tribe tonight, they hurried over.

They understood that following the Wood Tribe would give them meat to eat, houses to live in, and animal skins to wear. Look at the Mountain Tribe and the Wind Tribe, where old people and children could earn salted meat for the winter and animal skins to wear.

Shen Nong, who was forced to work overtime, looked at the priests in the room. However, these priests were not looking at Shen Nong, whom they had been thinking about for a long time, but at the candles lit on Shen Nong's wooden table.

What kind of wood is this that can keep the fire going? It's a small piece that stands on the table. It's much more convenient than a fire pit. It can provide lighting in the summer without feeling hot.

"You came here late at night just to stare at my candle?" Shen Nong reminded.

The priests came back to their senses, their eyes still fixed on the candles, but they also explained their purpose: they wanted to become a subordinate tribe of the Wood Tribe.

Shen Nong repeated what he had said to the seaside tribe to the priests, emphasizing the assessment requirements. The priests all thought it was okay, and Shen Nong sat on the chair like a tool, dripping blood on the crystal stone handed over by the priest.

Finally, everything was over. Shen Nong used his supernatural power to heal his wounds, but he still felt pain in his fingertips. Now his infrastructure points were cleared due to shopping, so he couldn't buy blood-replenishing and Qi-replenishing food in the system mall. When he returned to the courtyard, he had to go to the food-making team and ask them to kill the pig tomorrow and save the liver. He needed to replenish his blood.

The Grass Tribe priest was young and rushed the fastest. He was the first among the group of priests to be covenanted, and it was not easy to grab this position. He supported the wooden table with both hands, and the flame of the candle was slightly shaken by his movements. "Wood Tribe priest, is our Grass Tribe the third affiliated tribe of the Wood Tribe?"

Shen Nong was stared at by Cao Ye with expectant eyes. Shen Nong shook his head under his expectation, "No, there are ten tribes ahead of you on the seashore."

"What!" Cao Ye was shocked. There were more than ten tribes in front of him!

After being shocked, Cao Ye knew that the Wood Tribe priest had no reason to lie to him. So he began to think that he had to make his tribe members work harder than the Mountain Tribe and the Wind Tribe. The Wood Tribe priest would give extra gifts to the orcs who worked well.

The Hecao tribe did not get a place among the first three subordinate tribes of the Mu tribe, but outstanding employees must have a place among the orcs of the Hecao tribe.

The old priest of the Rain Tribe saw what Cao Ye was thinking at a glance. He shook his head happily. This young man wanted to be the first in everything.

It's the same whether they are orcs or priests.

The Rain Tribe priest propped himself up on a wooden stick, stepped forward, pointed at the candle on the table and asked, "High Priest, can this be traded?"

Shen Nong gave the Rain Tribe priest a look that showed he had good vision. "You can trade this candle, but the price is a bit high."

This time, the candles made of beeswax were enough for the Wood Tribe to use. Some were stored for use in the winter, but there was not much that could be used for trading.

Although the Flower Tribe can collect a bunch of empty beehives in winter, the quantity will be more than this transaction, but it has to wait until winter.

The Rain Tribe priest really liked this candle, and he traded two candles for ten pieces of raw meat. He didn't do it to light them, but just wanted to take them home and look at them every day.

Although the other priests also wanted it, the tribe was still thinking about saving meat and animal skins to trade with the Wood Tribe for brick houses, and was reluctant to trade for candles.

Seeing so many people gathered, Shen Nong simply told all the orcs in the tribe to come to the Mu tribe to study. This saved him from having to call everyone over again, which would be very troublesome.

Go to school? What is this? I have never heard of it and I don’t understand it.

The priests were confused by this new term, and Shen Nong explained it bluntly: "It means learning characters."

Learn characters!

"You can really learn writing?" The Rain Tribe priest was the oldest and the most patient. The other priests were so shocked that they couldn't speak, but he could tremble and say a complete sentence.

Shen Nong nodded and said, "Well, children between the ages of five and ten are sent here to study full-day. Children of other ages who are already working in the Mu tribe can only study pinyin for two hours a day in school. Those who don't work in the Mu tribe can choose to study full-day or only two hours, so as not to interfere with their own tribe's affairs."

Shen Nong glanced at the priests who were becoming more and more confused as he listened, "Don't worry about how long two hours is. I will remind you when the time is up. But what I said above is the best case scenario. It's up to you to decide how many people to send to study."

The priests were still too shocked to speak. Learning characters, characters... It was said that the Beast God had bestowed characters unique to the Beast City, and their people could actually learn them?

After the Rain Tribe priest digested what Shen Nong said, he boldly asked, "Can we priests learn together?"

After these words were spoken, the room became even quieter. The priests' breathing slowed down, and some even held their breath and dared not breathe.

Their knowledge of writing was passed down orally by priests from generation to generation. Writing, which only existed in legends, was something that priests of all generations yearned for.

And they may have the opportunity to learn to recognize the legendary characters. Just thinking about this possibility makes them so excited that they can't breathe.

In the silence of everyone holding their breath, Shen Nong smiled and said, "Yes."