Chapter 39 - 39: Clay Extraction.
Although there was salt in front of him; he could not eat it now. He needs to extract salt.
And to extract salt he needs containers to heat the water and take out the salt. As he does not have a container he will make one now.
And the material to make the container is clay because it's an easily acquired material and could be processed easily.
Clay is present in almost every soil but the content of clay present in each type of soil differs. He had read it before that to check the clay content inside the soil you need to fill a jar about halfway with soil and then add water and stir to break up the soil particles
Wait for a few minutes and sand and slit will settle at the bottom of the jar and the muddy water above is clay content.
As he did not have a jar he cannot check the clay content but it's fine because it is guaranteed that there is clay in it.
It would only take more time and effort to collect an adequate amount of clay but he has free labour so he is not worried about that.
He hurriedly reached into the cave where everyone was asleep. He walked near them and shouted, "Wake up you lazy bums. If you want to eat something delicious then help me."
White Fang and Snowball jumped up and rushed toward him excitedly.
"Are we going to eat boar now?" Both of them asked in unison. Robert almost fell backwards seeing their enthusiasm.
"Yes, you can say it's something more delicious." Robert knew that bait is needed to make them work wholeheartedly. And it's true, meat with salt tastes better than cooked meat with no spices.
"Okay let's do it!" Snowball and White Fang agreed directly.
"Okay, Slither and Celli you should come as well. I need your help." Robert looked at Slither and Celli who just woke up and said. The more people the faster the work will be.
"Okay." Slither and Celli nodded without any question.
After that, he brought them to the adjacent cave where the brine spring is located. After seeing the spring Snowball wanted to jump in directly and take a bath.
Robert hurriedly stopped him and said this lake contains important ingredients for cooking and the snowball stopped.
"We need to make cooking utensils and to make them we need clay which can be extracted from the soil, Do you understand?" Robert tried to explain in simple language. He saw everyone nodded in understanding.
"Now I will explain how to extract clay from the soil…" Robert picked up a stick as he drew figures on the ground to explain the process of extra time clay.
There are two traditional methods to extract the clay from the soil. Dry clay harvesting method and Wet clay harvesting method.
He is going to use Wet method to get clay as Dry clay method is much more difficult and needs a lot of time; it's only suitable for places where water is scarce.
There is plenty of water in front of him so he will use Wet clay harvesting method. It involves placing the soil Inside a container and mixing water in it. After the soil and silt are settled at the bottom the actual clay extraction will start.
But here the problem arrives, He needs a container to place the soil, Where could he get it?
Robert has already thought of this, He will use the bottle of Healing potion. As it contained 1000 ML of potion it's big enough to get some clay.
After extracting clay he will make a bigger container from it and then he can have a large amount of clay.
He took out the bottle and filled one third with soil and the remaining with water. He stirred the water and mixed the whole thing.
He waited for a few minutes and when the clay was fully suspended in the water he took out the shorts he purchased before.
"Robert, did you make that too?" Slither looked at the shorts in Robert's hand and curiously asked if he saw Robert wearing clothes before but he didn't ask back then.
"Yes I made them while you were sleeping but materials were limited. I could only make 10 of these. If you want you can take one." Robert did not blush while lying. It's too much of a hassle to explain all of these things. So he directly took the credit.
"Nah I don't need it." Slither refused because the shorts are too big for him and the snowball. And he is not used to wearing clothes on his body.
Robert understood his difficulties and thought if there is a chance in future he would buy clothes according to their size.
"That's fine." Robert did not persuade habit to focus on his task; he folded the shorts and told White Fang, "Little Fang, bring the leather bag I made previously."
He needed one more container to store the clay. White Fang was fast as she brought the leather bag in one minute.
He took the leather bag and covered the opening with shorts, After doing this he filtered the water through the shorts.
The caly settled on the pants and water flowed inside the leather bag. After the clay was filtered all that remained was sand at the bottom of the bottle.
He wanted to save water as the spring contains salt in it so he can't waste it. He would use this water to go the same step again and again.
The water should drain from the shorts then the clay is ready.
"Understand? You need to do this process 8 times and collect enough clay." Robert looked at four of them as said. With 8 shorts remaining he will use them to collect clay.
"Understand." Four of them shouted in unison.
"Okay then White Fang and Snowball will make clay and slither will supervise them, Celli and I will go outside to check the surroundings," Robert said this but he realised that White Fang and Snowball already got immersed in the work.
Children like this stuff the most. He smiled wryly and thought to himself.
"Slither, you keep an eye on them to make sure that they don't cause any trouble," Robert said.
"Don't worry I have experience in this," Slither said with a smile. Robert knew he was talking about the time when they let them work as child labour.
He smiled and said to Celli, "We will scan the surroundings to find any potential enemies."
He asked for Celli because her escape talent is amazing and can help them in a dangerous situation.