Orc Girl's Tribal Daily Life

Chapter 283

After thinking for a moment, Nu didn't answer Jiang Luoluo directly. Instead, he asked, "I want to know, Luoluo, why are you asking these questions? Is it just out of curiosity, or have you thought of something else?"

If you're just curious, then pick something interesting to talk about briefly, and answer casually as if you were having a chat.

However, if Jiang Luoluo really wants to understand the situation and has her own ideas, she wants to explain them clearly in detail, which cannot be done in a short time.

"Yes, I have some ideas, but I'm not sure if I can use them, so I want to learn more about them."

Jiang Luoluo nodded.

The text describes the properties and uses of gunpowder, and then gives a brief description of its power and effects.

"So I was thinking, if this kind of thing could be useful for your mining, then we could try to make it."

When Nu heard half of it, his eyes lit up. After Jiang Luoluo finished speaking, he immediately nodded, as if afraid that Jiang Luoluo would run away.

“It’s useful, it’s useful, this thing is so useful! What do you want to know, Luo? Just ask. I’m not going out this afternoon.”

The mining team mainly collects several types of ore, the most important of which is Earth Star Stone, which is the most commonly used weapon in the tribe.

Therefore, the main focus of Nu's introduction is Earth Stone Ore.

Earth Star Stone mines are usually located on flat ground, in slightly depressed areas, where few plants grow, making them relatively easy to identify and find.

On the ground of the Earth Star Stone Mine, there is usually a bluish-black weed that is no more than 20cm tall, called Earth Star Grass.

Although this weed grows short and has no edible fruits or seeds, its leaves are extremely tough and cannot be used as food.

However, because this grass only grows on top of Earth Star Stone mines, and the more Earth Star Stones there are, the more of it grows, it is a very distinctive plant, so it is one that mining team members must recognize.

While explaining to Jiang Luoluo, Nu looked at Zhuang and said, "Listen carefully and remember everything."

Although he was mainly telling Jiang Luoluo about it, these are things that she must understand after she grows up.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Zhuang will likely follow in his father Nu's footsteps and become a member of the mining team.

After explaining the accompanying grasses on the Earth Star Stone Mine, Nu began to describe the surrounding environment of the Earth Star Stone Mine.

The location of Earth Star Stone mines is usually a certain depth lower than the surrounding ground, with a common depth difference of about half a meter.

However, it's not a very steep, straight up-and-down difference.

It has a relatively gentle slope.

Therefore, you must stand at a certain distance when identifying whether the ground is sunken.

Different types of Earth Star Stone have different mineral ratios. The higher the purity of the Earth Star Stone, the more Earth Star Grass grows, and the more obvious the depth of the depression.

Pure Earth Star Stone ore can sink several meters deep into the surrounding ground, but this type of ore is very rare. In the tribe's records of more than a thousand years, this type of Earth Star Stone ore has only been encountered three or four times.

After explaining all that, Nu began to talk about how to mine these ores.

The tribe uses relatively primitive, purely manual mining methods.

Therefore, the mining method in the tribe is to first select a location relatively close to the outer edge, and then dig a pit deep enough by pounding the ground to break it up. Then, they go down into these pits and slowly dig from the outside in towards the center.

When Jiang Luoluo asked if there was a risk of collapse from their digging, he shook his head with a sneer.

"There is no risk of collapse; we dig it up along with the top."

Jiang Luoluo finally understood that when they were mining, they didn't dig a pit and go inside to dig, but rather stood in the pit to make it easier to exert force.

Just like cutting a cake, first divide the cake from top to bottom, then scoop out a piece of cake from the bottom.

This is how mining is done in the tribe, and such a huge boulder makes it easier to transport back and forth.

After all, the mining team only has a few dozen members. If it's all small, fragmented pieces, they would have to make many trips to bring all the stones back.

A single, enormous boulder can be moved back in one go if you have enough strength.

Jiang Luoluo never doubted the tribesmen's strength.

Jiang Luoluo was still very curious about how they brought these large rocks back. According to Nu, each time they brought back rocks, they were tens of meters long and tens of meters high.

Jiang Luoluo imagined the scene in her mind, and it felt like an ant carrying a big rock.

“It’s beast transformation.” Nu’s smile faded, and he sighed softly.

"We'll use our beast forms to carry the mined ore back."

While beast transformation is used sparingly during hunting, it is a very common occurrence for mining teams.

The ore they brought back was an important weapon for the tribe and a vital survival resource – bitter salt, which was also one of the types of ore brought back by the mining team.

The only good news is that the beast-like creatures are very fast, so even carrying such huge stones, they can quickly return to the tribe without taking too long.

Jiang Luolu tilted her head slightly; she seemed to have never seen any of her people carry such a large stone back to Silver Peak Mountain.

After all, if it's so conspicuous, she'll definitely see it.

He chuckled angrily, "Why would I carry it straight back up the mountain?"

Not far from Silver Peak Mountain, there is a quarry that is used to process the ores brought back, in order to reduce the time it takes for the beasts to travel.

Anyway, once it's delivered to a place not far from the tribe, someone from the tribe will naturally retrieve the stone, so there's no need to worry about wild animals stealing it.

These stones will keep wild animals away from you.

The tribe members will cut these stones into the required sizes at the quarry before they are moved back to Silver Peak Mountain and delivered to various places where they are needed.

Therefore, Jiang Luoluo will not see those huge rocks on Silver Peak Mountain.

"If Luo wants to see the big rock, you can ask who's going to move the rock over there in a while, and have him take you to see it," Nu said, her tone full of doting affection.

“After all, Luo, you’re already ten years old, and you can go down the mountain for a walk.”

What Nu said was somewhat against his conscience. After all, normally Jiang Luoluo should be a year older and learn more combat skills and hone her combat reactions before she would have the opportunity to go out with him.

However, in a way, what Nu said wasn't entirely wrong. If Jiang Luoluo really had some reason to come out of seclusion, neither the leader nor the shaman would refuse; they would simply arrange for more people to protect her.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Luoluo also seemed to be deep in thought. However, her current task was to understand the mining team's situation, so she temporarily suppressed her thoughts and continued to learn about the mining situation from Nu.

The second most important thing the mining team was to mine bitter salt. Mining bitter salt was very easy, since bitter salt was not as solid as Earth Stone. You could easily shatter a piece of it with a single punch.

The problem is that the location of the bitter salt is too far away, and the place is so remote that there are hardly any wild animals, which cannot supply the consumption of the beast transformation. It can only be transported by humanoids, so the quantity cannot be increased.

Although the Earth Star Stone Mine doesn't grow much vegetation and doesn't attract many wild beasts, it's still close to the Taz Forest, so you can still hunt enough food by walking a little further.

The bitter salt mine... is located on a snow-capped mountain.

The good news is that the amount of bitter salt on the iceberg is enough for the tribe to use for thousands of years without running out.

The bad news is that the journey to the snow-capped mountains is long and there is a lack of food sources. You need to bring a certain amount of food and warm clothes, and you have to go when the weather is hottest.

Mining in the snow-capped mountains is fraught with danger and can easily lead to various unexpected incidents, posing threats no less than, and perhaps even more than, those from wild animals.

Other ores, like those, are not so complicated. They may not be easy to mine, but they are all within the reach of the tribe.

However, due to manpower constraints or other reasons that prevent them from addressing the issue, they are unable to increase the mining output.

Jiang Luoluo listened attentively as Nu finished explaining the details of mining. Perhaps because no one had ever wanted to know about these things before, Nu's explanation was not rigorous, and he often missed things, adding more later when he remembered.

Zhuang felt like his head was exploding halfway through the conversation. He was completely confused and had no idea what Nu was going to say next. He just kept nodding along.

Jiang Luoluo was a little better, but understanding so many things, especially figuring out the relationships between them, was indeed very mentally taxing even with just imagination.

Most importantly, she knew very little about the Tas Forest. She could only see some wild animals when the annual rituals or hunting parties returned. Otherwise, she could only imagine them by listening to the conversations between adults.

Jiang Luoluo had no idea how different the things she imagined—those things based on her understanding of the previous world—were from reality.

But what she heard from other people was, for the time being, her only way to understand the world.

"Growing so slowly..." Jiang Luoluo sighed. It would be a long, long time before she could freely explore this world.