Chapter 97: Medicinal Materials
Bean Village.
Early morning.
Weber walked briskly down the road.
This was the tenth day since he had brought his squad leader for treatment.
Two days ago, all of the squad leader’s symptoms, such as trembling, dizziness, and severe coughing, had disappeared.
The little skeleton physician named “Xiao Ku” told the squad leader that he could leave the clinic and live a normal life.
Just as Weber had guessed, the squad leader decided to stay in Bean Village. After the squad leader completed the registration with the old village chief, received an empty house, tidied it up, and had already moved in.
Today, Weber just wanted to see the squad leader again and check if he had any difficulties adapting.
To Weber’s surprise, it was just dawn, and the squad leader was already up.
Instead of staying in the house to rest, the man was sitting in the small courtyard outside, fiddling with a pile of wood.
Weber walked into the courtyard: “Squad leader? What are you doing?”
Enzo didn’t look up, finding an axe to prepare to whittle the wood as he said, “I’ve told you, I’m not the squad leader anymore, just call me ‘Enzo’.”
Weber pursed his lips: “Squad leader.”
Enzo: “…”
Weber squatted down beside Enzo, first picking up a “cloth” on the ground that was thinner and lighter than parchment, covered in drawings and writing, and asked curiously, “What’s this?”
Enzo: “This is ‘paper.’ It’s made from bamboo, much more plentiful than parchment, and much cheaper.”
Weber remembered: when he first went to Lord Chu Jiu’s Pioneer Cabin, he did see a large patch of emerald green forest. The trunks of those trees were different from other trees, very smooth, as if they had been polished round.
Lord Chu Jiu had said that this plant was called “bamboo.” The waterwheel and irrigation canals beside his cabin were all made from the stems of this plant.
Unexpectedly, this “bamboo” could also be made into something that could be written on?
He carefully weighed the paper in his hand, then looked at the clear ink writing on it, and nodded, “Using this for records is much lighter than parchment.”
Enzo: “That’s right.”
“I heard that in the beginning, it was because Chu Jiu wanted to make ‘books’ for children that he created this kind of paper.”
“Oh…” Weber murmured in admiration, holding the piece of paper and reading aloud, “Axle, fan blades… crank handle…”
“The finished product is a ‘winnowing machine’…”
He put down the paper, puzzled:
“What exactly is drawn on this paper? ‘Winnowing machine’? What is that used for?”
Enzo: “This is a ‘blueprint.’ Following the steps on this paper, you can use these wooden materials to build a ‘winnowing machine.'”
“This ‘winnowing machine’ is said to be able to help with ‘winnowing’—that is, separating the harvested wheat grains from the ash, chaff, and other things inside.”
“I heard Chu Jiu talk about this machine the other day and felt it should be quite useful.”
“So I asked Chu Jiu for the blueprint and wanted to try making it myself according to the drawing.”
Weber had grown up in Sea Moon City and had never done farm work. He didn’t know what “winnowing” was or how troublesome the process was.
He thought that since the squad leader said it was “quite useful,” then it must be very useful.
So he rolled up his sleeves: “Let me help too. I see here it says to plane the wood first?”
Enzo handed him a plane.
Weber took the plane and looked at the blueprint generated by Chu Jiu’s system in surprise: “Eh? Did Lord Chu Jiu also write this blueprint? His handwriting is much better than last time!”
I can actually recognize all of it without any difficulty!
Enzo glared at him helplessly: “Can you control your mouth?”
Weber chuckled twice and sat down on the ground to start working.
*
Five days later, the two of them made a “winnowing machine.”
Weber had never seen a “machine” of this shape before.
One side of the machine was a circular wind chamber, containing an axle, fan blades, and a handle, looking like a large, rotatable drum; around the crank handle was a circular opening, which the blueprint called the “air inlet”; the other side of the machine was a long “air duct”; on top of the machine was a “funnel,” and below was a “grain outlet.”
Enzo borrowed a carriage from Douglas and transported the “winnowing machine” to the “threshing ground.”
Enzo said that it was time to harvest the wheat these days, and this winnowing machine would come in handy.
Although Weber hadn’t done farm work, he was still surprised by Enzo’s statement: “Huh? Harvest wheat? Isn’t wheat harvested in the summer? It’s only May.”
Enzo explained that the wheat in Bean Village was planted one season earlier than in other villages. In other places on the Carrot Continent, wheat was sown in March and harvested in July or August; but in Bean Village, they planted another round of wheat in October. Now was exactly the time to harvest this crop of wheat.
Weber was once again dumbfounded.
So… wheat wasn’t something that could only be harvested once? It could actually be harvested twice a year?
Wouldn’t that allow more people to have enough to eat?!
Thinking of this, Weber couldn’t help but get a little excited.
While speaking, the two had already arrived at the “threshing ground.”
The threshing ground was a flat open space, with wheat stalks bearing ears spread out on the ground.
An ox with a single horn on its head was dragging a uniquely shaped stone pillar, walking back and forth in circles on the threshing ground.
Enzo said that the “stone pillar” was called a stone roller. Using this method, the husks on the outside of the wheat could be crushed.
After the wheat was crushed, villagers would collect the flattened wheat stalks and pile them up. The remaining pile of wheat grains and chaff could then be “winnowed.”
Simply put, “wind” was used to separate the plump wheat grains from the light impurities, straw, and empty grains.
As soon as he heard that “wind” was needed, Weber subconsciously said, “Then look for me.”
With my wind-type ability, separating all the wheat grains on this ground wouldn’t take more than a few minutes, right?
But as soon as the words came out, he realized: Oops! What nonsense was he saying in front of the squad leader who had lost his abilities!
He wanted to punch himself right now.
Enzo’s expression didn’t even change, he just smiled and said, “This doesn’t require abilities.”
He shoveled up the wheat grains piled on the ground, mixed with various impurities and broken wheat stalks, poured them into the funnel of the “winnowing machine,” and started turning the crank handle.
They only heard the fan blades in the wind chamber whirring, and the pile of wheat grains mixed with chaff, straw, and dust in the funnel kept falling—
Those chaff and impurities directly floated out of the air duct, while the heavy wheat grains fell from the grain outlet into the basket below!
Weber was first stunned, and then acted like a child: “This is good! This is good! Let me try!”
Enzo smiled and walked to the side, letting Weber turn the crank.
Weber said while turning:
“Wow! This is really quite useful!”
“Hey, turning this isn’t tiring at all!”
“It’s separated, it’s separated! It’s all separated!”
Looking at the excited Weber, Enzo put his hand on his arm and said softly:
“So, rest assured.”
“Just like Chu Jiu said—even without abilities, I can live well.”
Weber was stunned for a moment, then slowly released the crank in his hand.
He turned around and hugged Enzo: “Yeah. I’m relieved.”
“I… I’ll go back tomorrow.”
“I’ll tell the brothers that the squad leader is doing very well in Bean Village.”
*
Weber indeed returned the next day.
Before leaving, he bought a jar of brown sugar from the sugar mill, exchanged a short knife at the blacksmith’s shop, and bought two paper-made “Fable Stories” from Chu Jiu.
Weber had originally thought that these two books would cost at least two silver coins. But Chu Jiu only charged him 20 copper coins.
This price was much cheaper than Weber had expected.
Flipping through the handwritten book, he couldn’t help but say, “Did you hire professional scribes to copy all of these? Not to mention the paper for making the books, just the copying alone would cost a lot of money—and you’re only charging 20 copper coins?”
This will definitely lead to losses.
Chu Jiu smiled and said:
“I promised an old gentleman before that I would find a way to let more and more people read books—especially children.”
“I am now just fulfilling the old gentleman’s wish.”
“If you like the stories in these two books, remember to lend them to or give them to the children around you.”
Weber nodded in agreement, saying that he could give these two books to his cousins. Although they didn’t recognize many words now, they could at least guess the content by looking at the pictures inside.
Chu Jiu smiled very sincerely: “That’s great!”
“If they want to read other books, remember to come find me!”
Weber left with the books.
When he left the village entrance, he looked back on horseback and sighed again: this village, the villagers here, this pioneer, were really too different from the places he had been and the people he had seen before.
No wonder City Lord Clara would risk controversy to strongly recommend this small village to the King.
This village was indeed extraordinary…
Chu Jiu counted the existing books.
Hmm… literacy books, arithmetic books, and the most basic physics common sense books were still available.
There weren’t many of them, only two copies of each.
As the number of residents in the village increased, everyone had expanded the “dining hall” some time ago, allowing more children to “eat” and placing more books in the dining hall.
Compared to these types of books, storybooks were even fewer. Books like the “Decameron” only had one original set left. If anyone else wanted to read it, they would have to find a scribe to copy it quickly.
Because now, not only children in the village liked to read books. People like Mrs. Rose, who didn’t need to do heavy work and had more free time, would also specifically look for books to read.
These adults liked story collections the most.
Although “adults reading books” couldn’t provide energy for Tata, Chu Jiu was still happy to sell books to them.
As a result, these types of reading materials quickly “sold out.”
Chu Jiu looked at the remaining books, scratched his head, and muttered, “This won’t do…”
In fact, Weber’s previous guess was correct: Chu Jiu selling the books for 10 copper coins each was not enough to cover the cost at all.
After all, each book needed to be handwritten, costing anywhere from one silver coin to five silver coins, so Chu Jiu lost money on every book he sold.
Today alone, he had lost about 100 silver coins in total.
However, Chu Jiu’s purpose in “selling books” was never to make money. Anyway, he had more copper and silver coins than he could use, and he hadn’t really considered the cost.
If he hadn’t worried that “giving them away for free” would be detrimental to the future development of this industry, he really wouldn’t have charged a single coin.
For Chu Jiu, although he spent copper and silver coins, every book he “sold” allowed Tata to eat a little more. Not only that, last time he sold ten books to Emerald Town in one go, it actually increased the pioneering progress by 1%.
Judging by the increase in pioneering progress, this business was definitely not a loss.
The reason he was worried now wasn’t because he had spent too many silver coins, but because there weren’t enough scribes.
Originally, there weren’t many people in Emerald Town and Amber Town who could write well. Chu Jiu had already arranged all of them to be fully occupied, and it was impossible to conjure up more manpower.
He rested his elbow on the table and whispered, “In that case, now that we have paper and lead ore, we can actually consider doing ‘movable type printing.'”
Little Can poked its head over: “Meow?”—”Movable type printing?”
Chu Jiu briefly explained it to the little guy.
When the demand for “books” was very low before, handwriting was completely sufficient.
But if more and more people read books—especially since Chu Jiu also wanted to open a “bookstore” in Bean Village in the future—then printing would have to be used.
Just as he was speaking, someone knocked on the door, a soft sound.
Hmm? Who could it be?
Little Can ran ahead of Chu Jiu, jumped up, and pulled open the door with its little paws.
Outside the door was Doctor Xiao Ku, with the little jellyfish Tata floating beside him.
Chu Jiu was taken aback: “Huh? Did Tata feel unwell, so you brought him back early?”
Xiao Ku vigorously shook his white bone head: “N-no, it’s not that…”
“Um, Chu Jiu, didn’t you ask me before to investigate ‘if there’s a way to completely eliminate abilities’?”
“I, I found a way!”
Chu Jiu stepped aside to let Xiao Ku in, just about to ask what the method was, when Tata floated over, looking somewhat flustered:
“Chu Jiu! Xiao Ku hasn’t smelled anything all day!”
“His bones don’t look as good because they’re hungry!”
Chu Jiu quickly said, “Okay, okay, let’s eat first.”
*
Xiao Ku sat at the dining table, holding the warm honey milk that Chu Jiu handed him, happily inhaling the milky aroma in the air.
Chu Jiu knew that after a while, this cup of milk would turn into [non-recyclable wastewater].
Xiao Ku didn’t eat food; Xiao Ku absorbed nutrients through this unique method of inhaling.
Xiao Ku inhaled vigorously for a good while, probably finally feeling that his stomach wasn’t hungry anymore, and slowly began to explain to Chu Jiu.
Xiao Ku said that after treating so many ability users and ability-faded individuals, he now increasingly felt that this ability…
Rather than being a talent or a gift, it was more like a “toxin.”
This toxin allowed people to briefly control certain physical elements at the cost of prematurely overdrawing their life force.
During this period, ability users not only wouldn’t feel discomfort, but would actually feel stronger and healthier, and their control over their life force would also be higher.
But all overdrafts had a limit.
When abilities were used to a certain extent, it was like a person being “poisoned” to a certain degree. The body, which previously looked like an iron wall, would suddenly collapse on the day the “overdraft reached its limit.”
This “collapse” process was the so-called “ability fading.”
In fact, the “ability,” or rather the “toxin,” didn’t fade away, but remained in that person’s body, only their body could no longer support using that part of the ability.
At this stage, these “ability-faded” individuals, rather than still being people, were more like “toxin carriers.”
Hearing this, Chu Jiu couldn’t help but feel a chill, a coldness spreading from his arms to his back.
This so-called “ability” was actually such a terrifying thing in essence?
At this moment, Little Can suddenly jumped onto the table, anxiously meowing at Xiao Ku: “Meow! Meow meow meow!”—”What about Chu Jiu? Chu Jiu has used his abilities many times too!”
Xiao Ku naturally didn’t understand Little Can’s words.
He actually understood Little Can’s meaning.
Xiao Ku tried very hard to gesture with his bone hands: “D-don’t worry.”
“Chu Jiu’s body seems to be a little different from other people’s bodies.”
Chu Jiu was taken aback: Different?
Oh, because I’m not from this world.
Xiao Ku said some very complicated words and finally gave an example that Chu Jiu and Little Can immediately understood:
Other ability users here were like ordinary people who learned to swim and then held their breath to swim and swim underwater, never able to breathe, and finally could only choke on water;
Chu Jiu was like someone who could naturally breathe underwater. No matter how much he struggled in the water, although he would get physically tired and overexertion would be life-threatening, he would never die from “choking on water” itself.
Only then did Little Can return to Chu Jiu’s shoulder with a look of relief.
Xiao Ku continued: Originally, the “ability-faded” individuals here would all die prematurely sooner or later. The “cough syrup” that Chu Jiu made miraculously suppressed the abilities within their bodies!
Chu Jiu immediately caught the key word: “Suppressed”?”
“It’s ‘suppressed,’ so that means the abilities are actually still there?”
Xiao Ku: “Yes… It can temporarily contain the abilities, but it can’t eliminate them…”
Chu Jiu: “In other words, perhaps at some unknown time, this ‘suppression’ might fail?”
Xiao Ku nodded his head.
Xiao Ku said somewhat guiltily that he had thought that if he could understand why Chu Jiu’s medicine had such a miraculous effect, then he could improve upon it and perhaps create a special medicine that could “disable abilities.”
Unfortunately, he could never analyze why Chu Jiu’s medicine was so miraculous. Even though he had personally watched Chu Jiu burn the fresh bamboo sap, when he tried to repeat the process himself, it didn’t work.
At this moment, the little skeleton suddenly perked up again:
“However, after I changed my thinking and completely regarded ‘abilities’ as a kind of ‘poison,’ I had a new method!” “I don’t need to make a special medicine that ‘disables abilities,’ I just need to make the ‘most powerful antidote’!”
Chu Jiu clenched his fists and praised, “Clever!!”
The little skeleton, pleased by the praise, touched its white bone head and then quickly held up a finger bone:
“The ‘most powerful antidote’ requires many, many raw materials!”
“Among them, the most important one is called ‘the mucus of the Nine Heavens Jiaolong’!”
“Without this mucus, it is absolutely impossible to make the antidote!”
Chu Jiu: “Nine Heavens… Jiaolong? Is that a type of shark?”
He didn’t think he had ever seen a picture card for the “Nine Heavens Jiaolong” before. It was probably another hidden material.
Xiao Ku: “Yes, yes, a type of shark!”
“Xiao Ku only knows that there is this kind of shark and this peculiar medicinal effect of ‘being able to detoxify all poisons.'”
“Xiao Ku doesn’t know where to find this shark…”
Chu Jiu thought for a moment and said, “It’s okay, I can ask the Seal Clan.”
“They live in the sea, so they probably know more than the land-dwelling races.”
Xiao Ku: “Mmm! Xiao Ku will wait for Chu Jiu’s news in Bean Village!”
Just like Chu Jiu was able to bring him “penicillin” before, he could definitely do it this time too!
*
Since Xiao Ku had found a clue to “eliminating abilities,” Chu Jiu didn’t have time to stay in the village and ponder movable type printing.
He gave Douglas the few books that sold the best, gave him a few simple instructions, and then got on the carriage straight to Sea Moon City.
He first went to the city lord’s mansion, told Clara Doctor Xiao Ku’s conclusions verbatim, and gave Clara a pile of “cough syrup.”
After listening to Chu Jiu, Clara was stunned for a moment.
Then she regained her composure.
After pondering for a moment, she whispered, “So that’s how it is…”
“If that’s the case, then it’s much easier to understand…”
Chu Jiu: …?
Clara stood up and said, “I will notify the patrol team to use their abilities as little as possible within the possible range.” “Fortunately, the demonic creatures have been quiet recently, and the association is also preoccupied.”
Then, Clara looked at Chu Jiu, her eyes sharp, “However, this is only a temporary ‘truce.'”
“Once the demonic creatures erupt, I cannot stop the ability users from using their abilities.”
Chu Jiu: “…Understood.”
Clara: “So… Pioneer Chu Jiu, bring out your best skills and find the materials the physician needs as soon as possible!”
Chu Jiu: “Understood!”
Clara softened her voice, her gaze carrying a hint of an elder’s appreciation and approval of a junior:
“During this time, we will contain the association and protect your Bean Village.”
“Don’t worry about anything else, go.”
*
This time when going out to sea, Chu Jiu did not refuse the “long-voyage ship” that Clara had prepared for him.
Because the little Seals told him that the “Nine Heavens Jiaolong” was not in the near sea.
This creature was more like a legendary creature, and a legend known to very few.
Only the Grand General had once heard the elders mention that by sailing west from the Azure Realm all the way to the coastline, one could reach a place called the [Nether Jungle].
There, there were things even rarer than the deep-sea jellyfish or the ghost anglerfish, including the “Nine Heavens Jiaolong.”
Since they had to cross the Azure Realm, they certainly couldn’t use a small bamboo raft anymore.
Chu Jiu boarded this long-voyage ship, which represented the highest level of navigation technology on the Carrot Continent, and also took the little Seal A Li, who insisted on navigating, and his “ten-clawed fish,” setting off westward.
It had to be said that the little sea dog A Li’s navigation saved Chu Jiu and the others a lot of trouble.
For example, A Li could judge by instinct: “Woof woof! There’s a rainstorm ahead! Let’s go around!”
Or “Woof woof! The wind direction is about to change! Trim the sails halfway!”
To Chu Jiu’s surprise, the spirit beast babies had only gone out to sea with the human crew members once before, but they had completely mastered how to operate the sails and steer the ship.
Raising and lowering sails, lookout observation, tidying the deck, recording and surveying…
The spirit beast babies were simply born good sailors!
Chu Jiu even felt that they did better than the previous human crew members.
While marveling, Chu Jiu vaguely remembered that when they were sailing in the underground river before, Rawr Rawr Rabbit had unconsciously said something—
“Roar roar roar why would we get seasick speaking of which the earliest training of the Starship Legion was conducted at sea such wind and waves and ship speed we wouldn’t get seasick roar roar roar.”
At that time, he thought he had misheard or that Rawr Rawr Rabbit had said something wrong.
Now that he knew the origins of the spirit beast babies, Chu Jiu began to guess:
Perhaps in Lu Qingyan’s world, there really was a “Starship Legion,” and they really had trained at sea…
In any case, with the help of the spirit beast baby navigators and the little sea dog A Li’s guidance, Chu Jiu’s voyage was very smooth.
He didn’t even experience the unavoidable loneliness of a “long voyage.”
During the day, he used the materials in his backpack to cook in various ways, and when he had free time, he would fish in the sea with Little Can, occasionally catching large starfish and big pearls. He could also see dolphins dancing and sea turtles floating from afar.
At night, one person and several spirit beasts, plus the little Seal who always wore his glasses hat, would lie in a row on the deck, looking at the starry sky together, and Chu Jiu or A Li would tell ghost stories, which was also very interesting.
How could such days be lonely?
They sailed westward for a month in this way.
Early one morning, A Li began to shout loudly, “Woof woof woof! It’s land!! I see the estuary! Woof woof!”
According to the information given by the Grand General of the Seal Clan, going upstream along the estuary was the [Nether Jungle].
Arriving here, according to the previously arranged plan, A Li stayed on the big ship. Chu Jiu and the others changed to a light and swift small boat and crossed the estuary to continue upstream.
After crossing the estuary, the small boat entered the freshwater river called the “Nether River.”
Different from the azure seawater, the water quality of the Nether River was turbid, looking like rolling milk tea.
Undercurrents surged under the river water, causing Chu Jiu’s small boat to rock non-stop.
Another big wave hit, and the small boat scraped past a protruding rock, entering a relatively calm water area.
At this time, Chu Jiu could already clearly see the strange trees on the shore and the faintly visible… white bones among the trees.
Chu Jiu narrowed his eyes, unable to help but think of the various terrifying stories about the [Nether Jungle] that the Grand General had told him before.
Such as… terrifying alien races that hunted humans.
They hid in the forest, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
Once they saw lost sailors, they would spray them with flames and roast them on the spot.
…I wonder if they add salt when roasting?
Chu Jiu was lost in his thoughts when the small boat finally found a suitable spot and slowly stopped.
Chu Jiu slid down the slightly sloping deck and jumped onto the muddy riverbank.
Just then.
A low, muffled voice sounded from the forest: “Where did you humans come from, daring to barge into our jungle!”
Chu Jiu, who had already seen various strange races, reported his origins and explained his intentions neither humbly nor arrogantly.
“Crack,” “crack” sounds echoed from the jungle.
It sounded like a huge beast was approaching this place.
Chu Jiu, who could even ride dinosaurs, remained fearless.
Little Can also looked calm, showing no signs of tension.
“Swish swish swish”…
The bushes high up were parted.
A ferocious skull peered out from within: “Intruder… leave…”
“Otherwise… what awaits you will be the Dragon Clan’s flames…”
Chu Jiu frowned.
Little Can wagged its tail.
Chu Jiu coughed lightly: “I am a friend of the spirits and also a ‘protector of eyes,’ perhaps we can talk?”
The skull continued to growl lowly: “No talking…”
“If you don’t leave… I will use flames to expel you…”
Chu Jiu sighed: “Go ahead and expel me then.”
Skull: …
Chu Jiu: “Where are the flames?”
Skull: “You… wait… ing…”
Pfft pfft, crackle crackle.
Chu Jiu: ?
Skull: “S-soon, soon!”
Chu Jiu: …
Bored of waiting, Chu Jiu simply took out a skewer of raw meat from his backpack.
Finally!
The Dragon Clan’s flames descended!
Rushing towards Chu Jiu’s face!
Such bright and powerful flames!
It didn’t even cook the meat skewer in Chu Jiu’s hand!
Chu Jiu looked at the half-raw skewer and sighed, “Little Can, let’s make this quick.”
He was still waiting to find medicinal herbs!
Little Can meowed and pounced towards the skull!
Accompanied by the sounds of “You bandits!” “Bold! Impudent!” “Ahhh!”, the battle ended.
It took no more than ten seconds in total.
A cry of pain, and a small creature flapping its wings was thrown out by Little Can.
