Chapter 161
“Are there any specific requirements for the ceremonial dance clothes?”
With limited shopping funds and an important task at hand, Jiang Jitang pondered: if the ceremonial dance clothes didn’t have strict production requirements, he could just buy fabric and make them himself.
The system thoughtfully displayed the different requirements for ceremonial dance clothes across the various tribes in the Rogue World.
For large tribes resembling slave-holding nations, their ceremonial dance clothes were the most elaborate and precious.
Their clothes generally had two layers. The inner layer was made of thicker woven fabric, dyed and painted with different totems such as flowers, birds, fish, insects, and various animals. The outer layer was a wide-sleeved gauze robe, sometimes with a train. The outer layer often featured embroidery, bronze beads, and multicolored gemstones.
When the priest danced, the bronze pieces jingled rhythmically, while the gemstones sparkled like stars under the firelight.
The priest often held bronze instruments, playing or striking them, as the tribe sang and danced around the bonfire.
Smaller tribes, lacking such resources, would make do with a single cloth garment, painting their tribal totem on it and decorating it with colored feathers, shells, and fruits. They would hold shell rattles, which still created a lively atmosphere when jumping and dancing.
The poorest tribes, without any fabric, could only use ceremonial clothes made of sewn animal hides, decorated with some feathers and bones, and hold simple instruments made of natural fruits or bones.
An’s original tribe, the Highland Tribe, was a mid-to-upper-level tribe. They had cloth ceremonial dance clothes and a ferocious beast bone stick with bronze bells tied to it.
Her current tribe, the Little Stream Tribe, didn’t even have the most basic hide ceremonial clothes, because they lacked any shamanic tradition.
“What is the totem of the Little Stream Tribe?” Jiang Jitang already had an idea but needed to clarify the tribe’s totem first.
“The Little Stream Tribe was originally formed by the gathering of many wanderers, so it has five or six different totems,” the system explained and displayed the various totems of the Little Stream Tribe. Otherwise, An could not have joined the tribe; pureblood tribes generally rejected any other totems not from their lineage.
“I can’t do hand embroidery—it’s beyond my skill. Machine embroidery custom work is too expensive. But I can draw the totem patterns on the fabric. Or, for a slightly more advanced approach, I could use shell or bronze pieces to create the pattern. No, that’s too costly—better as just accents.”
Lacking skill, he could compensate with materials—or… suddenly Jiang Jitang had a good idea.
“System, the wax-resist dyeing technique appeared relatively late, so theoretically it shouldn’t count as a task item. But if I bring indigo dye, beeswax, and white fabric to the Rogue World and perform wax-resist dyeing there, can I bypass this restriction?”
The system was silent for a long while before finally responding: “Yes.”
“Then I know what to do.”
Dyeing cloth would be difficult for other taskers because coloring takes time, but for him, with a Level 5 Tasker Backpack, it was easy.
He had exploited a bug again!
So he first bought fabric: a roll of thick natural cotton cloth and a roll of semi-transparent natural white linen gauze, both 1.6 meters wide and 2.5 meters long.
He also bought a large bag of simple linen tassels, each 16 cm long, rough but natural white.
All together, these cost 88 yuan. Of that, 28 yuan was for the tassels. He thought that adding dense, long tassels to the hem of the ceremonial dance clothes would make the movement more dynamic.
The remaining money was spent on a jar of indigo dye, a pair of machine-embroidered cotton insoles, one and a half jin of tree wax, and two rolls of thread—spending it all.
There was also a gift expense of 16 yuan, which he used to buy alloy bronze bells. Three chestnut-sized ones would become hand-rattles, and the rest could be sewn onto the clothes for decoration.
That night, he started using the sewing machine to make the clothes, but didn’t finish until the next afternoon.
The set included: inner robe, outer coat, belt, shoes, socks, headband, and wristbands—seven pieces in total.
When Mrs. Jiang came back, she was shocked. The garments were all in an ancient style but entirely natural white, almost like mourning clothes. Hanging on hangers, they looked slightly eerie.
The set included a diagonal-collar wide-sleeved long robe with a five-finger-width belt. Extra fabric was used to make thin-soled cloth shoes with the insoles as the sole. Two small bronze bells were sewn on the shoes to jingle while dancing.
The outer layer was a semi-transparent wide-sleeved robe, flowing like a fairy when blown by the wind. Jiang Jitang added dense tassels to the hem and sleeves for extra drape.
He still had leftover fabric. He made cotton socks with straps and cut small pieces of gauze into rose petals, sewing them together.
Thus, many white roses appeared on the table, all made of gauze.
He left three long strips of gauze, sewn into floating ribbons, ironed flat, and attached the roses.
Now he had three ribbons filled with roses: the longest as a headband and the two shorter as wristbands, each with two small bronze bells. Though colorless, they looked beautiful.
He still had some time, so he took a round wooden stick, sanded it smooth, carved anti-slip grooves, and tied three bronze bells to it with coarse rope. The sound was faint, but sufficient for enhancing the atmosphere during the ceremonial dance.
As for An’s bone flute, since it was provided as part of the shopping funds, he couldn’t return it. Luckily, he had other bones. He selected a long, thin ferocious beast bone, cut off the ends, leaving the central tube, hollowed it out, removed the marrow, boiled and cleaned it.
The dense structure of the ferocious beast bone made it smooth and white like jade. He drew finger holes based on An’s original bone flute and carefully drilled and sanded them.
The finished bone flute was translucent and smooth like jade, resembling an art piece.
He tried blowing it—it took a long time to produce a sound, and while clearer than an ordinary flute, it had no special effect from using the ferocious beast bone.
“All set… just need to wait until tomorrow. I’ll watch the wax-resist video a few more times first.” Although Jiang Jitang had dyed cloth before, it was years ago and he had little experience.
Another day passed, and it was time to submit the task. He reviewed the wax-resist steps and prepared to deliver the order.
“Achoo!”
In early spring, snow was melting but the land hadn’t fully revived. Even hibernating animals were still sleeping. Jiang Jitang appeared on a rocky beach with the task.
The area was full of stones and weeds, with faint signs of human cultivation. Nearby were triangular tents made of leather and wood, with faint signs of human activity.
They were clearing a flat area and collecting dry branches. Most worked by hand, a few with stone or bone tools. No pottery or bronze was visible.
The Little Stream Tribe was truly poor.
Before they noticed him, Jiang Jitang slipped into the nearby brush and walked deep into the woods to begin his work.
He set up a tripod with an alcohol lamp below, melting tree wax above.
He applied the melted wax to the hem of the inner robe in the shapes of the Little Stream Tribe’s various totems. On extra fabric, he drew simple mountains, rivers, sun, moon, and flowers, birds, fish, insects on the belt and shoes.
After the wax hardened, he put concentrated indigo dye in a large clay jar, then submerged the inner robe, belt, shoes, headband, and wristbands. The outer robe’s tassels were only partially dipped for a slight color.
He placed the dye-soaked items in the Tasker Backpack, adjusting temperature and time flow.
After a few minutes, the clothes were lightly colored. He rinsed them several times in clean water, then left them to “air-dry” in the backpack.
He repeated the dyeing process three times. The inner robe, belt, shoes, headband, and wristbands became a beautiful indigo, with waxed areas showing ice-crack patterns. Slight color unevenness occurred, but it was acceptable.
The tassels of the outer robe became a beautiful gradient.
He boiled the clothes in clean water to remove wax, cooled and removed solidified wax, then wrung and dried them—the final product.
The clothes were slightly wrinkled, so he used a portable steamer to smooth them. A full set of indigo ceremonial dance clothes was ready.
By now, over four hours had passed. Even with the Tasker Backpack, it was exhausting, especially on his waist from constant bending.
Outside, the Little Stream Tribe had prepared the ceremonial items and cleared the stone platform.
An sat in her tent, gazing at the sky with a calm expression, lost in thought.
Her father worried and felt anger.
An had her own ceremonial dance clothes in the Highland Tribe, but when she left, the tribe had confiscated all her personal belongings except the bone flute and clothes, claiming that as she wasn’t Highland, she couldn’t take their items, ignoring her years of service as the next shaman.
He regretted being powerless to help her.
“Father, don’t worry. Before the ceremony begins, my ceremonial dance clothes will appear,” An said weakly, though she had little confidence.
As a shaman, she was supposed to communicate with the gods, but after that one ritual, doubt had crept in.
She questioned her own abilities.
Do shamans truly possess divine power?
Do gods even exist?
Her mother had driven her away, not out of love for the child, but because An threatened the tribe’s interests.
There were no beast gods—totem power came from humans.
So-called communication with gods was a grand deception. A shaman’s power was the aggregation of the tribe’s power, from the tribe and for the tribe.
Recalling the Highland Tribe’s sacrifices of children, An shivered.
To deny this truth would mean standing against countless shamans and believers. Her mother, father, Highland Tribe, and even Little Stream Tribe could all turn against her.
She felt like a drowning person: to open her mouth and swallow the river water meant faster death, yet to not call for help was also death.
Her father, seeing her, assumed she was recalling past events and pointed outside to distract her:
“I’ve never seen them this happy, An. You’ve given everyone hope and confidence. No matter the outcome of the ceremony, our tribe has a shaman now.”
He didn’t know that An’s talent was too great, seeing through the true nature of shamans. That’s why she had seldom participated in divination or praying, preferring to study herbal knowledge.
Her father didn’t know this. To him, she was simply diligent and helping the tribe avoid disease and curses.
The beast gods favored those who tried—his daughter was the best.
An looked at the busy tribe members, building the altar. Though laborious, their faces were smiling.
The Little Stream Tribe had fewer than a hundred people, poor and without a shaman, always at the bottom of the tribal hierarchy. Once exiled, she had been like a lost dog, yet they revered her as a sacred messenger between heaven and earth. In winter, they would save even their last morsel of food for her.
So she could never reveal the cruel truth: there were no gods; it was all human power.
She thought of the missing bone flute, gifted by her mother at birth. After making a wish, it disappeared—was it stolen, or did a god truly pass by?
Now she was confused, unsure of what to do.
“Father, I don’t know if I am qualified to be a formal shaman, but I will do my best for the tribe,” she said. Her only way to repay the Little Stream Tribe.
At that moment, a dark-skinned child ran over: “Shaman, someone in ornate clothes is here to see you.”
Dream Delivery System: My Delivery Jobs Keep Changing History
