The Xia clan, who brought ore back to Xia from the forest

Jiang Yunlan wasn't quite sure if the creature she had just seen was a dragon. She had only caught a glimpse of it.

She never saw the little dragon again until the orcs had mined hematite, pyrite, saltpeter, and other ores in the mining area and the group set off to return to the grasslands.

She wasn't in a hurry to confirm whether dragons existed in the Beast World. She would return to this place after the snow season ended.

Snowfall on mountains and plains is far less terrifying than snowfall in forests. Jiang Yunlan and her group braved the wind and the chill in their bodies, returning to the Xia clan as the snowfall was about to stop.

The habitat of the Xia clan.

Upon hearing the news of Lan's return, the beastmen roared and rushed to greet her. Maple Sugar, whose legs were weak, was a few steps slower as she reached the gate, where she saw Lan surrounded by the beastmen, who were asking her all sorts of questions.

What kind of orcs live beyond the mountains? Are there any good prey? How do we get the stones out of the cart? ...

as well as.

"Is Lan injured?"

"Are you hungry, Lan? We'll cook you some food!"

"Don't worry, I'm not hurt. Okay, I'll wait for you to finish cooking." Jiang Yunlan smiled as she answered the beastmen's various questions, waving to Maple Syrup who had just walked over.

She met Maple Syrup's gaze through the encirclement of beastmen, her tone calm, "When I wasn't with the clan, did you encounter any problems you couldn't solve?"

Hearing Lan's voice, Maple Sugar, who had been anxious for many days, calmed down and said, "Don't worry, Lan, everything is fine in the clan. When the snow season came, we settled the wages of the working beastmen and sent them back to the clan."

"Yanduoyu and the wolf-beastmen who went out have returned and are recovering from their injuries. Our food reserves are enough for us and the wolf-beastmen to get through the snow season. And..."

Maple Syrup recounted the clan's affairs in an orderly manner, her expression remarkably similar to that of Lan, who listened intently to her.

She was an orc trained by Lan herself, and she knew what Lan cared about most.

After listening to her briefly mention the problem she had solved, Jiang Yunlan reached out and ruffled her hair. "The maple syrup was very well made, even better than I expected. Very impressive."

Lan stood on the vehicle, and Maple Sugar bowed slightly to accept Lan's praise, a smile appearing on her lips. She would no longer care about not being able to become a warrior.

Even with a limp, she was still, just as Lan had said, a very useful orc for the clan, an orc who could help Lan.

It will not be abandoned.

Lan's return revitalized the dormant summer. The beastmen now had something new to do during the snowy season: iron smelting.

Charcoal, furnace, manual blower, crucible...

Prepare the materials needed for iron smelting, obtain sponge iron using the bloomery iron method, and then forge it to produce iron blocks. Repeatedly hammer, decarburize, remove impurities, and shape the iron blocks…

A summer iron tool, a hammer, appeared during the snowy season.

Seeing the orcs craft iron hammers, Jiang Yunlan withdrew her attention from the blacksmithing and let the orcs work with the iron. Her thinking was that of humans from Earth; all the iron-smelting methods she could think of were suitable for Earth's environment.

She thought that perhaps letting the beastmen have free rein would produce unexpected results in the iron smelting process.

Gradually, the orcs in the Xia clan who were smelting iron split into two factions. One faction continued to explore and improve according to the methods Lan had described, while the other faction was free to develop their own methods. However, allowing the orcs to develop their own methods was not all good; occasionally, some strange and unpleasant problems would arise.

Seeing that the situation was still under control, Jiang Yunlan didn't interfere. Out of sight, out of mind, she resolved the problem and then turned to other matters.

The breeding area has been expanded, with a fence erected specifically to store the liquid spiders obtained from the feathered beastmen.

Liquid spiders are quite large, reaching as tall as her calf. They resemble round balls with eight legs, their legs and bodies plump and chubby, and even the young aren't afraid of them.

These liquid spiders are surprisingly adorable; they can suddenly tip over while walking and need orcs to help them up.

Perhaps it's because of their slow-witted and adorable nature, making them easy prey for humans, that liquid spiders are so adaptable. They came from the mountains to the grasslands, endured wind and snow, and remained lively and energetic; not a single one died.

Liquid spiders don't spin silk or know what web-making is. They leave behind a sticky substance after eating. This sticky substance isn't corrosive but is sticky, and its stickiness disappears over time, turning into a hard, colored, transparent liquid like a rock. The color of the liquid depends on what they eat.

Their diet is very varied; they eat everything except meat, and can even digest stones, but they are prone to indigestion and illness.

The transparent liquid blocks produced by liquid spiders cannot be coated with new slime. If you try to force slime onto a liquid block, the slime will either slide off and stick to the ground, or stay obediently on the liquid block like jelly, motionless.

The Feathered Beastmen used to consume a lot of animal hides because they used liquid spider slime to glue together the cut-out clothing.

Therefore, when the Feathered Beastmen heard that Lan was interested in the Liquid Spider and wanted to exchange Xia's clothes for it, they immediately agreed without a second's hesitation.

Having to re-cut clothes every season is such a hassle; summer clothes are so much better. Summer clothes that only need to be sewn once and can be worn for a long time are just wonderful.

On a sunny day after the snow stopped, Jiang Yunlan and 022 identified and recorded the plants given by the Feathered Beastmen, as well as the new crops that she and her people had discovered in the mountainous region.

"This seed is poisonous? No problem, we'll plant it in the experimental field in the spring, and maybe it won't be poisonous after it grows." Jiang Yunlan said lightly as she placed a certain plant seed in her hand into the "to be observed" experimental field. An experimental field filled with soil pots.

022 can distinguish the toxicity of plants, but only whether a plant is toxic in its current state. Xia's experimental fields are specifically used to grow unknown plants that 022 wants to record, and to observe the plants' states at different stages.

Jiang Yunlan raised her hand and took out the red pod and the plant from which it grew from the pile of "unrecorded" plants on the other side of the table.

She glanced at the color and said helplessly, "This plant looks like it's poisonous."

“This is a non-toxic plant, edible, but it is indeed quite different from other plants,” 022 said.

Hearing this, Jiang Yunlan felt relieved and, as usual, peeled open the pod, took out a red bean, and put it in her mouth.

"Cough! Water...!" She was so spicy that she instinctively swallowed the spicy beans, hurriedly picked up the water that 022 had shoved into her hand, and drank it all in one gulp.

She almost thought she was going to breathe fire.

Her mouth was burning, making it impossible to taste other plants. Jiang Yunlan exhaled several breaths, regretfully giving up on today's food tasting work.

It's common for her to be disappointed when trying new foods, and she's used to it. She said happily, "Great! The tribe has a new seasoning! We'll dry the chili beans and grind them into powder, and then the tribe will have chili powder!"

As she spoke, she carefully stored the only three pods of spicy beans, intending to plant them again in the spring.

In the room she was in, there were two tables, many bamboo shelves, and wooden cabinets. This was Xia's council hall, and also where she handled clan affairs.

Since returning from the mountainous region, this room has been used almost exclusively by her, and at night she, along with 022, sleeps here.

In a sense, this house belongs exclusively to Jiang Yunlan.

The orcs wouldn't bother Lan with unimportant matters inside the house, but once Lan stepped out, she would receive a greeting every ten steps and a follower every twenty steps. Just like now.

"Lan! We're playing hopscotch, Lan, do you want to play with us?" The cubs blinked at Lan, launching an adorable offensive.

Jiang Yunlan's resistance failed, and she played two rounds with the cubs.

After the campfire party, she told the orcs about all the games she played as a child, and even took them to the river to play her favorite childhood game: skipping stones.

After two rounds of hopscotch, Jiang Yunlan continued walking out with 022, when she encountered a wolf-beastman who automatically followed her upon seeing her.

Before the flowering season arrives, the wolf-beastmen and horse-beastmen still live in Xia's habitat. They will work with Xia's beastmen to complete the tasks assigned by Lan, lest they be driven out of Xia's habitat for doing nothing.

The wolf-orcs chattered on, saying that their clan had already figured out what their future habitat would look like.

Jiang Yunlan, who was listening nearby, became more and more confused. How come the future habitat of the Hati clan was built entirely based on her suggestions?

Jiang Yunlan, who simply wanted to offer them some ideas, hesitated, wanting to speak but holding back. What should she say? Should she say that they shouldn't build the habitat according to her preferences?

Before she could even get a chance to speak, Tara emerged from the corner and stood beside her in place of the wolf-orc. She watched helplessly as the wolf-orc ran off, then turned to Tara and said, "Your habitat should be based on your own needs."

Tara nodded vigorously, took out a piece of ramie paper, and showed Lan her architectural drawings. "Lan, this is the kind of architecture you like, right?"

“I like it,” Jiang Yunlan nodded subconsciously, then quickly came to her senses and looked at Tara with a mixture of helplessness and amusement. “The Hati Clan is Xia’s friend. Even if I don’t prepare things I like, Xia will still maintain good relations with the Hati Clan.”

She knew the wolf-beastmen were trying to win her over, but she didn't realize that they didn't just want to recruit her; they wanted her to switch sides and join their clan.

Jiang Yunlan, along with 022, discussed architectural matters with Tara all the way to the restaurant.

"So... what's going on with them?" Jiang Yunlan looked at the scene of her tribesmen and wolf beastmen sitting on opposite sides, ignoring each other, and then looked at the horse beastmen who seemed to be living a peaceful life. Question marks popped into her mind.

Tara blinked, then shook her head with an innocent and obedient expression, saying, "I don't know either."

Confused, Jiang Yunlan, with 022 above her head, silently walked over to Feng Er's table for a meal. After eating a meal with an inexplicably strange atmosphere, Jiang Yunlan glanced at her tribesmen and the wolf-beastmen before leaving.

Very well, they seemed to be divided into two factions sitting on opposite sides, but they would occasionally exchange glances, as if they were talking about something in secret.

Jiang Yunlan was puzzled. She got up and left, taking the horse-beastmen who were out of place with the atmosphere with her.

Seeing Lan's figure completely disappear, Feng Hong put down her empty bowl and glared at the wolf-beastmen opposite her with displeasure: "What are you trying to do by deliberately staying in our clan and hanging around Lan all day?"

She'd been annoyed with them for days, and today she was going to get to the bottom of things.

Some of the slow-witted Xia clan orcs, upon hearing her reminder, finally realized why they found them so annoying—it was because of this.

After finishing his meal, Hati lay motionless on the table, not even bothering to lift his eyelids.

Upon hearing this, Tara, who had remained behind, straightened up and pointed to herself with an air of self-righteousness: "Lan is so powerful, she should stay in a better clan!"

She touched her arm, which had been fully healed after the stitches were removed, and became even more determined to bring Lan into the clan. Lan was skilled in medicine and architecture; she knew everything. Such an amazing person as Lan should come to our clan.

Grey Honey and his friends: ? ? ?

Yan Duoyu picked at his ear, looking incredulous: "You mean, you want Lan to go to your clan?"

She admitted that the wolf-beastmen were very powerful in combat, but Lan was their chieftain, the chieftain of their Xia clan of beastmen! How could any beastman want to steal the chieftainship of another beastman clan?

She completely forgot that even before she was a member of Lan's clan, she had considered bringing Lan into her own clan.

Hati slowly raised his face, opened his emerald green eyes and looked at her, "Lan is your clan leader, but she doesn't have to be."

Having spent so many seasons with the horse-men, he knew very well that only those who felt uneasy would curl up to sleep, just like when they returned to their eggs.

“If you weren’t so weak, Lan wouldn’t curl up in her sleep. Lan is so uneasy in Xia, why can’t I call Lan to my clan?”

"If Lan were in my clan, we would definitely make sure she could sleep peacefully."

-----------------------

Author's Note: System notification: The Xia Clan has acquired ore and hopes to enter the Iron Age! You can choose to throw items to promote the development of the Xia Clan.

"Chirp chirp chirp" Drops a tech mine x1

Xia unlocked a new skill: [Blacksmithing]