Mecha Era, Punch the Stars

The reason they needed to reclaim land was because their tribe had encountered a population bottleneck.

With current production capacity, we can only support five hundred dog handlers.

If we have any more, we won't have enough reserves once winter comes.

They were still living in the hunting and fishing era. Although the mountains were rich in resources, everything withered in winter, making it a huge problem to survive the winter.

The solution proposed by the tribe was to reclaim wasteland, find more resource-rich areas, and gather more food and meat.

The eldest son of the high priest of the nest was named Jiang.

He followed the High Priest of Nest Gods before the High Priest rose to power. Although he was not as eloquent as the High Priest, he was naturally curious.

He discovered a spicy plant-based seasoning that not only removed fishy smells, but also improved the health of people who ate it regularly. He named the plant ginger.

Jiang said, "My pioneering efforts failed; I couldn't find a suitable place."

The high priest frowned slightly and looked at his second son.

The second son was named Cang. He was the second son born after the high priest captured Suihuo. The tribe considered him a mediocre person, with neither obvious talent for eloquence nor leadership ability, so he was assigned to work in the warehouse, in charge of managing the warehouse under the tree built by Youchao.

Managing a warehouse doesn't require any special skills, just a strong sense of responsibility.

After all, the warehouse contains a lot of winter supplies that have been stored in advance. Many of these supplies will get moldy and smelly if not stored properly. It is necessary to follow certain strict procedures to ventilate and clean the warehouse regularly to prevent dampness.

By this time, they had already discovered the importance of dryness for preserving supplies.

And coincidentally, Cang possesses such a rigid and stubborn dedication to his duty.

Cang said, "I don't have much to report about my work lately. Although I'm supposed to be clearing land, I basically don't have time to do that. I'm just trying to find ways to prevent the warehouse from getting more damp every day."

The high priest had anticipated that there would be no harvest from the warehouse.

However, they are trying every day to find ways to prevent the warehouse from becoming more damp.

Why bother?

"Why is the warehouse getting damper every day? Isn't it past the rainy season?"

The high priest asked.

Cang said, "I don't know. I only know that every day when I go by, I can see that the walls are wet and the food near the walls has grown white mold."

The third son, Chai, said, "Then, how about we use the dried embers to remove the dampness?"

The high priest nodded: "You may give it a try. Chai, go and help your second brother."

With Chai's help, the warehouse's dampness problem was somewhat alleviated.

Furthermore, Chai also discovered that food placed near the embers, while becoming drier, was less prone to developing white mold.

When Chai was about to expand the experiment, Cang refused.

Cang said, “Winter is coming soon, and the dampness problem here has been alleviated. If we use all our firewood to bake now, we won’t have enough to keep warm. After all, logging is much more difficult in winter. And most importantly, if we accidentally burn down the warehouse, at least two or three hundred people in our tribe will die this winter.”

Chai was surprised; he hadn't expected his second brother to be so thoughtful.

"Second brother, people in the clan usually say you are an ordinary person. Now I think those people in the clan are really ungrateful. Their eyes are like those of a blind monkey. They only know how to jump around and gossip."

Chai felt genuinely sorry for his second brother.

Cang shook his head and said, "I am indeed mediocre. I am not as perceptive as my eldest brother, nor as intelligent as you, my third brother. I only know how to do mediocre things day after day."

Therefore, the drying experiment on firewood was temporarily suspended.

In the blink of an eye, the harsh winter has passed.

Of the 500 people, about 20 old and young dogs died from the cold. The tribe held a simple farewell ceremony, buried the bodies on the mountain, and then began the spring gathering and hunting work.

The eldest son, Jiang, led fifty able-bodied men eastward to continue the land reclamation.

Meanwhile, the second son, Cang, and the third son, Chai, agreed to continue the drying experiment.

So, Cang led ten able-bodied men, and Chai led another ten, and set off into the depths of the mountains.

Their goal was to collect materials from the mountains up close and conduct drying experiments.

Because the food stored in the warehouse had been used up, there was a lack of food for the experiment.

Three days later, Cang and Chai's group dragged the carcass of a giant, seven- or eight-meter-tall, pheasant-like creature back to the tribe, attracting a crowd of onlookers.

Within the tribe, the strong women and children rushed over, praising loudly.

Those fervent gazes made the young and strong men in the group stand tall and proud, their spirits soaring.

The high priest walked over, leaning on his cane.

"Children, it seems the Nest God has protected you. You have managed to survive such a large creature and even successfully hunt it."

Chai said, "It was indeed the protection of the Nest God. We were terrified when we first saw this giant chicken. We never expected there to be such a terrifying creature deep in the mountains. But just as we were about to be swallowed by the giant chicken, a bolt of lightning suddenly struck down from the clear blue sky and killed the giant chicken."

Chai's words sparked a frenzy among the tribe members, who continuously thanked the Nest God.

This is the first time since the tribe was founded that they have hunted such a huge creature.

Their weapons were only passable, and coupled with their generally small stature (less than one meter), their strength wasn't particularly great.

Therefore, their hunting targets are usually small rodents and rabbits, about the size of a palm.

The one who made the move was naturally Li Yi.

He had originally decided not to take action.

However, considering that Chai and Cang were crucial to the Youchao clan's food supply, their deaths at this time would undoubtedly cause their newly discovered solution to fail, and it would be uncertain how long it would take to find a solution again.

Therefore, in their final moments before death, Li Yi still made his move, unleashing a thunderbolt that killed the giant chicken.

Next, the Youchao clan began the work of cutting up the giant chicken.

"My God, those feathers are so stiff."

"No, they are beautiful feathers, with such rich colors."

"No, you can't deny it's beautiful, but it's also harder!"

"Such beautiful feathers should be used to decorate the statue of the Nest God; only he is worthy of such a beautiful decoration."

"No, I think we can use these feathers as weapons to better arm men."

The women and children argued about what to do with the plucked feathers.

It was the high priest's fourth daughter, Zhi, who advocated for decorating the nest god.

She grew up in an environment of faith in the Nest God and witnessed firsthand how her father used supreme divine arts to solve various intractable problems.

Therefore, their faith in the Nest God was the most steadfast. The one who advocated using it as a weapon for men was Jiang's wife, Luo. She was originally the third wife of the Sui Huo clan's Shi Yan; young and beautiful, she was captured and naturally taken by Jiang.

Of course, this was also because the high priest had leftovers. He preferred women with larger hips, while Snail, though beautiful, was more like a warrior, full of energy. The high priest was already a bit old at the time and felt that he could not subdue Snail.

On the contrary, Jiang was full of confidence and took the snail.

Luo, thanks to her status as Jiang's wife and her own warlike and courageous personality, became the most successful member of the Suihuo clan among the Youchao clan.

On the contrary, Shi Yan, the genius who first discovered the method of flint and steel, has been executed.

Originally, Shi Yan was initially treated as a laborer, and the high priest did not punish him but instead used him as a slave.

Shi Yan was unwilling to be enslaved and plotted a rebellion two years ago. He was caught by the high priest and beheaded in public.

Thus, the remaining dog-people of the Suihuo clan were completely integrated into the Youchao clan.

For a tribe, once the leader dies, the original cohesion will dissipate significantly.

In many cases, the survival of a tribe is due to the existence of its leader.

Given the current laxity of the dog-men, without a leader, they will soon fall into disarray, with each group breaking away and ultimately unable to hold on alone.

During the argument, Cang walked over and said:
"You don't need to argue anymore. I have a use for these feathers. If you want them, you can only wait until I've used them all up."

Despite having her own thoughts, Zhi kept quiet in the face of her second brother's remarks.

Because Zhi was raised by her older brothers from a young age, she has great respect for them.

Although Kura's reputation is not prominent, Origami will not arbitrarily refute him because of this.

Under the high priest's guidance, the four siblings got along very well.

On the contrary, Jiang's wife, Luo, objected and said:

"Why would you keep all this high-quality weapon material for yourself?"

Cang said, "Weapons can be made from the bones of a giant chicken. Although the feathers are hard, the process of forging them into weapons is very complicated. If you take them, how do you plan to forge them?"

Snail said loudly, "Even if the process is complicated, it can still be a sharp cutting tool! With so many sharp tools, it will be much more convenient to cut meat or make more weapons."

Cang said, "Well then, I'll give you some of these feathers. Show me your finished product in ten days. If it's good, I'll give you some more. If it's not good, then I'll have to use it myself. After all, this giant chicken was found by me and Chai, and Chai has already promised me that all these feathers are mine, and I only need a small portion of the meat."

Chai said, "That's right, that's exactly what I discussed with my second brother."

Although Luo was eager to try and make something out of these feathers, seeing that Chai, Cang, and Zhi had no objections, she stopped arguing.

"Okay, then I'll take at least twenty."

"can."

A giant chicken that is seven or eight meters tall, if carefully cut up, can be divided among many dog ​​people.

However, Cang and Chai both wanted to use the giant chicken's meat for experiments, so they set aside an amount equivalent to a small cow, cut it into vertical strips, and roasted it over a fire until it was completely dried.

Their weapons haven't been sharpened to be particularly sharp yet, and it's taken them quite a while to cut through this giant chicken.

Twenty black feathers were given to the snail.

In addition, the two brothers also need to confirm to what extent meat should be dried in order to preserve it for a long time in a humid environment.

Also, confirm how long the dried meat can be stored.

This is a crucial issue; if it is resolved, then most of the food storage problem for the coming winter will be solved.

Inside the warehouse, the two brothers began setting up the specific area for heating.

Chai said, "Second brother, tell me honestly, what exactly are you going to do with these feathers?"

Cang said, "Haven't you noticed that much of our experience and knowledge can only be spoken, but we can't record it using other methods?"

Chai shook his head: "What's so strange about that? We canines are naturally good at verbal communication. What could be more effective than the tongue in conveying experience?"

Cang said, "I'm not very smart, and sometimes when I listen to you guys talk, I miss some things. So I often think about what can replace speaking."

Chai fell into thought: "Instead of speaking? Is it the eyes? To see other people's eyes and faces? Hey, that's one of my strengths too. I can tell whether a person is happy or unhappy just by looking at their face. Just like just now, even though Sister Luo received twenty of your feathers, she was clearly still unhappy."

Cang said, "Don't worry about her. That's just how Sister Luo is. She's naturally combative and always wants to get what she wants. Only my elder brother can tolerate her. If it were me, I would definitely teach her a lesson."

Chai laughed and said, "Haha, I didn't expect that you, Second Brother, who seem so easy to talk to, actually think this way. I thought you respected her quite a bit."

Cang's face flushed slightly as he said, "I respect her fighting ability, but I don't respect her personality. They are two different things. If she can't fight, her personality is definitely not good for provoking me."

Chai said, "By the way, second brother, you haven't said yet how you plan to use this feather to speak?"

Cang said, "First, dry it and then pluck out the finer hairs."

Chai was very curious, setting up the area for heating while watching the warehouse operations.

Cang slowly plucked out the feathers, leaving only the fine, stiff filaments that were twenty or thirty centimeters long.

The warehouse piled up these cilia, gradually forming a small mountain.

Cang took out three red cilia and two green cilia. The three red cilia on top were arranged in a radial pattern, while the two green cilia on the bottom were placed flat.

"Look, what does this mean?"

After arranging the firewood, he looked at it excitedly.

Chai was somewhat puzzled. He frowned and observed for a few moments, then suddenly an idea struck him, and he said:
"Does this mean...fire?"

Cang laughed and said, "Chai, you are very clever, but it doesn't just mean that. It means burning down the forest."

"Oh!"

Chai suddenly realized: "The red cilia represent fire, and the green cilia represent mountains and forests, right?"

He understood Cang's thinking.

Cang then took out a few black and white hairs and arranged them into a stick figure shape that was bent forward, with black and white hairs interspersed in the horizontal bar in the middle.

Upon seeing the image, Chai immediately understood, pointed to the ground, and burst into laughter:
"This is a horse with black and white stripes!"

The two of them used filaments of various colors to create different shapes while trying to guess what they meant.

In the search for a more suitable way to store food, surprisingly, the first written language gradually took shape.

Li Yi, who was observing this scene from afar, was suddenly shocked and realized that the laws of creation had been improved by a small part.

"Interesting. The tribe's understanding of the wonders of writing has contributed to the perfection of my understanding of the laws of creation in the universe?"

"And this is the first time I've ever seen colored text like this." (End of Chapter)