I Became The Chief Of A Primitive Village

Chapter 556, Breakthrough

Translator: Silavin

Su Bai blinked his black eyes as he continued contemplating the forthcoming developments, for there remained numerous tasks to accomplish.

He swayed the quill pen in his hand while murmuring to himself, “Having resolved the issue of evening lightning, I must now consider other matters.”

The Tribe’s development remained rather sluggish overall, with numerous areas requiring improvement.

Though his mind harboured various ideas, the unfortunate reality was that implementing such concepts during this Primitive Era presented considerable difficulty.

Therefore, while aspiring for development, one must comprehensively consider present conditions to determine the proper course of action.

[Clothing, food, shelter, and transportation—presently, housing and sustenance are adequately addressed. Genuine transformation must await the next phase, focusing on transportation and clothing.] Su Bai pondered internally, his index finger tapping the table surface rhythmically while murmuring, “Clothing matters certainly require consideration, and regarding transportation vehicles. We need more alternatives to carriages.”

He possessed numerous imaginative concepts but must filter them according to current circumstances, for while ideas might prove sound, their implementation often proved challenging.

Despite his desire to improve the Tribe, limitations meant compromises. This meant unachievable concepts would require modification to be feasible. The final result might prove less than ideal, but would still be better than their present conditions.

“Clothing is still a weakness. This is obvious during the snow season…” Su Bai frowned.

During the approach of the snow season, animal hide distribution to every household had commenced.

Animal hide was a precious resources, unlike linen which could be produced abundantly from Ramie.

Animal hide required successful hunting expeditions involving large prey. Small game such as wild rabbits or foxes provided only enough material for mittens.

Garments like shirts or skirts demanded larger hides, often requiring an entire large beast’s hide per person.

A complete family would require considerably more hide. Though the hot air balloon had facilitated numerous successful hunts before the snow season’s arrival, hide distribution still remained challenging.

Therefore, the Flame Dragon Tribe must address the clothing concerns. Summer was not an issue, with linen clothing or bare exposed skin still being fine, but the snow season demanded proper clothing for warmth.

“After this snow season, we need to accumulate more animal hides. But, this approach is also not very sustainable. We can’t really hunt for a lot more, with the ever-increasing population. We need alternative materials.” Su Bai murmured.

Su Bai one day hoped to transform the Tribe into a city with self-sufficient food production, eliminating the need to go out to hunt.

Without hunting, the source for animal hide would disappear, creating future challenges as well.

“Alternatives would be materials like cotton, synthetic fibres or wool. Except for wool, the rest are not available to us right now…”

Manufacturing such materials during the Primitive Era proved extraordinarily difficult, requiring numerous materials and tools with no sure way of success.

“For now, we can only modify linen. Currently, linen provides excellent breathability but that is not what we want for the snow season. If it is wind-resistant, we can actually use it to make jackets…”

Su Bai used his quill pen to write, planning future developments while continuing to think, “Those in the Linen Workshop could begin experimenting during this snow season.”

He placed hope in the workshop, intending to document experimental methods for them to do.

Perhaps wind-resistant fabrics could be produced, enabling warm jackets to be made, with wool stuffing and proper stitching.

Though cloaks provided warmth, they consumed far too much fabric and hindered more people’s work, which was hard labour.

Jackets offered far better convenience. Once properly worn, the person could focus entirely on their work, not hindered by the swaying cloak.

“This would take some time… As for the transportation…” Su Bai continued to mutter.

The Tribe had carriages for transportation inside, eliminating internal mobility concerns.

External travel was still a challenge though. Though ship construction research had just started but not completed yet.

So, they can’t really go by water at this point and could only focus on land navigation.

Currently, to travel from one Tribe to another, it would mean traversing through forest, mountains and rivers, which was time consuming and dangerous.

“If we have fixed routes between Tribes, properly constructed roads allowing for fast moving carriages between Tribes…” Su Bai conceived this possibility.

Upon further reflection, he shook his head. Other Tribes would be unwilling to contribute labour or resources in this venture. They would just be waiting for effortless benefits from their roads.

Moreover, they would also view such initiatives unfavourably. It would make negotiations futile.

[I must think of another way…]

“I need to carefully plan this out. There sure is a long road ahead…” Su Bai pursed his lips.

He swayed his quill pen, contemplating other matters, as the previous two ideas required more time before they could be implemented, and were not urgent.

“Addressing the eternal night takes priority. I should inspect the sentry post construction progress along the wooden wall.” Su Bai set down his quill pen.

Lacking any other ideas, he decided to do an inspection. He rose, stretched his body, and prepared to change clothes.

*Step step step…*

Su Bai donned his cloak, thick snow boots, and scarf before departing the Yong’an Building.

“Shaman, where are you going?” Yu Ying enquired curiously, Yu Ying having just returned from outside.

“Come with me. I plan to tour around the Tribe.” Su Bai grasped Yu Ying’s hand as they descended together.