I Became The Chief Of A Primitive Village

Chapter 324, Preparing to Make Glass

Translator: Silavin

After making the simple balance scale, Su Bai began studying the stones.

Holding a stone in his hand, he questioned, [The main material for glass is silica sand, but I haven’t seen any here yet.]

Su Bai was holding the glass manufacturing guide, which showed pictures of silica sand and its uses.

Blinking his black eyes, he thought to himself. [Where can I find quartz crystals or quartz sand? Quartz can typically be found in weathered granite terrain, and that terrain should also have the silica sand needed for making glass.]

If not for this glass manufacturing guide, he would not even know where to begin. Even when he had some knowledge of the process, it was not enough. Now, what he needed to do had become much clearer.

Being able to know how to make cement and various other things was already impressive, but with glass, he was truly stuck – without this book he would have been helpless.

[But, is there a weathered granite terrain around this place? I don’t remember seeing one in the forest the last time…] Su Bai was troubled at this first step of raw materials.

Without raw materials, glass could not be made, and silica sand was the most basic of materials for making glass. It was indispensable.

Silica sand consists of transparent particles, very distinguishable individually, and is found everywhere in weathered granite terrain.

[Once we find silica sand, everything will be much easier. There should be plenty of places where it can be found…] Su Bai was determined.

Many materials mentioned in the glass manufacturing guide could be found in the wooden boxes, but the one thing missing was the silica sand, the main ingredient needed for making glass.

“Yu Ying, do you know where to find this?” Su Bai showed the fox eared girl the picture of silica sand.

After all, they were more familiar with the area around the Ancestral Land – they would know best about the local terrain.

Yu Ying looked carefully at the picture in the book and said: “I remember there’s a small hillside not far from here that might have these things.”

The fox eared girl and the cow horned girl had snuck out to play before and visited that clearing. She remembered seeing such sand.

When they were young and did not understand, they just thought the sand was pretty and brought some back to the Tribe to play with.

Now seeing the picture in the book, it looked very similar to the sand she saw back then. It was only because this sand was so special that she remembered it clearly.

“That’s great, take me there. I need them.” Su Bai smiled.

Having this would be perfect. Once he had them, there would be hope for making glass.

“Alright,” Yu Ying nodded.

Su Bai had a few people prepare some stone hoes and baskets, then led a group from the Tribe toward that small hillside.

After more than an hour, everyone arrived at the base of the hillside. Though called a small hillside, it was actually quite large – over fifty metres high, with a width that could not be measured by the eye.

“Shaman, this is it.” Yu Ying looked up at the hill.

“You call this a small hillside? This is like a mountain…” Su Bai’s mouth twitched several times.

Yu Ying scratched her head and laughed, asking. “Shaman, do you see the sand you mentioned?”

Yan Hua swung her stone hoe enthusiastically and called out. “Shaman, where should we start?”

When the cow horned girl heard about collecting materials, she got so excited she immediately came along.

Last time, collecting iron sand from the river had made her happy for quite a while, so how could she miss collecting materials on the hillside this time?

Su Bai crouched down, took a stone hoe and struck the ground, revealing the sand inside was exactly the silica sand they needed.

He stood up, dusted off his hands, and smiled. “We can start anywhere – it’s everywhere.”

“Yes!” Yan Hua immediately got to work energetically, taking a basket and using her stone hoe to strike the ground repeatedly.

Sha Lan and the other Warrior Trainees did the same, all using their stone hoes to strike the walls and ground.

*Clang clang clang…* As the striking sounds continued, more and more silica sand was collected into the baskets.

“There is so much white sand! Is this the silica sand used for making glass?” Yan Hua excitedly asked.

Though the cow horned girl was very excited and talkative, her striking motions did not stop.

“This sand looks different from what we usually see. It should be what’s used for making glass,” Sha Lan responded.

The cat eared girl’s basket was already more than half full of silica sand, The location she chose had a particularly abundant amount.

Wherever the stones were struck, handfuls of silica sand could be seen, as if it were free for the taking. Naturally, they were all collected into the baskets.

After more than an hour, everyone had collected plenty of silica sand and was prepared to return to the Tribe.

“Shaman, now that we’ve dug up so much silica sand, when can we start making glass?” Yan Hua curiously asked.

The cow horned girl was puzzled when she heard about making glass, as she did not know what glass was.

So, now, she was especially curious about what glass would look like.

Moreover, because everything the Shaman made turned out well, this only deepened Yan Hua’s curiosity.

“Yes, we have all the materials now. We can make glass when we get back,” Su Bai nodded.

Honestly, he himself was looking forward to making glass. Being able to make glass in this primitive era would be quite an achievement.

“I wonder what glass looks like?” Yan Hua curiously said.

“It’s transparent, colourless – even when there’s glass in front of you, you can see what’s behind it.” Su Bai could only explain it this way.

This explanation was the most basic description he could give to glass. It was naturally transparent and does not block one’s vision. If it did, it would not be glass.

“How amazing!” Yan Hua looked expectant.

Hearing this, the cow horned girl’s curiosity grew even more – she could not wait to see such an amazing thing.

“Shaman, what will this be used for?” Sha Lan was more curious about glass’s applications.

“It can be installed in window frames. This will give good lighting indoors, and you’ll be able to see outside with the window still closed.” Su Bai explained.

“Is it for those spaces left on the walls of the cement houses?” Sha Lan asked.

She did not know what those spaces were for. Thus, she just made a guess. Nevertheless, those reserved spaces were quite large.

“Yes, it will be installed there. With windows, we won no need to use fruit oil lamps during the day, and can save up on fruit oil.” Su Bai said.

Currently, the Tribe used fruit oil lamps during the day because the wooden houses had no windows. In other words, daylight could not enter.