Kaelen had been pacing back and forth at the valley entrance all morning. Beside him were Randy, Cael, and Walter’s Papa, Nori.

According to the schedule, the hunting team should have returned to the tribe a day ago, but they had been waiting for a day and a half with no sign of the team anywhere. Kaelen had even abandoned his work at the brickyard to wait here with everyone.

This was Walter’s first time traveling so far from home to a place as dangerous as the magical beast forest (excluding the time Walter fell off the cliff with Kaelen, of course), so they were all worried for Walter’s safety.

"Kaelen, you go do your work; we can wait here. If there is any news, I will inform you immediately," Cael said.

He hesitated for a long time before finally agreeing with Cael. Today was the foundation-laying day for the tribe’s first house, and he absolutely had to be there. Although he trusted Mossi and Oleck’s architectural abilities quite a bit, he couldn’t feel at ease without supervising it himself.

[Then you all wait here, and remember to let me know right away if anything happens!] Kaelen repeatedly reminded them. If anyone encountered a life-threatening danger, he could still provide timely medical treatment.

After receiving their assurance, Kaelen hurriedly went to the new valley. The construction team had finished digging the foundation. Sane and Jaxon were supervising the work; if it deviated even a little, they would order the workers to dig it again.

The new valley was extremely spacious, with a capacity of at least several thousand people. He had situated the residential area right next to the old valley to facilitate travel between the two sides. At the current brick kiln site, Kaelen zoned off a small industrial area, mainly for heavy labor. On the other bank were the processing and animal husbandry areas. A little further away, near the residential area, was the garment district. He also planned to tunnel through the mountain separating the two sides to create a road, but with insufficient manpower at present, he had to temporarily shelve that plan.

Initially, Sane intended to provide building materials to the clan members so that they could build their own houses, but Kaelen immediately rejected the idea. He had seen houses in old-style rural areas. Everyone built whatever they wanted, however they wanted, and wherever they pleased, resulting in a very messy layout, with many people even fighting until their heads bled just to dispute over an alleyway. Therefore, the houses in the tribe had to be built uniformly like townhouses; later, once the clan members received their homes, they could decorate them however they liked.

Additionally, the orphans in the tribe used to live together in one place, Sub-Beasts and beastmen mixed together. He decided to build dormitories for them—one for beastmen, and a separate one for Sub-Beasts.

In the future, as long as one earned enough contribution points, they would be granted a house of their own. The same rule applied to newcomers wishing to join the Crimson tribe.

These contribution points were recorded based on the completion level of their work. The clan members would carry a wooden token with their name on it, bring it to the supervisor at the start of the day for attendance, and report their work at the end of the day to get the token back. If the assigned task remained unfinished, they would only receive half the contribution points. Alternatively, if they had finished but wanted to do more, they could register with the supervisor, and the extra work would be counted as overtime.

At first, everyone was very unaccustomed to this new regulation, frequently forgetting to clock in or losing their tokens. After having their contribution points deducted a few times and seeing other clan members use points to exchange for salt, fabric, bathing foam (soap), and so on... while they didn’t even have enough for a pinch of salt, they gradually realized the importance of the tokens and contribution points.

The custom of bartering or hiring others for a wage did not yet exist in Crimson, so Sane integrated it directly into the new system. Doing so made things easier for those who had lost their ability to work or were too weak for heavy labor. The disabled and young children could also do other tasks after work hours to exchange goods with others, increasing their personal income and reducing their dependence on the tribe’s distributions.

Of course, the elderly, the disabled, solitary families, and orphans all received monthly subsidies from the tribe’s communal storehouse.

Currently, the Crimson tribe was gradually following the new rural system. Collins and Talon’s group was very satisfied with the present situation, feeling that they hadn’t entrusted the wrong person. With Kaelen’s help, Sane was gradually becoming a qualified Chief. They planned to announce Sane’s appointment as the Chief of this generation once the houses were fully constructed.

However, that matter would be discussed later; right now, they were losing their minds over the squiggles on the bark paper.

"Damn it, what is this brat drawing? A whole page is densely packed with writing, yet I can’t read a single word of it!" Collins slammed a beastman’s assignment paper onto the table, his mouth wide open as he roared, his demeanor as a Priest completely vanishing.

"Oh, what are you getting mad for? I have an assignment here that is entirely printed with footprints instead of handwriting, and I’m not even angry yet." Nyx leisurely took a sip of sweet and sour fruit juice, pointing at the stack of specially made bark paper in front of him.

Draven and Asher were also scratching their heads and pulling their ears while grading papers, feeling that the more they graded, the more they wanted to hang themselves. They hadn’t struggled this much when they first learned to read; it was obvious that what they taught was the common language of the beastman continent. So why did it all turn into unintelligible squiggles when it reached the hands of the tribe’s clan members?

Teaching the clan members to read was Kaelen’s proposal. He said that to eradicate poverty, one hundred percent of the clan members had to know the common written language; furthermore, they needed basic calculating skills to compute their own contribution points and supplies. He also crafted a handheld steelyard balance, measuring tools, and a sundial, adding the methods for weighing, measuring, and telling time directly into everyone’s curriculum.

He truly thought for the tribe, but by deliberately stuffing Talon into the "primary school teacher" group, Kaelen naturally intended to take revenge for them daring to stand him up. Eradicating illiteracy was not simple in the slightest. These folks who had evolved from beasts forgot things right after learning them, leaving their "teachers" to suffer endless spikes in blood pressure.

Talon put down the assignment he was holding and consoled, "Don’t be sad; at least they have a bit of talent in terms of calculation and measurement. At least they know, [I have half a kilogram of salt, I traded two grams to that guy for an earthenware bowl, I have three grams of salt left]."

Collins ground his teeth audibly. "That bunch will only study properly when it concerns their own interests. I think we need to change our teaching methods. Just hit them directly in their supplies; I refuse to believe they still won’t learn properly!"

The group of "primary school teachers" immediately huddled together to devise a new teaching plan. A crowd of clan members, currently engrossed in their work, suddenly felt a chill run down their spines...

"Kaelen, is this batch of clay ready to be fired?" A middle-aged Sub-Beast named Luca wiped the sweat off his nose, pointing at a pile of kaolin ceramic blanks.

He shifted his attention from the planning map to the ceramic drying area, stepping closer to observe for a moment. Having been sun-dried for five days in dry weather, the outer surface of the pottery was dry. Kaelen touched it with his hand, feeling that the inside was also completely dry. He nodded to Luca: [It’s ready to be fired.]

Luca hurriedly went to relay Kaelen’s words to the pottery team, and everyone quickly moved all the blanks into the kiln. Kaelen also put down the planning map and pen, going inside his tent to check on a few blanks of his own. Seeing that they were also ready to be fired, he draped a large cloth over them, carried them to the kiln that Mossi had dug specifically for him, and glanced around thoroughly. Only after ensuring no one was watching did Kaelen lift the cloth and place the blanks inside.

After sealing the kiln’s mouth tightly, Kaelen asked the firing team to light the fire for his kiln.

For porcelain to be glossy, it needed to be fired twice. The first firing was like pottery to set the shape and prevent it from disintegrating when glazed; the second time was called glaze firing. In this second round, the glazed and painted blanks would be fired at a temperature above 1250 degrees Celsius for many days.

At this extreme temperature, all impurities would burn away. The clay, quartz, and feldspar components would begin to melt and fuse together (vitrify), making the ceramic body as hard as stone and translucent, while the outer glaze layer melted to form a radiantly glossy surface.

Finally, the temperature had to be lowered over roughly two days to avoid cracking.

Having mastered the firing of earthenware and stoneware, Kaelen believed the success rate for the porcelain would be around 85%.

"Kaelen, Andre just reported back. Zale’s group has reached the outskirts of the valley, but because there are strangers in their group, the patrolling beastmen haven’t let them in yet. I am going to take a look; do you want to come along?"

Hearing this, Kaelen immediately nodded. He left a message with Jaxon, and the two of them instantly headed to the outskirts. Sane used the excuse of supporting Kaelen to tightly grasp his hand. He glanced at Sane, let out a soft snort, and let Sane hold it. Seeing that his mate was no longer angry, Sane grinned widely and immediately scooped Kaelen up in his arms:

"Walking will take a long time; let me carry you."

Saying so, he bent his knees and leaped across the cliffs, then sprinted as fast as flying while holding Kaelen. During the process, Sane did not forget to pull Kaelen’s animal skin cloak tightly closed, afraid the wind would make him cold.

He pursed his lips, secretly thinking: *Wait until my porcelain is successfully made. I refuse to believe you old foxes can still dodge it.*