Beast World: A Fragile Beauty Blessed with Many Children-Chapter 170 - 169: Reversed Relief Characters
Since they were going to teach Beast Text to the students at the Martial Arts Hall, they couldn’t just mess around with handwritten copies like before.
Furthermore, pen, ink, and paper had only just been developed, and since she was pregnant, it wasn’t suitable for her to overexert herself. Thus, the matter of movable type printing had been put on hold.
Just then, Si Shuo pulled Xiao Cheng over and sketched on a piece of paper with a pen. "Xiao Cheng, can you use your Gold Ability to create a long, thin strip like this?"
Xiao Cheng raised an eyebrow. With a flick of his finger, a glittering gold strip, just as Si Shuo had described, appeared.
Si Shuo couldn’t resist picking it up to feel its weight. It had to be at least a few grams. Her mind even subconsciously quoted a price in RMB.
She took a deep breath to shake off the thought. Before the males could stop her, she bit down on it, leaving two distinct teeth marks. ’...Well, that happened.’
"Xiao Cheng, this is pure gold. The purity is too high, so it’s not hard enough. Can you incorporate some other elements to make it harder?"
’Just as she could remove impurities when replicating Crystal Stones, could Xiao Cheng introduce some impurities during condensation to turn the pure gold into an alloy and increase its hardness?’
Xiao Cheng chuckled lightly. "Let me try! Si Shuo, how hard does it need to be?"
Si Shuo took out a carving knife. "Hard enough that I can carve characters on it with this knife, and it will last a long time without deforming!"
Xiao Cheng nodded and closed his eyes, sensing the Spiritual Energy in the surroundings. He had a Gold Ability, which gave him a strong perception of metallic elements. It was just that the gold in the air was relatively easy to extract and didn’t require much effort.
Other metals, however, required deliberate effort to capture. Like kneading dough, he mixed several metals together in a specific ratio, once again condensing them into a thin, pale yellow strip.
Si Shuo took it and gave it a few test bites and pinches. Satisfied, she used a soft-tipped brush to neatly write a reversed, standard-script character for "Si" on one end of the metal strip. Then, she shoved the metal strip and the carving knife into Ji Liang’s hands. "Ji Liang, carve away everything that isn’t ink, about this deep." She gestured with her thumb and forefinger, showing a gap of about three millimeters.
Ji Liang grunted in acknowledgment and buried his head in the carving. The metal strip’s hardness was just right. He gripped the carving knife and applied a little force, first hollowing out the large blank areas before meticulously carving the edges of the character.
On the Beast World Continent, no matter their Beast Form, or how rugged or refined they looked, the males were all dexterous and clever in order to survive and care for the females and cubs.
In just two or three minutes, Ji Liang had finished carving the Metal Strip.
Si Shuo smiled, took the piece of type, dipped it in ink, and, under the confused yet curious gazes of her Beast Husbands, pressed it onto a piece of paper. "This is the character ’Si,’ as in Si Shuo’s ’Si’! See? Once I’ve carved this one character, I can just dip it in ink and quickly print many copies." She stamped it a few times—STAMP, STAMP, STAMP—and each impression was clear, neat, and beautiful.
"We’ll carve out the two to three thousand most commonly used Beast Text characters. Then I’ll use my Replication Ability to replicate them in different quantities based on how frequently each character is used.
All the type pieces will be stored on shelves according to a certain system. In the future, we can just follow the content of a book, pick out the Beast Text characters one by one and arrange them on a tray, brush on the ink, and press a sheet of paper over it..."
Si Shuo explained as she sketched.
Her Beast Husbands’ expressions grew more and more serious, but their eyes were exceptionally bright. As she described it, their minds were already beginning to understand what the Living Body Printing Technique was!
"So, you’re saying that as long as we carve out the individual Beast Text characters, we can print any book in the future, in large quantities and without much trouble?" Ji Liang was the first to grasp the concept, his voice trembling slightly as he asked.
The Shell Bookstore in Guangshou City was a place frequented by the children of great families and tribes. You had to be rich and also know Beast Text to have any demand for its products.
The characters in the store’s Bone Books were carved or burned one by one by Beastmen, which was incredibly time-consuming and laborious. Making a second copy of the same content required a whole other round of effort.
Si Shuo smiled and nodded. "That’s right. This way, whenever we encounter something new and interesting, we can write it down and print it for more people to see.
Cooking methods, simple medicinal formulas, planting techniques, animal husbandry tips, lessons on how to interact with others, home organization and storage, or even skincare routines... all things that can help everyone improve their lives.
Or literacy primers, storybooks, manuals for combat training techniques... As long as everyone understands the benefits, will we have to worry about people not paying with Crystal Stones?"
’How could anyone sit still after hearing that?!’
"Si Shuo, how many metal strips do you need me to create?" Xiao Cheng had already rolled up his sleeves, eager to start.
The males who had been eavesdropping outside the door all pushed it open and came in to stand against the wall. Even Gong You, after putting the cub to sleep, leaned against the door to listen to her instructions.
’In later generations, movable type printing set off a massive cultural wave!’ 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚
Being stared at by the 6+1 Beast Husbands in her home late at night, Si Shuo felt a little overwhelmed. She gave a low cough to suppress the rising heat and said to them solemnly:
"Let’s start by making the Metal Strips. I estimate there are around three thousand commonly used characters. I’ll write on the metal strips, and you’ll carve them with the knives... This is called raised, reversed script... We’ll start with three different font sizes...
Xiao Cheng, you’re in charge of creating the metal strips. Besides one set for each of the three font sizes, we also need blank spacers. The spacers will be divided into full, half, quarter, and eighth-width to adjust the spacing between characters... We’ll also need strips to use as dividers between lines... and several types of column rules for dividing the frame...
We’ll need to clear out a room, build shelves on the walls, and store these Metal Strips according to a system to make them easy to find and use..."
Everyone nodded. Except for Xiao Cheng, all the other males began carving the type.
After Si Shuo finished speaking, Yin Jiang said in a deep voice, "It’s best we do this in private first. Don’t tell anyone. Wait until..." He looked at Si Shuo.
Si Shuo understood immediately. The interests involved in this matter were enormous. Relying only on their small family, their achievements could easily be stolen, and it could even bring a fatal disaster upon them. Only with a powerful backer would others be wary.
"No rush. It’ll take us a long time to carve all these Metal Strips anyway," she said, nodding with her lips pressed together. "But... since our family has a new member, I think we can first offer this method to Guangshou City and see if we can secure some benefits. This method is easy to learn, after all. Rather than letting others rack their brains trying to steal it, we might as well offer it up ourselves to maximize our gains!"
Ji Liang snapped his fingers and said with admiration, "Excellent idea. We give away the biggest slice of the pie. Then whoever wants a piece of this meat can’t bypass the City Lord Mansion."
With the matter settled, Xiao Cheng immediately began producing the raw metal strips, while Si Shuo consulted a dictionary and copied common characters and words onto thin paper.
After writing ten or twenty characters, she flipped the paper over and, using it as a guide, meticulously wrote the reversed characters on the metal strips with a soft-tipped brush. The Beast Husbands then buried their heads in their work, carving the type.
Gong You raised an eyebrow and set up a Time Array in the room. This way, they could get their work done and still have enough time to rest.
After they had been busy for one Beast Hour, Si Shuo shooed everyone off to rest, worried they would all stay up and ruin their eyesight.
