I Transmigrated Into A Fantasy World To Farm And Build Houses!-Chapter 127: Pearls

Max moved even faster, his paw reaching for the comb, but Michael deftly dodged it.

"Let me comb it for you. Eric is tired." Max’s deep voice carried an unconcealed trace of provocation.

"I don’t need you! What if you end up pulling all my fur out?"

Michael knew his own limitations. He turned to look at Eric, his tone becoming pleading:

"Eric, quickly show me how to use this. I also want my fur to be as smooth as Max’s; it might be a little easier to find a mate later."

Although Snow Wolves highly valued their fur, their living conditions were limited. This was the first time Michael had seen a Snow Wolf beastman’s fur become so smooth and glossy.

It was just his first time using this tool, so he was still a bit clumsy and awkward with it.

Just now, Michael had combed himself for a while and already felt much more comfortable than using thorny bushes to comb his fur. It was just that the result wasn’t as he’d hoped, and he even got mercilessly ridiculed by the little cub.

Eric held the small comb in his hand and demonstrated for Michael:

"Watch me. You have to use it like this, with the grain of the fur. You were using it backward just now!"

The clumsy, furry paw followed Eric’s instructions, holding the comb the right way. Watching his movements, Michael tried combing himself a few times and figured out the trick. Combing with the grain was indeed much more comfortable than combing against it.

It was so comfortable that his temper even softened.

Michael turned away, too lazy to look at Max’s smug face, and became engrossed in grooming his own fur.

Seeing his focused appearance, Eric couldn’t help but smile.

He felt again that he should make a few more large combs like this. After all, there were more adult beastmen in the tribe, and the large Snow Wolves must have been struggling with combing their fur for a long time.

Wooden combs could be made, of course, but combs made from scallop shells were clearly sturdier and more beautiful.

With so many materials here, it would be a real waste not to make them.

Eric walked along the beach, searching for giant scallop shells. Soon, he had collected five or six of them.

The meat of this large scallop was very tough and not tasty, so aside from using the shells to make combs, they weren’t of much use.

But in one of the scallop shells, he found several round, glossy pearls, each one as big as a cherry.

Eric was so happy he jumped for joy.

In his previous life, pearls of this top-grade quality were something that money couldn’t necessarily buy.

He lovingly stroked them back and forth in his palm.

Michael, who was absorbed in combing, and Max, who was resting nearby, both noticed his unusual behavior. Michael’s large, furry head moved closer to Eric’s shoulder curiously. Seeing the pearls in his hand, Michael pouted:

"Why do you like these stones too? But these are too small. I remember the kind the Merfolk use as currency are all as big as berries. Kevin likes this stuff too, my mother likes it, I don’t know what’s so great about it."

Berries were as big as a fist, so pearls almost as big as berries...

Just imagining it made Eric’s eyes light up.

Even setting aside its monetary value, pearl powder, after being ground, could not only whiten skin but also had cooling and detoxifying effects, cured insomnia; in short, it had many benefits.

In his previous life, fakes were everywhere. Wanting to buy real pearl powder was harder than climbing to heaven, unless you knew the owner of a cultivation farm.

But how could cultured pearls compare to pure, natural pearls?

This time, Eric was even more energized, as if injected with chicken blood, enthusiastically searching for scallop shells. The goal now wasn’t just to make combs, but also for those beautiful pearls.

Seeing him so excited, Michael and Max, wanting to make the little cub happy, also stood up to help find scallop shells.

Their eyesight was better than Eric’s, and they ran faster too.

Moreover, Eric was already panting after carrying two shells, while they could easily carry back a whole pile.

Seeing their efficiency was much higher than his, Eric decisively sat still on the spot, focusing on being in charge of opening the shells.

Sometimes when his claws couldn’t get enough leverage, he would use the kitchen knife that Luban had made for him. Just one pry and it would open easily.

The length and hardness of the knife were perfectly suited for this job. Eric just sat there on the sand, opening them one by one.

Before long, there was a small pile of pearls next to him, sparkling in the sunlight.

This process was full of the joy of discovery; Eric opened them tirelessly.

After Max had searched the entire nearby beach area, he squatted down beside him, quietly helping him clear away the opened scallop shells.

The two giant Snow Wolves lay on either side of Eric, surrounded by mountain-like piles of scallop shells, and another mountain of shells that had been opened.

After opening all these shells, it was already late afternoon.

Eric gave a refreshing stretch, moving his slightly stiff legs, then excitedly gathered up the hundreds of pearls he had found.

The pearly white, glistening pearls looked even more brilliant in the twilight.

Eric looked like a little miser, finding a cloth bag and carefully putting them all inside.

The pearls clinked against each other, making a pleasant rattling sound inside the cloth bag.

In a cheerful mood, Eric rubbed his growling stomach and went to check on the large pot of salt boiling nearby.

While he was engrossed in opening shells for treasure, the seawater in the pot had boiled dry, leaving a thin layer of sea salt clinging to the sides.

Eric used an iron shovel to scoop the salt layer into a bamboo tube.

They had brought quite a few hollow bamboo tubes for refining salt. One pot of salt filled exactly one tube.

Eric frowned, a bit dissatisfied with this speed, but there was no other way.

This time, they had come mainly to test whether salt could really be refined from the sea, so they hadn’t conspicuously brought many pots.

And they didn’t have enough time to dry salt in large quantities. This was already very good.

Michael, at the side, was staring wide-eyed. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Th-th-this... crude salt can be made just like that?"

Michael asked in astonishment, pointing to the white salt in the bamboo tube with his mouth agape.

His normally majestic Snow Wolf face now looked comically bewildered.

Even though he knew the main purpose of this trip, Michael still couldn’t believe that crude salt could be made so simply.

Every year, their tribe had to trade so many precious furs and magic cores in exchange for this essential seasoning!

Max had already picked up the large pot and started washing it. They still needed to use this pot to cook dinner, and after the meal, they would continue to use it to boil salt.

"That’s right, what’s made this way is crude salt. If you don’t believe it, Michael, you can taste it." Seeing Michael’s astonished look, Eric raised the bamboo tube to his mouth.

There was no need to taste it; in fact, Michael knew just from the smell that it was definitely crude salt.

He muttered to himself: "This is great, this is great! From now on, we can boil our own salt and won’t need to trade with those human merchant caravans anymore."

The Snow Wolves had been poor for too long. Salt was also one of their biggest expenses.

Suddenly being freed from this financial burden, Michael felt as if he were in a dream.

Eric clapped his hands and announced loudly, "To celebrate the success of our first pot of salt, tonight we’ll have a seafood feast!"

With that, he pushed Michael, who was still in a daze, to go process the fish. This was only the first pot of salt; there would be many more later. Michael would get used to this joy sooner or later.

"Remember not to break the gallbladder!" Eric felt a bit uneasy about his state and added a reminder.

Michael finally came back to his senses, shifted back to his human form, and went to process the fish that had been flopping on the sand for half the day.

He gutted the fish, removed the gills, and scaled it cleanly. Under Eric’s guidance, everyone in the tribe now, except for a few who were too clumsy, knew how to process fish. After all, it was an important food source.

The fresh water they had brought wasn’t enough.

Max went to a farther place with accumulated snow to get snow. He also conveniently broke up some large blocks of ice from a nearby freshwater lake to bring back as reserves. He also carried back a huge, dried-out tree for firewood.

These few days, they needed to keep the fire going continuously.

They tried to save the coal for use at night because it burned for a long time, and they wouldn’t need to wake up frequently in the middle of the night to add firewood.

As for the daytime, a lot of firewood was needed.