Eric squatted down, forcing the most friendly smile he could muster, and waved at the Dwarf children to come over for some candy.
Seeing they were still shyly hiding behind their parents, their round eyes watching him with full vigilance, he sighed and turned to stuff a piece of candy into Leo’s mouth.
The sweet, fruity scent diffused through the air, wafting straight into the kids’ noses. The sound of gulping was distinctly audible.
Seeing this, their parents chuckled, patting their children’s bottoms and pushing them towards Eric.
"Go on, get some candy. It’s fruit candy!" Luban laughed heartily, beckoning with his hand: "This is something you wouldn’t even get to eat in the human world."
Hearing his father’s call, Robin, his son and the bravest of the lot, was the first to patter over, holding out his tiny hands to receive the candy.
With a pioneer leading the way, the other children could no longer hold back and timidly ran after. Eric smiled, placing a huge piece of fruit candy into each of their hands.
The candy he made was not exquisite at all, just square blocks as large as a thumb joint, but to the children, they were as precious as a whole fortune.
A little girl with two pigtails braided into goat horns carefully held the golden candy in her palm. She gave it a gentle lick, and her previously sullen eyes immediately widened, shining brightly.
Watching them eat with such relish, Eric felt a contagious joy. He noticed the severely injured boy, held in his father’s arms, was also looking this way with longing.
Just then, another boy, after receiving his candy, happily ran to his friend’s side and, without hesitation, broke his candy in half, offering one part to his friend.
Eric smiled unconsciously. Good friends are those willing to share delicious treats. He gave the rest of the candy to Luban, asking him to keep it for the children next time.
On his way home, he ran into Chief Thomas and Joseph. Seeing the two chiefs, he quickly held Leo and greeted them, then suddenly remembered the iron pot he had filched, and his face grew hot.
"Ah, um, Chief Joseph." He scratched his face in embarrassment: "Today, on my way back, I... I couldn’t help it and took an iron pot..."
Hearing this, Joseph burst out laughing, his gray beard trembling.
"It’s no problem! It’s just one iron pot! The one thing we Dwarves don’t lack is iron. Once your Chief Thomas helps us move the forge over here, I’ll use those captured shields to forge you a really big iron pot!"
Eric was stunned, then so overjoyed he nearly jumped for joy.
A big pot! Farm tools! His dream of agricultural industrialization was about to come true!
He thanked them profusely, a song already starting in his heart: how beautiful life is, how beautiful love is!
The earthen kiln, fueled by charcoal, burned fiercely all day. As dusk fell, Eric sealed the kiln’s opening with yellow mud, letting it cool on its own.
He decided to fire red bricks for their vibrant color, and definitely not because he was too lazy to add the extra step of water quenching to make gray bricks.
That evening, Luci brought him a large, cleaned fish. Eric excitedly took out the newly "borrowed" iron pot to make fried fish. Sure enough, using an iron pot felt completely different; the heat was even, conduction was fast, and the fish fried up quickly and crispy.
Rummaging through the crate of captured spices, he was delighted to discover there were also chili peppers. Tears nearly welled up in his eyes.
Eric wasn’t a big fan of spicy food himself—the spiciest thing he had ever eaten was kimchi noodles—but many people out there loved it! Based on the percentages tested on Earth before he transmigrated, the number of people who could eat spicy, liked to eat spicy, and loved to eat extremely spicy food accounted for 90% of the global population.
In terms of equivalence, the proportion of natives who liked spicy food would surely not be small. Eric could already imagine a future of counting gold until his hands grew tired from growing chili, selling chili, selling chili paste, chili powder, chili oil... The mere thought was exhilarating.
He carefully collected all the chili seeds. Next year, he would definitely plant a whole garden of them.
That evening’s dinner was even more fragrant than before. The smell of fried fish, grilled fish, and especially the spicy braised fish head seemed to cast a spell on the sensitive noses of the Snow Wolf tribe.
"Eric! We’re back!"
Kevin and Sam yelled from a distance and ran like the wind towards Eric’s house.
Sam charged in first, hoisting Eric up like a chick and stuffing him into his sturdy chest. Eric’s face was pressed against rock-hard pectoral muscles, suffocating him to the point of seeing stars.
Just as he thought he was about to ascend to heaven, a large hand coldly pulled him out. Max stood there, his face as black as the bottom of a pot.
"Did you miss me, or did you miss my cooking?" Rescued, Eric panted, not forgetting to shoot Sam a glare.
Sam just grinned sheepishly: "Missed both, missed both."
Grass, Kevin, and Michael stood by, watching the scene with teasing eyes.
Luban, who had brought his wife and child over to freeload a meal, also threw Max an accusatory look. Max, completely baffled, glanced back at each of them in confusion.
Eric paid no mind to the eye-battle behind him. He proudly took out the candies and gave each person a piece.
"Look at the candy I made from beets! I’ve tasted it, it’s better than chemical additives... ahem, I mean, it’s much better than other kinds of candy."
"Candy?" The entire Snow Wolf group was in disbelief. They cautiously put a piece in their mouths. The rich, sweet flavor of fruit immediately melted, leaving them all too shocked to speak.
"This... is made from that red root?" Michael stammered, voicing everyone’s question.
Eric slapped his forehead. Damn it, how could he have forgotten the most important thing—sugar!
He hurried into the shed and brought out a bamboo tube of brown sugar and another of white sugar. He suddenly remembered that since arriving, he had only been given things and had not yet contributed anything to the tribe.
Everyone curiously opened the lids of the bamboo tubes and used chopsticks to taste a little. The pure sweetness was far better than the expensive sugar they used to trade for from the humans.
"This is sugar made from beets. The white one is because I refined it a bit more, and the candy is made from wild fruit juice," Eric explained in detail.