The brick kiln construction site was buzzing with energy.
The Dwarves, regardless of gender, were all excellent workers, their strength three to four times greater than that of humans.
While they built the brick kiln on one side, Eric led a few tribesmen on the other to dig up clay, grind it, and let it dry.
The time it took to build the kiln was perfect for drying the brick molds; it was truly a win-win situation.
The process of preparing the clay wasn't difficult, and soon even the Dwarf children had learned it. Especially during the mud-stomping stage, a group of Dwarf children would compete to jump and dance on the mud pile, treating it like a game they never tired of.
Hearing the commotion, the Snow Wolf cubs cheered and jumped in as well. They transformed into stark-naked children with fair skin, and in just a moment, they were rolling in the mud, turning into "little mud people."
If this scene were in the modern era, they would surely have received a full combination of canings from both mom and dad.
Eric looked at the Dwarf parents who were laughing and cheering their children on, and sighed with emotion.
In the meantime, the belongings, food supplies, and minerals from the Du tribe, even the heavy forges, were being transported over one by one by the Snow Wolves.
Chief Joseph immediately fulfilled his promise, forging Eric a gigantic iron pot about three meters in diameter, and even made him a large spatula to go with it.
The large pot of his dreams was finally in his hands! Eric joyfully hoisted it onto his shoulder and skipped home.
He excitedly placed the pot on the stove, cut a large piece of fatty meat, and put it in to render, as a way of seasoning the new pot.
Lately, he had been swamped with making brick molds and building the kiln, rarely coming home to cook. When hungry, he would just eat some grilled meat with the Dwarves. Sometimes, at night, he would spread some grass by the brick kiln, transform into his animal form, and sleep there with a pack of cubs who had played themselves into exhaustion and didn't even go home.
For the past few days, whenever Sam came to help, he would always look at Eric with a resentful gaze. Fortunately, Li and Jessica had also learned quite a few cooking skills, so he had to take turns freeloading at their two houses.
Checking the time, it would be a bit late to cook after waiting for the warriors to return from their hunt and divide the meat. Eric decided to go to Michael's house to see if there was anything to eat.
Michael's father, Phong, happened to be at home. Seeing Eric, he laughed heartily: "Eric, you're here. Michael isn't back yet."
"I wanted to borrow some demon beast meat to cook. I haven't been home these past few days, so there's no fresh meat left," Eric said, a little embarrassed.
"Perfect timing. Michael hunted another horned cow yesterday." Phong went straight to the back of the tent and dragged out a large horned cow: "Just take the whole thing! That boy Michael, he goes to your place to eat every day. He must have cost you a lot of food."
"Not at all. Michael and the others always bring their own prey, and they bring me a lot of extra food too. The sheds at my place are almost too full to hold everything," Eric said quickly.
Phong didn't wait for him to refuse, lifting the horned cow that weighed several tons and walking towards Eric's house. Eric had no choice but to enthusiastically invite Phong to stay for dinner. Phong didn't refuse, as he had long wanted to taste Eric's cooking.
No wonder beastmen have difficulty reproducing. With this kind of appetite, you could feed them an entire continent and they'd eat it bare.
Eric selected the large, bony pieces of meat, chopped them a bit smaller, and put them into the gigantic iron pot. He really loved this pot; it was easy to work with and distributed heat evenly, searing every piece of meat to a golden brown.
He added star anise and bay leaves to the pot, then added water to stew. Using a smaller iron pot, he caramelized some sugar and poured it into the stewing meat.
The fermented dough was taken out and rolled into a large sheet. When the meat in the pot was nearly cooked through, he draped the sheet of dough over the top and covered the pot with a large wooden lid.
This much surely wouldn't be enough for those bottomless stomachs, so Eric also grilled some beef.
The staple for modern people was starch, but the staple for the Snow Wolves was grilled meat.