A New Life In The Beast World-Chapter 107: Soap Making

Serena went still at the system’s words. The food preservation was great and all, but it was not that that got her to pause at Liz’s words. No it was the fact she could use oil for soap making.

It had been something she had put to the side while she focused on developing the city, but hearing those words reignited an old plan. Finding a way to get a constant supply for soap.

What she had was on her last leg and while Serena had put it to the side for a long time, she knew she was going to have to work on it eventually. However, she didn’t have the first clue into making soap.

But now Liz had given her a hint into how to make it. She needed oil and there was a way to make said oil. Even if Serena was questioning whether she could build that press machine or not.

Still, she at least had to get an idea into how she could make it. Then it’d be one less thing to worry about. Plus, she could raise the standard of hygiene in this place if she could mass produce it.

Taking a deep breath, Serena calmed her excited mind before she asked, "How does one use oil to make soap?"

"Depends on the recipe you’re using, but you typically need some kind of fat, whether it’s animal fat or plant oil, and an alkali like wood ash and water or natron." Liz explained. "You can also add herbs for fragrance. Personally, I recommend those yellow blossoms. They work the best." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Serena couldn’t believe the words she was hearing right now. Things like animal fat, wood ash and water were easy enough to get. She could’ve been making soap long ago if only she had known.

However there was one question in her mind.

"Do the ingredients used in the process affect the soap?" Serena asked.

"Yes." Liz nodded his head. "Animal fat makes for a harder, stronger cleansing soap while olive oil makes for a gentle, conditioning soap. You can also use coconut oil for a cleansing, bubbly soap however that plant is only found much further south.

"As for wood ash and water, it does make a soft soap generally and natron makes a more mild soap. Granted you can change the soap based on how you mix it. Additionally, the type of wood ash you use can also affect the soap itself."

Serena nodded her head in understanding, surprised that the system was giving her all this information so freely. Normally, she’d have to do some digging to get this kind of intel.

And as if Liz had heard her words, it suddenly said with flashing eyes, "Mission triggered."

You got to be kidding me! Serena cursed. I figured there was a catch to all this...

"You have found a way to make soap and your mission is now to make soap more commonplace within this village." Liz stated. "A guidebook for soap making will be given to you to help with this mission. You have until the rainy season to complete this mission and will be rewarded 1000 coins and your subspace will increase to level two upon completing it."

Serena sighed at the words. Great. Now she had another thing to do along with everything else she was doing. Still, she did have the whole cold season to figure this out.

And she now wouldn’t need to buy the soap making guidebook from the system when she did plan to get around to making soap. Plus the rewards were pretty decent.

"Alright, I accept this mission." Serena finally said.

"Mission has been accepted." Liz confirmed. "Guidebook has been added to your subspace."

As soon as it said those words, a leather-bound book appeared before Serena. She picked it up and began skimming through it to see if there were any recipes she could make.

Using plant oil wasn’t possible right now, so she was stuck with animal fat. Which she soon realized needed to be processed first and that using fat from either cow or sheep was her best bet.

She could probably try from other animals, however, she wasn’t sure if it would work or not. Guess she was going to have to test that out.

Additionally, she learnt natron was a mineral found in dry lake beds, so that went using that ingredient. There were no dry lake beds anywhere in the forest according to Liz.

At least in any of the spots she had explored. So, she was stuck with wood ash and water. Her best bet was using hardwood ash, but she decided to test out softwood ash too.

The book also recommended using rainwater, meaning she needed to collect that. If it did rain anytime soon. If not, she was probably going to have to boil water from the river and hope for the best.

Shutting the book close before she overwhelmed herself, Serena then set it down and went back to what she was originally doing. Before she got distracted with soap making...

She made a small note about olives since the oil could be useful. However, she’d only look more into it if she got the grinder right for making flour. Then she would attempt making that oil press.

Serena went over some more plants that would work well for the city with Liz. The system did help her a bit, but it kept to the information she already had in her books.

Getting all that soap information seemed to be a one time thing it appeared. Just to get her interested enough to make her work more.

Eventually, Serena’s eyelids began to feel heavy, so she decided to call it a night. There were a lot of things she needed to do tomorrow, so it was best she got some sleep.

She quickly packed away everything before she exited the subspace. Then she let exhaustion win over her mind and drag her into the darkness.