Chapter 7

The three were embarrassed, of course. They couldn't help but blush since what happened earlier was really a huge shame for them.

-999999 Aura

Jessica, seeing the fish that was given to her by the guy in front of them, decided to take it. As she held the fish in her arms, it struggled, making her panic.

"Ahhhh," she bellowed as it jumped from her palms, looking at her in disdain.

Feeling the fish's gaze, she couldn't help but be angry. She was about to catch it when Jeff caught it in the air.

He smacked its head, making it pass out. The three, seeing this action, were flabbergasted.

Knocking a fish unconscious seemed to be hard to believe, or is it really dead? The three thought as Jeff passed them the unconscious fish again.

"Here, take it. Trust me it won't fly again. Also, can you light the fire while I go hunt for more? You can cook it first if you are starving," Jeff stated to the three, when he finally passed the fish in his hands towards them.

Looking back, he then moved on, leaving the three who hadn't spoken anything yet. As he was back at the seashore, the three were looking at each other with their mouths in awe.

"Do any of you know how to light a fire?" Jessica said, looking at the two.

Ariana and Layla shook their heads, not knowing how to do it.

"Well, I've seen a lot of this on TV, but I don't really know how to do it in real life," Ariana said with a shake of her head.

"Layla, do you have any bit of experience, even just one bit?" Jessica asked.

Layla just sighed and replied, "No, I do not. Back during camping when I was in elementary, my father didn't allow me to participate, so I have no idea about it," she said while shaking her head.

Jessica was in a dilemma for a moment. "Then what are we going to do? We can't just wait here while he goes hunting for fish over there," she asked the two of them.

"Well, I can assist you while you do the action," Ariana offered.

"I don't know if it'll work, but we'll try one by one."

They then gathered some dry leaves, twigs, and small branches, arranging them in a small pile.

Jessica took a deep breath, rubbing the two sticks together just as she had seen in countless survival shows. The friction caused a bit of smoke, but the fire refused to catch.

Ariana tried next, but despite her efforts, the twigs merely smoldered without igniting.

"Can we use some rocks to create sparks?" Layla suggested, using some rocks to create sparks.

"Great idea, Layla, let's try that," Jessica said, as she stood up and looked for a while, finding two black rocks.

As she brushed them together, no spark was being created. Their attempts were equally futile. They made some sparks by chance, but they fizzled out before they could even reach the tinder.

Each failure only added to their frustration, and the trio felt their patience wearing thin.

After numerous failed attempts, they sat back, staring at the unlit pile of tinder in defeat, "This is harder than it looks," Jessica muttered, wiping sweat from her forehead.

Ariana nodded, equally disheartened. "I thought it would be easier. Maybe we're missing something."

Layla sighed, looking around helplessly, "If I knew that this was going to happen, I wouldn't have listened to my father's words."

Jeff, who was back, seeing the three of them with a saddened expression and seeing that there was no fire lit yet after catching fish for about 20 minutes, was surprised by this.

"Don't tell me you don't know how to light a fire?" Jeff said as he looked at them kneeling on the ground, looking at the waste materials from their failed trials.

Hearing his voice, the three looked at him. The three of them then looked down, clearly embarrassed about this, this is their only job and they failed.

"We don't know how to do it. We even used rocks, but it's not working at all," Jessica said, standing up and showing Jeff the black rocks in her palm.

Glancing at the rock and knowing what it was. He was speechless, "That's not the type of rock that is used to make a fire, what you have in hand is Mica a type of rock that is not possible to make a fire at all. What you going to need is, a flint or chert to produce sparks cause by the two collision" he explained while pointing at the rocks, Jessica was holding.

The three hearing this were surprised, making a knowing sound on their lips. The reason Jeff knew this was because he had a good memory since he was a child.

He didn't realize this, thinking that maybe he had a photographic memory, recalling everything he saw.

The instructor had given them a book related to survival, like medicinal plants and herbs, basic traps, and survival tricks.

This trick for making fire, including which types of rock to use, was something Jeff had read about in the book.

"Let me show you how to make fire," Jeff said as he dropped the fish on the palm leaves to avoid getting them dirty.

The fish were unconscious, as he had hammered their heads with his fist to avoid any retaliation, he had caught about three more in just a span of twenty minutes.

He found a dry piece of driftwood and carved a straight groove in it using his trusty axe. He then selected a straight stick as the plow, its pointed end fitting into the groove.

The girls were looking intently at his actions, Jeff was positioned much closer to them making his masculine smell to spread out engulfing the three.

"First, you need to find the right materials to make a fire. Dry leaves and small twigs for tinder, larger sticks for kindling, and bigger logs for fuel. For rocks, you need flint or chert, which are hard and can create sparks when struck against steel." He started explaining and demonstrating the process. 

He pressed the stick into the groove slightly and began rubbing it back and forth. Despite his efforts, the stick merely slid across the wood without generating much heat.

Wit his previous experience he adjusted it a bit and rubbed it again back and forth. He paused, taking a deep breath, and adjusted his stance, applying more downward pressure.

Then a wisp of smoke began to curl from the groove. He then intensified his effort, with a serious expression

Finally, the most awaited thing happened as an ember formed. The girls watched intently as Jeff gently blew on the tinder, coaxing it into a small flame.

"The key is patience and a steady breath. Don't rush it," he muttered in a low breath.

Jeff then carefully transferred the tinder to a nest of dry leaves and tinder he had prepared. He then quickly set up a small fire pit, clearing the area and arranging the stones in a circle. This action was to keep the flame from spreading.

You don't even know that 🤨.

The flame then grew, and he added the kindling, watching as the fire caught and began to burn steadily.

"See? Once the tinder is burning, you add the kindling, and then the larger branches and logs," he stated as he stood up when the fire was finally crackling in the spot.

Jeff's previous experience is really good, despite the initial struggle just now. He can see that he improved a lot since his first took him a lot of time.

"Wow. That was amazing," Jessica said, her voice filled with admiration.

Ariana and Layla nodded, impressed by his skills.

Jeff just chuckled and smile a little, looking at their faces, "It's all about knowing the right technique and having the right materials. We should try and cook the fish now, since you three seems to be hungry."