Chapter 18

He arranged some flat stones to form a cooking surface over the fire. Jeff then asked for the banana worm, which he placed on the hot stones to cook.

Meanwhile, he skillfully prepared the snake and cooked it over a separate fire.

Once it was fully cooked, the girls were extremely hungry. Emma and Charlotte's target was the snake, because who would choose to eat a worm?

Jeff wasn't picky; for him, eating anything to satisfy his hunger was the priority.

So, he took the banana worm and munched on it. He was expecting the worst but finds himself pleasantly surprised.

The banana worm had a crispy exterior from the hot stone, and the inside was soft and tender. Its taste was surprisingly nutty, with a hint of sweetness similar to the fruit it lived on.

The flavor was mild and quite enjoyable, almost like a small savory treat.

"This is actually better than it seems," he muttered to himself, taking another one.

As they watched him eat, they felt a bit disgusted, except for Layla, who was curious about the taste of a worm. She took one and munched on it, which left her pleasantly surprised.

"This actually tastes better than it looks," she exclaimed, prompting Ariana to try one as well.

"Yummy!" Ariana muttered, the nutty meat sticking in her teeth, which she then cleaned with her tongue.

Jessica had not taken a bite yet; she felt a wave of disgust. She was afraid of eating the snake but was equally repulsed by the worm.

Left with no choice, she decided to eat the worm, reasoning that it was better than the cooked snake.

After taking one and munching it with a bitter face, Jessica was surprised by its sweetness as her tongue wrapped around it.

Seeing them eating heartily, Jeff just smiled, appreciating the liveliness of not being alone. Once they were all done, Ariana felt a bit thirsty.

"I'm going to go and drink water from the river," she said, starting to stand up from the ground but was stopped.

"Don't drink the river water, you do know that it has lots of bacteria in it. I'll go find some coconut trees for you to drink from," Jeff said, knowing that drinking untreated river water could lead to various health issues.

Ariana was about to thank him, but Jeff had already stood up. After some time, he found a cluster of coconut trees. He climbed up, retrieved a few coconuts, and then chopped them open.

All of them drank happily, with big smiles on their faces. Jeff looked up at the sky and saw that it must be around the afternoon.

After resting for a while, he went to the pieces of rocks he had gathered. He glanced around and found a dense rock. Although it wasn't flint, chert, or obsidian but it was ideal for making sharp edges so it would suffice for now.

He held the rock and use the axe to chip away the larger pieces of the rock, carefully striking at the right angle to break off chunks and form a rough shape.

After that he carefully refined the edge, he uses the axe to chip away larger pieces of the rock. He was working slowly and steadily to create the sharp edge.

After chipping for a while and see that it seems to become sharper, he stood up and went to a nearby wood. He found a sturdy piece of wood, and use the axe to carve a groove where the rock will sit. 

[You just made a stone knife. You have gained 20 experience points]

[20/200 exp. Remains to upgrade the skill]

After securing the rock to the handle with a vine from the tree, he then rub the edge of the knife against a rough stone to further sharpen it.

Seeing the entire process, they were all very surprised. None of them knew that Jeff actually knew how to make a knife.

"Wow, captain, that's amazing. Is making a knife really that easy?" Ariana exclaimed in adoration, looking at the knife being sharpened on the rough stone.

Charlotte was also amazed that he could do something like this; it seemed like he was built for this moment the survival game moment.

They were all astonished to discover that their captain was actually a craftsman.

"Layla, I want you to hold this for a while" Jeff muttered after looking at the knife blade, which is already sharp.

"Do you know how to make a rope?" Jeff asked after passing the knife to Layla.

Hearing his words, Layla felt embarrassed because she had no idea how to make one. Seeing her remain silent, Jeff nodded his head in understanding.

"I know how!" Charlotte said, raising her hand.

"Are you sure?" Jeff asked again, his eyes locking onto Charlotte with a hint of skepticism.

Seeing Jeff's skepticism made Charlotte displeased; she was not just a beauty without brains.

"Of course I know. I've watched it on TV so many times. You can trust me," she said with pride, pointing at herself.

Seeing her confidence, Jeff nodded his head in acceptance. Layla then passed the DIY knife and felt its touch. Even though the quality wasn't top-notch, it could still do the job.

"I will be leaving for a while. You can ask the rest to help," Jeff spoke, as he still needed to find more resources.

"Where are you going young captain? Can this big sister follow you in your journey?" Emma said pointing at herself.

Jeff nodded his head, knowing that having one companion would be good enough. Layla, seeing this, sensed that this woman was up to no good.

"I want to come as well!" Layla exclaimed, raising her hand.

Jeff seeing her just shook his head in reply, "You don't need to follow us, Layla. The two of us are already good. I'll leave the work of making the rope to you four. Don't worry, Ms. Charlotte will teach you," he said with a smile, motioning for Emma to follow him.

Seeing herself alone with the little guy, Layla was happy she had volunteered just in time.

"But... but," she murmured, feeling a bit unhappy, as she watched Jeff and Emma slowly disappear from her sight.

Meanwhile, Charlotte had already begun explaining the process. She took a bark from the tree and started, "So now that we have found a coconut tree, we can use its fibrous bark."

"Did Jeff left the axe?" Charlotte asked looking at the three.

All of them shook their head, making her stumped looking at the bark. But she still continued even though the knife was somewhat sharp its still harder.

"Now then, we are going to carefully peel long, thin strips of the bark from the tree. You have to make sure the strips are as even as possible" she said, telling them to check it carefully in doing so.

"Now then we have to soak this for a few hours! So now we had nothing to do but wait" Charlotte said with a sigh.

"Here, Layla, can you go with Jessica to soak this while we keep peeling the coconut tree?" Charlotte said. Where the two agreed from her words.

"Ariana, it's your turn now, so you will know how to do it," Charlotte said with a smile, handing her the knife.

Her own palm was already swollen since it delicate and soft work, clearly, she was not used to doing this kind of job.

After some hours of soaking the bark strips in the water to soften them, they became more flexible and easier to work with.

"Now I'm going to show you the process, first is we are going to twist the fibers like this" she instructed, as she began her movement.

"We then take two strips of the bark and twist each strip individually in the same direction. Got it?" Charlotte explained.

"Got it!" the girls replied in unison.

"After that, we twist the two strips together in the opposite direction. This will create a strong interlocking structure."

"And finally, we secure the ends by tying knots at both ends of the twisted rope to prevent it from unraveling," she said, emphasizing the most important part.

"Ta dah! we just made a rope" Charlotte said with a smile, filled with pride in her creation.

"Wow, big sister Charlotte is mighty. So amazing," Ariana praised.

"Yeah, you are incredible, sister," Jessica said, her big eyes shining with admiration.

"Big sister is really the big sister, her knowledge is really the same as the captain," Layla added, now grasping the entire process thanks to Charlotte's thorough explanation.

"Hehe! That's nothing," Charlotte replied with a red face from their praises, looking at their amazed expressions.