Metal Evolution - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Drilling for Fire, Stumble and Fall

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Waves crashed against the coast one after another, causing a string of bubbles. The sea breeze blew on the deserted island, and the leaves softly rustled.

A young man with a bare upper body was lying on the soft beach as he convulsed in suffering. His feet were kicking towards the ground with force, resulting in big holes in the sand and his whole body was dripping with sweat.

“My heart… it’s so uncomfortable, so… uncomfortable!”

The young man in question was Xue Yue!

He was currently feeling uncomfortable, extremely uncomfortable. The itch originating from his right hand was similar to water flowing towards his heart, and some unimaginable variation seemed to be happening to his heart. The waves of convulsions got stronger and were extremely uncomfortable to the extent he found it uncomparably hard to even breathe.

“Ahhh-”

The suffering lasted for two minutes until Xue Yue felt his right hand grasping at the air as the discomfort gradually stopped. He collapsed on the beach, gasping for breath in big mouthfuls, and his whole body was drenched in sweat.

“Knife…. Where’s my knife?”

After his right hand no longer transmitted an itch, the discomfort from his heart had also stopped soon after. Xue Yue gasped for a few moments before his gaze involuntarily shifted to his right hand.

The knife was gone!

“Knife! My knife!”

The importance of the knife was self-evident on such a deserted island. Xue Yue hastily looked to the ground and was surprised and angry at the same time. The blade disappeared and only the handle remained. A black plastic handle!

“Just… what happened just now?”

Xue Yue laid down on the beach against his back. He held onto the handle with his left hand and placed his right hand before his eyes. His gaze alternated between left and right and his eyes were filled with bewilderment. His right hand was perfectly fine with no changes, but the blade had disappeared.

“Just… what happened?”

But deep down in his heart, a thought that even he found it ridiculous surfaced. The blade was most probably absorbed by him!

“How is that possible? There’s no way that could happen. It’s metal and how could it be absorbed by me?” Xue Yue could not accept this conjecture.

Lasting until he returned to the cave, Xue Yue was still in a dilemma. He realized that ever since he arrived at this deserted island, strange, supernatural, and even absurd things had happened one after another.

“But regardless of how absurd or supernatural, it seems like… the biggest reason for these incidents is because my body has undergone some sort of strange variation. First, my strength greatly increased. Next, my wounds have healed by themselves. Right now, I can even absorb blades. What… what’s wrong with my body?”

Even though Xue Yue would praise himself for his IQ, he was still at a loss and at his wit’s end when he thought about the changes in his body!

“Forget it, I’ll stop thinking about it. It’s just a pity that I have lost a watermelon knife!” Xue Yue shook his head. Since he could not figure it out, he had no intentions to worry about the problem. It would be better for him to finish whatever was before him.

Xue Yue placed the firewood he picked up outside the cave and started to figure out how he was to create a fire. The fire had to be started before night arrived.

There was no equipment to light a fire on a deserted island and his only choice was the most primitive method. Drilling the wood to make fire!

Xue Yue had previously studied in depth this method for fire and had seen no lack of relevant videos. However, even if he knew the technique, he had never personally accomplished it before by hand.

Drilling wood for fire sounded simple, but it was no easy feat when attempting it.

Firstly, it would be best for the drill and small wood block to be of the same material. In addition, it should be relatively soft, which would be conducive to ‘drill’ the wood block. Material like wood from a Chinese Fir.

Secondly, one had to pay attention to the speed and pressure when drilling. The greater the pressure, and the faster the speed, the more sawdust would be generated, making it easier to catch fire. However, attention must be paid to keep a good rhythm and avoid exerting too much force from the start and lack strength afterwards!

While he was collecting firewood earlier, Xue Yue had paid special attention and barely managed to gather all the materials. A dry bird’s nest, a thin stick about fifty cm long and a small piece of wood.

The method Xue Yue decided on was not via drilling, but friction by rubbing back and forth. It was more convenient and more brute force could be used. It was the simplest method of obtaining fire and at the very least, it was more efficient than continuous drilling!

In order to increase the friction, Xue Yue had even added a small amount of sand. With all the tips and tricks prepared, the only thing left to do was the work!

…

“I failed!”

“Sigh, why isn’t it working!”

“F*ck! I failed again!”

“Shii- There are blisters on my hands!”

“…”

Even though he knew that it was difficult to create fire by friction, Xue Yue had not expected to fail countless attempts in the situation where he had prepared all sorts of tricks beforehand, wasting a large amount of time!

From noon to dusk, around three to four hours had passed and he was still unsuccessful. On the contrary, he had tired himself out and of course the repeated failures did not end up with nothing. At the very least, he had gathered tons of experience.

“Hoo! This seems easy on the surface, but it’s only when attempting it would one know the difficulty. But even so, I don’t believe that I will remain unsuccessful. Even if I don’t get to sleep tonight, I will create the fire!”

Xue Yue was an unyielding and extremely independent individual. He had often stayed up all night in order to solve questions and attended lessons as per normal the next morning. He was stubborn, obstinate, single-minded and independent. It was also all these not so positive qualities that made the Xue Yue of today.

“I must succeed this time!”

Xue Yue continued to rub after a short rest. Around five to six minutes later, traces of smoke surfaced and he did not dare to be careless. The slight bit of smoke did not mean anything as he had managed to accomplish that countless times before, but it still ended up as a failure.

However, it was still a very good sign. At this point, he only had to increase his speed of rubbing and obviously, the more he had to persist on and not stop in the slightest. The moment he stopped, his previous efforts would be wasted.

Rubbing, rubbing, and increased rubbing caused the smoke to accumulate and the sawdust had also increased.

Finally, the light smoke turned into thick smoke and when the endless stream of smoke appeared, Xue Yue hastily lowered his head and gently blew. At that moment, he saw a reddish light along with a continuous stream of smoke.

“Haha, I’ve succeeded. I’ve finally succeeded!”

Xue Yue was overjoyed. He carefully poured the reddish sawdust towards the evacuated bird’s nest and held it in his hands before he gently pressed down and blew air towards it.

Light smoke!

Thick smoke!

Dense smoke!

Woof—

Finally, the bird’s nest caught fire and Xue Yue hastily stuffed it into the pile of firewood he prepared. A moment later, a huge fire was finally started.

Crack, crack—

The bonfire raged fiercely and the flame was more than a meter high.

“Haha, I’ve succeeded!” Xue Yue jumped three feet high in excitement as he laughed happily. “Even though it can’t be compared to other people spending twenty seconds, it’s already considered good that I managed to start a fire!”

As the sun descended to the West, a trace of sunlight spread across the opposite peak and shone on the pool below the waterfall. The reflected light shone on Xue Yue’s slightly young face and the scene seemed natural and harmonious.

Xue Yue continuously added firewood and the bonfire increased in size. Soon after, he shifted a small bonfire into the cave and threw in the mosquito repellent grass he found by accident.

“I’ll smoke away the mosquitoes first!”

The mosquito repellent grass could repel mosquitoes. Xue Yue had discovered tons of mosquitoes last night, but he was too tired and didn’t pay too much attention to it. However, it was different today and he was feeling pretty good. If he wanted to have a better sleep, a good mosquito repellent would do wonders.

As the grass was thrown into the small fire, large amounts of thick smoke rose and immediately filled the cave. Xue Yue nodded in satisfaction and after adding some firewood to the fire outside the cave, he took the simple spear and walked down the stream.

He wanted to eat some cooked food today and seafood was his best choice. It was also his only option.

The small stream winded downwards and ultimately flowed into a small crescent shaped channel. The so-called channel was actually surrounded by land on three sides and the sea on the other side. The most common channels are U shaped channels and circular channels. However, the small channel was in fact, not considered a channel due to it’s small size, but it could still be barely considered one that was of crescent shape.

Xue Yue followed the small stream and walked around three hundred meters before finally saw the small channel sandwiched by the deserted island. Similar to most of the channels, it started from narrow before becoming wider, just like a crescent moon or a curved ox horn.

The sea here was very calm without any extremely turbulent waves. In his surroundings, scattered shells, domineering crabs, snails curled in the mud, and seabirds attracted by the rich seafood could be seen.

To sum it up, the beach seemed very lively!

“This small channel is a safe haven, and no one has even been here. As a result, there is so much seafood here!”

As he saw all kinds of seafood and fishes swimming around, Xue Yue could not help but feel rueful. He was from Dalien and would often play in the seaside. However, he had never once seen such a lively beach.

So this was what the original ecology of a beach looked like. If someone were to…

The beach was not smooth, with potholes and large stones all around. There were many potholes in between the stones and the small potholes were all filled with seawater. Mixed in together with the seawater included sand, mud and also numerous colorful sea fishes along with small crabs.

“Haha, I can have a good feast tonight!”

Xue Yue laughed happily. He had grown up near the sea and he would naturally know what fish could or could not be eaten. The majority of the fish here were edible, but some of them contained poison and were inedible!

For example, it would be best not to eat puffer fish. It’s liver, blood, gonads, and roe were poisonous. If one were to eat them, their tongue, lips, hands and feet would become numb, and their blood pressure would then drop and very soon, they would suffocate and die.

On a deserted island like this, it would mean great trouble if one were to consume a puffer fish by mistake. Xue Yue was unclear if his body could resist the toxin, but he did not dare to take the risk!

After he found a straw of two meters long, Xue Yue took off his shoes and started picking up seafood from the small potholes in between the stones. Very soon, the straw was lined up with all sorts of fish and crabs.,

“A pretty good harvest. These will suffice to eat!”

Xue Yue nodded in satisfaction and prepared to make his way back. But just as he went around a stone and was about to walk out of a small pithole, his feet suddenly went soft and shortly after, his body tilted over.