Culinary God in Wilderness

"Success!"

The sudden flare of the flame startled Lin Chen. Elated, he forced himself to keep his movements small to avoid accidentally extinguishing the fragile, newborn flame.

After carefully protecting the flame and placing it at the bottom of the fire pit, he continued fanning it with his fingers and blowing gently from a distance. Only then did the flame begin to grow stronger.

Once the surrounding tinder and wood shavings were completely lit, he finally dared to blow with normal force.

The bonfire grew steadily, its orange light reflected in his pupils as it flickered in the cold wind. It not only dispelled the surrounding chill but also ignited a fire of pride in his heart.

[Successfully started a fire with a bow drill on the cold, snowy plains of wintery Alaska. Happiness Value +3]

The sudden system notification made his smile freeze, then the corners of his mouth slowly curved upward.

’So it’s just as I thought. Only by challenging myself can I gain Happiness Value. Ordinary cooking and hunting just don’t satisfy me anymore.’

Without hesitation, he immediately exchanged the freshly earned points for Basic Trap Mastery. The points he had accumulated for nearly two weeks were wiped out again, leaving only a meager 2 points behind.

A flood of knowledge poured into his brain. It felt slightly strained for a moment, but quickly returned to normal.

He tried to access the knowledge. It was just like before; thinking about it vaguely yielded nothing. Only after selecting a specific topic did the corresponding trap details emerge.

For example, the trigger-style branch trap he had set up before, pitfall traps, bait traps, and so on.

He had thought Basic Trap Mastery would be a great help in hunting the Musk Ox, but after a mental review, he realized he’d gotten his hopes up.

Traps for large prey were generally pitfall-based, using bait methods, ground spike methods, or trigger methods, or a combination of them.

Due to the prey’s excessive weight, other types of traps were completely useless. Many of them also required tools to build, and it was impossible to make them purely from natural materials.

Compared to large prey, traps were mainly used to capture small to medium-sized animals, mostly small ones like birds, fowl, rabbits, porcupines, and rats.

For medium-sized prey, it was like what Andre had done before: setting up trigger traps on an animal’s fixed path. They were mostly used to hunt young animals; adults were too strong and could break free with just a few struggles.

He let out a silent breath. Although he was a little disappointed, it wasn’t a complete loss.

The traps might not help him hunt the Musk Ox, but they could protect him, negating the fatal consequences of a charge if he angered the herd.

’It’s still early. I’ll focus on making the bark rope first and worry about traps later.’

Traps were just a backup plan. If his archery was accurate enough, he wouldn’t need them to save his life.

Once the fire was going, he tossed the bark he had just scraped into the snow and rubbed it to coat its surface with a thin layer of snow. Then he held it near the fire to heat it.

Waves of heat instantly melted the layer of snow. Before the meltwater could drip off, it was absorbed by the bark fibers.

He repeated this process several times. When the bark no longer absorbed water, it meant it had drunk its fill.

He cut a long, thin strip of bark and held it over the fire, moving it back and forth to heat the moisture inside and soften it.

’It’s not just bark; thin strips of wood and bamboo can also be softened over a fire. It’s one of the essential techniques for hand-weaving.’

While he was busy working by the fire, Andre, hiding behind a tree not far away, was so cold his teeth were chattering.

"Th-this kid... is something else... He even... knows how... to use... a bow drill." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Crouching for so long had made his limbs go numb. He quickly stood up to move his body around.

"I just don’t know what that guy’s making a fire for. It looks like he’s making something."

From so far away, with the glare from the snow and the flickering firelight affecting his vision, he could only see Lin Chen fiddling with something in his hands but couldn’t make out any specific details.

’If this guy stays here until dark, am I supposed to just keep watching him?’

"No, no way. I can’t do something that stupid. I’ll wait another hour at most. If he shows no sign of attacking, I’ll have to head back first."

He was here to win the prize money. The most he could do was help Lin Chen within his means, but only on the condition that it didn’t affect his own performance.

Meanwhile, Lin Chen was completely focused on heating the birch bark. With each pass over the fire, the bark miraculously became a bit more pliable.

It wasn’t over once it was completely softened. He still needed to pound it with a hard object to further increase its toughness. This would also break up the bark’s solid form, separating the long fibrous tissues from the main sheet and turning them into long, thin fiber bundles.

This way, he wouldn’t need a knife to cut it. He could just grab the separated fiber bundles and tear them off, then begin the final step: weaving.

He was pretty good at weaving grass rope, but bark rope had a different texture. It was extremely tough and not easy to break, so the self-spinning method wasn’t suitable. He planned to use the most common three-strand braid.

He just had to hold three strands of bark fiber at his fingertips and weave them back and forth. There was no real technical skill involved.

When a strand ran short, he just had to splice in a new bundle of bark fiber and continue the process. Because of this, the initial three strands shouldn’t be the same length; it was best to start with a long, a medium, and a short one.

This was for weaving a longer rope. If the required length was already sufficient, he could just choose three strands of similar length.

’Let me think... one runner on the bottom of each side, with the cargo area in the middle. I don’t need a seat, just a wooden plank will do. In that case... no, no, the ropes can’t touch the ground. There needs to be a support between the plank and the runners to create some space.’

’So that means four posts under the plank, one fixed at each corner. I’ll need at least four ropes.’

He sat there like that, continuously doing his handiwork, occasionally adding some firewood to the campfire to keep it burning.

[Made birch bark rope in the cold winter forest of Alaska. Happiness Value +1]

’As expected, the most important part of wilderness survival is challenging yourself.’

Encouraged by the system notification, his motivation and confidence soared. He eagerly prepared to start the next step, which was also the most physically demanding.

First, he selected a suitable length on the birch trunk he had just stripped of its bark. Using his combat knife as a nail and the Engineer Shovel as a hammer, he drove the knife deep into the wood, one strike after another.

Then he pulled it out and continued in a different spot.

After making seven or eight holes, he used the Engineer Axe to chop it. The trunk, its internal structure already compromised, quickly split open with a deep crack along the line of holes.

Finally, he used an engineer saw to cut the remaining half of the trunk, stood it on the ground, and split it down the middle.

’The physical labor is done. Next up is the detail work. If I make a mistake, I’ll have to cut a new piece of wood. I hope this works.’

If the work before was that of a lumberjack, what came next was the work of a carpenter.

He made a cut two or three fingers’ width from one end of the log. He used the axe blade to gently chop downwards at an angle, using the same technique as when felling a tree: first chopping an angled notch, then a vertical chop to remove the piece of wood entirely.

As he continued to chip away, an uneven curve gradually appeared on the inner side of the wood.

Once the curve reached a certain depth, he stood the log up and split it from the middle of the other end, just like splitting firewood, using the trunk’s natural fiber structure to let the wood break on its own.

This way, the thickness of the wood was reduced by half, with only the tip remaining in its original state.

’Phew... so far, so good. Looks like this method is working.’

He had never watched any videos about making sled runners, nor did he have any related knowledge in his head. He had come up with this method purely through a flash of inspiration and by referencing the crafting processes for various wilderness tools.

He sat on the remaining part of the trunk, holding the roughly-shaped sled runner between his legs. Using the blade of the Engineer Axe as a plane, he slid it up and down, shaving off paper-thin strips of wood.

When its thickness was about what he remembered for a sled runner, he changed direction and chopped a corresponding curve on the outer side of the curved end. Finally, he smoothed the uneven curve, and a simple, crudely made birch sled runner was complete.

He used a spare piece of bark as a container to boil some snowmelt to soothe his throat. After a brief rest for a few minutes, he picked up the other half of the log and began making the second sled runner.

Andre, who had been about to leave, saw what Lin Chen was making and suddenly became interested.

"Looking at that shape, is the kid planning to go skiing?"

"No, no, that’s not right. You can ski anywhere. There’s no need to come all the way out here for that. What he’s making now must have something to do with the Musk Ox."

"Gasp... No way...?"

In that instant, an extremely bold idea popped into Andre’s mind.

The kid wants to use a sled to haul the Musk Ox back!

’Does he already have a plan and the confidence to take down the Musk Ox herd?’

At this thought, he was no longer in a hurry to leave. But to maintain his body temperature, he could only do squats and high knees on the spot, trying not to make any large movements that might attract the attention of Lin Chen or the Musk Ox herd.

「An unknown amount of time passed.」

When Lin Chen finished tying the last bark rope, a proper-looking sled stood quietly in its place.

Originally, he wanted to use a single plank for the central platform, but considering the size of a Musk Ox, he probably couldn’t find a tree big enough. In the end, he had to join several planks together, forcing him to make a few more ropes to tie the planks down on both sides.

He straightened up, patting his sore lower back, and looked up for the sun in the sky.

’Ha, it was morning when I left, and now the sun is about to set. Eight or nine hours must have passed, right?’

Excluding travel time, he had been here for at least seven or eight hours.

’Handicrafts sure are time-consuming.’

He tried stepping onto it. The platform’s weight-bearing capacity was better than he had imagined; even when he jumped on it a few times, there were no problems.

[Successfully crafted a sled in the cold winter forest of Alaska. Happiness Value +4]

’Only four points? ...I guess that makes sense. Making this thing wasn’t difficult, just time-consuming. I’ve made rope before, too. There wasn’t a lot of technical skill involved overall.’

This notification also confirmed his suspicion: when life becomes mundane and uninteresting, only by challenging oneself and trying new things can one generate any emotional fluctuation.

If not, life would become more unbearable day by day, and eventually, he would fall into a state of numbness, which could very well lead to psychological illness.

Besides helping him survive in the wilderness, the existence of the Happiness Value probably had the more important purpose of ensuring his mental and physical health.

After finishing the cargo sled, he boiled some more snowmelt to drink, using the hot water’s temperature to raise his body heat and promote blood circulation, preventing it from affecting his performance later.

Having not eaten for half a day, he was slightly hungry, but this state actually made his mind clearer.

’While the sun is still up, it’s time to get down to business. There’s a good chance I’ll have to spend the night out here.’

Since he had decided to go all-in against these big guys, he was prepared for the worst.

The bonfire had melted all the nearby snow, even forming a crust of ice at the edges. The ground was soaked with meltwater, which would also slowly freeze solid after the fire went out.

This area wouldn’t be covered by new snow anytime soon and could serve as a temporary camp.

He stood up, stretched his body, and looked toward the Musk Ox herd in the distance, his hunting bow in hand.

’Alright then, time to begin!’