The Double Drop Buff Surviving The Endless Ocean novel Chapter 12

“My stomach hurts. I’ve got a bad stomach, and drinking cold water for two days is just too much for me.” Jessica sounded nothing like her usual self, her voice weak and drained.

Leeanne’s expression darkened. ‘Stomach hurts? That’s tough to fix, she thought.

Yesterday was warm, but after sunset today, it felt a lot colder.

Cold weather always made stomach problems worse.

Jessica started crying again. “This sucks. I have to eat cold bread roll and can’t even get a sip of clean water.”

Leeanne’s eyes lit up. “Hang on!”

She could just make a stove, after all.

Earlier, she’d been too busy gathering supplies to build the stove, but now that night had fallen, she was ready to give it a shot and see if she could finally have a hot meal.

It was time to make that stove.

She had enough materials to build it.

She walked over to the workbench and pulled out the blueprint for the stove.

[Stove: Keeps you warm, cooks your food, boils your water–essential for any home! But if you use it in a closed room, make sure to add a chimney! Required materials: 18/10 iron. Do you want to make it?]

“Yes!” she replied.

After some clanging and banging, the stove was done.

It was round, about 2 feet tall–just like those old–school coal stoves from the seventies and eighties.

[Ding Stove crafted. Bonus: 1 lighter.]

Leeanne’s eyes lit up. Wow, talk about perfect timing. I was just stressing about how to get a fire going, and the system hands me a lighter, like getting a pillow when you’re tired, she thought.

Now that she thought about it, sometimes the system would toss her a reward after she finished crafting something, and other times it just played dead Leeanne had no clue why. Her best guess? Maybe the system only handed out bonuses for stuff it considered high–level enough.

Or maybe the system was just capricious. Sometimes it was super helpful, other times it just got lazy

She didn’t think about it any further, put the stove in place, and immediately ran into another problem

The stove was supposed to use compressed coal or wood blocks, but she didn’t have any compressed coal and without the right tools, she couldn’t chop wood either.

Guess it was time to turn to the almighty chat channel for help

Leeanne: [Buying compressed coal, split wood, dry branches, etc. Will trade for bottled water or food. DM me if interested!]

The chat channel lit up right away.

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“Why is Leeanne always buying such weird stuff? What’s compressed coal anyway?”

“I swear, Leeanne must have an endless stash of food and water. She keeps trading but never seems to run out!”

“Hey Leeanne, can you give me some food first? I’ll trade you compressed coal later when I get some.”

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Ronald Stallings: “Hey Leeanne, it’s Ronny. Can I get a sip of water? I can video call you and show off my abs while I dance…”

“Seriously, Ronald, that’s disgusting. Instead of wasting time begging, why not just grab a chest yourself?”

“Hey, how come William hasn’t said anything in forever? Yesterday, he and Ronald were like the dynamic duo of the chat!”

“You don’t think he’s dead, do you?”

“Yeah, he’s probably dead by now. No food, no water, and he was injured–how long could he last? Bet he just gave up and jumped into the ocean.”

“Compared to him, we’re way better off. I’m feeling good again!”

Leeanne got a bunch of messages.

Rodger: “Do you have a firestarter?”

William: “Got 1 compressed coal here!”

Jessica: “Leeanne, I’ve got [1 dry branch]. It’s useless to me, so you can have it.”

Leeanne accepted both the compressed coal from William and the dry branch from Jessica right away.

The stove fit a single compressed coal perfectly. After dropping it in, Leeanne sparked up the dry branch with her lighter, then used the flaming branch to ignite the coal.

In no time, the compressed coal was burning steadily.

[Survival Tip: Compressed Coal burning. Burn time: 23:59:59]

This one would last a full 24 hours, but after that, it’d be gone for good.

She’d spotted some coal chunks on the island earlier, so there had to be a coal mine nearby. Tonight, she’d get ready, and tomorrow she’d head out again, hoping to find and dig up some coal. That way, she wouldn’t have to stress about running

out of fuel

As she mulled it over, Leeanne fished out her little stainless steel pot.

This thing was tiny–just about eight inches wide–with two handles, all pink, a white steamer basket, and a matching pink

lid.

Seriously, this thing was so cute it was obviously designed for girls

Leeanne wondered, Does this game actually give different gear styles based on whether you’re a guy or a girl?

She set the pot on the stove, grabbed a bottle of purified water, and poured some into it.

While waiting for the water to boil, she messaged Jessica Do you have a cup or something for hot water? I’ll get you soruɛ.

soon.”

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Jessica started a video call right away.

Leeanne answered.

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Jessica was sitting on a chest, clutching her stomach, her hair all messy. She immediately noticed Leeanne by the coal stove.

But her eyes were quickly glued to the stove and the cute little stainless steel pot on top.

“Wow, Leeanne, you’ve got a pot. And it’s so cute! Is that a stove? Where’d you get all this gear? It’s so handy!

“Oh, I see steam coming off the pot. Is it about to boil?

“I’m so excited. It’s been ages since I’ve seen anything actually cooking!”

Even with her stomach hurting, Jessica couldn’t stop talking. She rattled off a whole string of comments before Leeanne could even reply.

She stood up straight, craning her neck to get a better look.

Her face was flushed with excitement.

Leeanne gave a playful grin. “Exactly. Thanks for the dry branch. Without it, I couldn’t have fired up the stove. Grab a container, I’ll pour you some hot water.”

Jessica chirped back happily, rummaging through her chest until she pulled out an empty water bottle. She hesitated, “Uh… this should work, right? It won’t melt or anything, will it?”

Leeanne nodded. “Let’s try it. Besides, you can’t drink boiling hot water anyway.”

Right now, nobody had any proper containers, so this was the best they could do.

Leeanne had some water bottles and oatmeal cans lying around, but since they were all girls, nobody really wanted to use someone else’s container, especially for drinking water.

Once the water had cooled down a bit, Leeanne filled up half the bottle and sent it over to Jessica.

Then, Jessica put a whole bottle of water in the trade window.

Leeanne tried to turn it down, but Jessica was stubborn. “Leeanne, dry branches are everywhere, but water, especially boiled water, is super rare. If you don’t take it, it would make me feel awkward.”

Leeanne didn’t like to fuss over things, so she accepted and said, “Alright, next time, I’ll get you another half bottle of boiled

water”

Jessica grinned. “Alright, Leeanne, guess I’ll let myself take advantage of your kindness this time”

Leeanne didn’t say anything more. She was genuinely thankful for the dry branch Jessica had given her. Out here on the endless ocean, she really needed a few sold allies, and Jessica was definitely someone she could count on, they could trade and watch each other’s backs.

Above all, there was real trust between them.

And in a place like this, trust was worth its weight in gold.

After a couple more words, Leeanne ended the video call and got started on her pasta.

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she’d just tossed the pasta into the pot when William sent something her way: [1 regular key]

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