Adam and April could not sleep the entire night. They could not afford to let their guard down. Even when Adam suggested they take turns standing guard, none of them could close their eyes.
They could not be blamed. With no way of knowing what could attack them at their most vulnerable state, they could not allow themselves to sleep. Fortunately for them, besides the distant cries of a few beasts, nothing attacked them till morning came.
Adam spent the night studying the biology of a few branches he had taken, their leaves still attached. Since he could not sleep, he might as well increase his Biology Knowledge Index. His actions had seemed strange to April, but the girl asked no questions of him.
Adam appreciated the space she gave him, allowing him to learn to his heart’s content. With every piece he figured out, he drew closer to creating a regeneration skill. Naturally, he needed to see a few healing skills to put everything together. But Adam could feel it; he was getting closer.
When daytime came, the two teens had dark circles under their eyes, but April’s were more pronounced than Adam’s. That was the least of their worries, however, as the two were very hungry. The ration they had the night before barely scratched the itch of their hunger. And staying up all night did not help either, more so when Adam spent it learning about biology.
’And here I was thinking I know what hunger feels like.’
Adam thought to himself as his stomach rumbled. Perching atop a nearby boulder, he ignored the protest of his stomach and took a good look at his surroundings before looking to the east, appreciating the beauty of the morning sun and atmosphere.
Unlike the dense forest he had come from the previous day, this place looked more like the woods with more space and sparser canopy; not that it changed anything.
He lowered his gaze to his travel companion, who had her eyes closed while sitting against the boulder. She had only managed to close her eyes for short intervals in the night before snapping back to attention.
Adam turned his gaze away, looking in the direction of the cliff they had come from. His thoughts spun as he thought of what to do about food. Suddenly, his eyes lit up when he recalled the raptor he had taken down the night before.
’Why didn’t I think of that before?!’
He quickly jumped down, startling April awake. The poor girl literally jumped to her feet, her eyes darting around in search of nonexistent danger.
"Relax, April. It’s just me." Adam revealed a light smile. "Also, what do you think about raptor meat?"
"Huh?" For a brief moment, the pink-haired girl was confused. "Wait, you’re talking about that falcon you took down yesterday?" Her eyes widened as she caught on.
"Mhm." Adam nodded and added. "It no longer moved after I knocked it out of the sky. I’m willing to bet it’s still down there."
A shudder went down April’s spine as she imagined herself eating meat that might have been dead for several hours already. "Y-Yeah. I don’t think I’ll be able to eat that thing."
"..."
Adam did not reply, not sure if he understood what she meant. Maybe she was averse to eating bird meat or something. "Really? Aren’t you hungry?"
They were not in a position to be picky about what they ate. Adam had not encountered any plant with edible fruit since the beginning of the survival trial. And he had no intention of eating just any plant simply because it wasn’t poisonous.
"I-I’ll find something else," April replied sheepishly.
Adam looked at the girl, unconvinced. But since she had made her stance clear, he had nothing more to say about it. "Whatever you say." He turned around and made his way towards the edge of the cliff.
With nothing to do staying behind, April followed. When they arrived, Adam looked down the edge and squinted his eyes, trying to spot where the raptor lay. He found the raptor, but it had moved quite a bit, leaving a bloody trail behind. ’Excellent. It’s still down there. All that is left to get down this cliff.’
Furrowing his brows, he visualised the most efficient way to get down there without too much difficulty. Jumping was out of the question, as the drop was simply too high, even for his enhanced and powerful physique.
’Hmm... That should be doable.’ He turned to April and said, "I won’t be climbing back up once I’m down there."
"You won’t?" April echoed.
"Yeah. I’ll have to head to the stream for what I intend to do," Adam shook his head, turning to look down the valley. "We don’t have to continuously be on the move after we secure food and water. Our objective is to survive; nothing more, nothing less."
April pondered his words and found them sensible. Naturally, she had the same thoughts. However, with Adam securing something to eat, his need to wander around would naturally die out.
Adam did not wait for April to agree with him. He had made his decision, and he planned on sticking to it. He lowered himself as he latched onto the rocks. Taking it one step at a time would be incredibly slow. As such, he intended to descend using a series of controlled leaps, thereby cutting the time short.
After securing a foothold, he looked down and optically marked his next descent point. Despite his analysis, what he was about to do was risky. As a matter of fact, many of the things he had done in the past several hours had been new and risky on his part.
But every one of them came naturally to him, like he always knew how to do it. His physique and its capacity to adapt to any situation and optimise it was insane. It was as if his body was programmed to be capable of doing anything within the realm of possibility.
With a gentle push off the stone, he made his first descent, falling a few meters to his left. His grip tightened around the rock as he stabilised himself, silently in awe of what he had just done. Adam’s heart was already racing with anxiety, knowing one mistake could be disastrous to him.
At the same time, he was confident in the holds he chose because his unique skill was able to deduce which points were the most secure. With that confidence, he continued his descent, shocking the watching April.
Unlike Adam, she was not so confident she could do what he did. She would rather take it slow and steady, lest she fall to her death.
Several minutes passed before Adam looked up at April. The poor girl was holding on to her rock holds for dear life and was still near the top of the cliff. Adam flashed a brief humorous smile at her determination.
She had no reason to follow him in his daring acts. But the girl was determined to stick with him. That alone earned his respect. He never really had female friends because they were simply too much. April, on the other hand, seemed different.
Looking back down, Adam jumped off the cliff towards the ground, as he had reached a sufficient height where he could jump down safely. With a thud, he landed and exhaled, letting go of the tension in his body.
’Hah... That was dangerous.’
Adam thought in hindsight as he looked up the cliff once more. April was still descending, though at a much slower pace. To avoid any problems, he decided to wait in case of any problems.
’Shit!’
No sooner had that thought crossed his mind than April’s frightened shriek filled the air. Adam’s heart skipped a beat when he saw April’s grip falter.
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