With the crackle of electrical discharges caused by simulated imbalances occurred, Adam began to achieve a greater understanding of the environment around them.

Or, would it be better to call it, under them? He wasn't too sure, what the current viewing arrangements could be clearly described as. No longer were they situated on the ground, much to Adam's full enjoyment. Having such a low viewpoint had restricted his observation to too high a level, by not letting him see objects from upwards.

What Adam would have given, to be able to see the fight for sunlight, inside the jungles, from the perspective of a bird. The battles, which occurred on such a small scale, would have done well, in giving him a better outlook on micromanagement of larger amounts of valuable resources.

In the current placement, instead of the platform technically being half a meter over the surface, it was now nearly two meters above it. In the aforementioned jungle area, this would have been even more catastrophic, than the original placement, due to the sheer amount of leaves obscuring the sight of all.

But, this was not a problem, seeing as their current environment did not emulate any of the previous, in any way, other than its existence.

“Well, this isn't something you see every day”, Troy stated loudly, as the territory under him had fully formed.

A look around was taken, giving Adam plenty of data about the location. Just below them was, what he had identified to be a road, created through constant travel across it. A natural road, if the pre-known knowledge was to be believed.

Around this naturally created road, a few, older trees were situated. They were few in number. Not enough to be called a full-fletched forest, yet enough to be clearly seen from afar. Even further away, there was only plain grass, bushes, and a few smaller trees to be seen.

Like Dr Fidelis had stated before, the environment would not be anything, that Adam would be too impressed at. Yes, this specific kind of environment had not been seen before, but the things in the environment had all been seen someplace before.

Well, not all the included objects in the environment had been seen before.

As another crackle of thunder was heard, in the distance, from atop one of the trees, a caw was heard. Adam had never heard such a noise before and was immediately interested in, what the source of this noise would be.

Troy, however, did not seem to share this enthusiasm, simply looking at the direction of the thunder instead.

“Looks like the rain is nearing over to us”, Troy observed. “That is if you wait long enough to answer this time. You know, Dr Fidelis actually stated, that the amount of time you took, during the last test, was a bit more than he had expected. So, here's a potential plan for the two of us. Instead of taking an average of ten minutes with every new environment, we could maybe cut that down to, say, five minutes. Sounds good?”

Adam did not care how long each environment took to be completed. What he sought was simply results. If the particular environment required time to flourish the correct degree of results, Adam would gladly wait the needed amount of time.

'I will try, but nothing is promised.', Adam sent to Troy. He knew it wasn't the actual truth, but such communication methods had apparently been switched over to. It was not a change, which Adam desired, but, if Troy wanted it that way, he would oblige.

Back to the time take, with each environment. One could take this, as an example. Currently, Adam had registered two differents factors, in how long this current environment would take before the description could be reasonably written.

The first factor was, of course, the thunderstorm. Adam had already observed such phenomena before, lowering its priority drastically. The only reason for its continued importance was his interest in the effect it would have on the current plant life. The last time, a thunder strike had been directly observed was during an ocean environment, limiting the data Adam could acquire about the impact. For now, oceanic water seemed to have been a great limiter in preventing electrical damage. When it came to trees, and the wood it contained, Adam wasn't too sure, that the same results would occur.

Now, for the second, and most important factor. Whatever creature was making that noise. Adam had never heard it before, and he wanted answers. Also, he knew that it was a creature and that the emitted sound wasn't emerging from a complex structural pattern in the tree forms.

Dr Fidelis had specifically warned him about not putting too much of a focus into plant life. This would hint at, the plant life not having any meaningful changes, in between the two tests. So, seeing as he had never observed such noise-making from plant-life, it would be good reasoning to assume that the sound would come from a creature, of some kind.

If only Adam could get a better look at the origin of the noise, where the creature would presumably be sitting.

Yet another thundering wave came over them, with the whole light spectacle included. Using some quick calculations, taking the time it took the sound to reach them, from the moment the light was seen, and referencing it to the previous blast of sound, the clouds full of rain would be over them in a minute or two. And, into the side of Troy's head, slightly more upwards than them, the creature screeched a bit more, just setting Adam's mind on metaphorical fire.

Oh, how he wanted a good look at it. From the way the sound vibrated, a specific form of body was needed to produce it. From the lighter tones and the higher volumes in short in blasts, Adam estimated that the creature would have a small overall size. It could vary wildly, but the chances of it coming up to Troy's waist was exceedingly slim.

And, the placement of the creature threw around many more things about the size of it. While Adam had not gotten a look at the tree, where the creature was presumed to be residing, if it followed the same height and width as the other trees, the load-bearing of the branches was certainly limited. If one took the linearly narrowing branches, and the approximated residing height of the creature, there was a hard max weight of seven kilos. From what other information, which Adam had processed thoroughly, though, the bird was more likely to weigh in the range of six hundred to one thousand five hundred grams.

Then, with the estimations of body size and weight made, it was time to make presumptions about the movement methods. Whatever kind of form the creature had, its ways of movement needed to easily allow it, to get on top of trees, and the branches associated with them.

According to what Adam had learned through the pre-known knowledge, there were two possible ways that the creature could feasibly get on top of the tree.

The first, as obvious as it now was, was that the creature had a greater affinity in crawling. This presumption of movement types would make sense when it came to the size of the creature.

This knowledge of the movement methods would even let Adam hone in on, what creature, he was actually dealing with. As stated before, the form of the body needed to have the ability to create high-pitched, yet most likely only in small bursts, instead of a continuous wailing.

Again, Adam was forced to use his pre-known knowledge, when it came to finding specific species. But, using the already established parameters, it was easily possible to find a creature, which was within the needed borders.

Chipmunk; A smaller creature, in both weight and length. It is known for both its ability to communicate over large distances, and its ability to climb vertical surfaces.

It fit perfectly. Yet, Adam wasn't too sure, if this choice was the correct one. The most likely reasons for its perfect fitting was due to the text abstract wordings, and it not using any specific numberings of weights, lengths, and even frequencies.

At first glance, this would be the most obvious choice. Adam had previously stated that the creature was smaller in size and weight, so it would be able to have its weight on the top branches. Even further, the high-pitched noise finally had a reason to exist. Having a different pitch, than most other sounds in a certain environment, making it able for that sound to carry through even longer than other frequencies. This would allow communication over vast distances, as the text so stated. And, as the last nail in the coffin, both creatures had presumed, extraordinary climbing abilities. As said before, this would be a perfect match.

Yet, it just wasn't supposed to be. Even if the vague wordings could be ignored, which Adam honestly couldn't bear to do, there was one hammer, which took out all the nails.

While the main category, pertaining to chipmunks were vague in the words, the subcategories of the different species, were more than great, when it came to giving exact statements.

Siberian Chipmunk; Expected age: six to ten years. Weight: fifty to hundred and fifty grams. Length: eighteen to twenty-five centimetres.

Long-eared Chipmunk; Expected age: four to nine years. Weight: eighty-one to hundred grams. Length: twenty-three to twenty-four centimetres.

Eastern Chipmunk; Expected age: five to six years. Weight: fifty to hundred and fifty grams. Length: Twenty to thirty centimetres.

There were many more variants, but Adam thought that his point had come across well enough. The standards for what was deemed as small seemed to vary greatly, from source to source. Such a deviation of normalisation had been anticipated, but, with the main subject of creatures being the same, Adam may have had an error, in guessing, that he had been filled in on the scaling system.

Getting back to the dissertation of finding the species of the creature in the tree, the possibility of ti being a chipmunk was quickly ruled out. And, no other probable species, which fit in the already lax criteria existed. There were some mentions, but most live in jungle-like environments, making the chances of them surviving in an area, such as this, not likely.

This lead into Adam going way back into his thought-processes. If the current criteria didn't let any worthwhile creatures into it, the criteria needed to be changed. Something had to be up in that tree making noise.

The most likely movement method to get up in such a tall thing, other than just climbing it, of course, was using the ability of flight. Such a thing would also be very profitable to have, in an environment such as this. While great food sources were not scarce, the was a lot of distance to traverse between them. Simply using legs would burn the calories faster than they could be gained. But, using wings, and being carried on by the wind, would allow for much more efficient movement.

Again, the chances of the creature having this flying aptitude were extremely high. When one took away the possibility of climbing, though, it became absolute.

Now, it was time for the analysis of what the animal the creature could be. The current criteria were that the form of the creature was elongated near-horizontally instead of vertically, that it was light, in the spectrum of six hundred to one thousand five hundred grams, that it had the tendency of high pitched screeches, and, finally, that it had the ability of flight.

The most obvious answer, which came forth, was the possibility of the creature being one of many birds. Really, there were so many to choose from, that Adam simply surmised his earlier approximations had been correct. The form just fit too closely, for a chance to have let it.

As all good things had to do, due, this one turned rather stale rather quickly. With so many fitting the needed criteria, it was nearly impossible to cut down on, what type of bird it was.

Finally, though, it was crammed down to a single variety of birds. A branch of species, if one would prefer such a type of technical language. Adam was sure, that the creature belonged to the kind of bird called a Corvid.

Corvid: A type of bird typically known for its darker colours, higher social abilities, and a larger amount of intelligence.

It was the intelligence part, which made Adam force it down, to this species. While other birds branches were skilled in using their environments, to their advantage, Corvids were the true master of this field. This was not shown in their eyesight or hearing. Those senses were at the same level as others.

No, it was their ability of communication, which gave the corvids the makings to prosper. They learned, not by their born instincts, but from being told by other birds of their own. They could want others, what to eat, and when to eat it.

And, more precisely, they could tell, when a feast could soon begin. For, these corvids never travelled alone. They did send singular scouts, though, in times of finding feed.

In the distance, along with the thunder, which was getting louder by the second, screeching could be heard. It would not be wrong to state that Adam could have hit the guess, with near-pinpoint accuracy. As of now, there was only one thing left to do.

His hypothesis would have to be checked.

'Troy.', Adam sent. With the rain, now beginning to make its presence known, having longer messages could be impeding. This was due to the greater chance of Troy not being able to grasp his words, with the larger amount of white noise around him.

While having such short sentences and messages did make sense to have, it still irritated the underlying values, which Adam held himself by. He would have preferred, if the total intentions were shown, as quickly as possible. But, no, that would be possible. Adam would just have to wait for Troy to answer in his utterly slowed reaction time.

“Yes?” Troy asked, being just as short on the messages as Adam. “Ready to fill out the description?”

There he went, pushing him to quicken his pace. How Adam wished, that Troy would understand the importance of not being hasty in one's answer. The number of mistakes, which Adam had made in the past, was nearly fully due to being too expeditious in the decision processes.

'If the current pace is upheld, I will be able to answer in two minute's time. For now, would you please tilt your head upwards, and do a slow scan of all the treetops?', Adam said, formulating the request in the fashion of a question, instead of a direct order. Thinking about one's wording, to maximise the chances of obeying, was a great way efficiently dealing with situations such as this one.

Troy didn't confirm hearing the request, which was fine to him, seeing as the action was still fulfilled.

As he looked up, Adam was able to see an animal, other than humans, for the first in his life.

Pointedly ignoring the presence of Troy, the animal screeched again, flapping its wing slightly, as if to balance itself. The weight could have been much less than a kilo, with most of the pure size having to have come from the multitudes of black feathers, which near-totally covered the body of the creature.

“What annoying little buggers”, Troy mumbled, with an annoyed tone, as the other creatures finally joined the original on the tree. Together, their screening multiplied, with Adam unable to differentiate between the sources. “Ruins the whole atmosphere, with all that cawing of theirs.”

As of those words being released from Troy's mouth, Adam had been fully sure of his hypothesis. What was before the AI was definitely a bird of the Corvid branch. But, he was still unable to further hone in on what specific corvid the birds were. This was due to the still-lacking pre-known information. Adam really did need to convince Dr Fidelis to give him access to a digtital encyclopedia sometime soon. It would make this whole thing so much easier to do accurately.

For now, though, he was forced to use another source of information. No matter how untrustworthy it could be at times, it had to be decently accurate with this, in the least.

'Troy. Do you know what bird that is?', Adam asked.

“Looks like a raven to me”, was what Troy answered. “Or, a very large crow. Could be either, really, depending on the environment. Not too sure, where in the world, this place is supposed to be, if I'm being honest.”

Raven or crow.

…

It was good enough, for now.