Chapter 14 If you jump off a bridge, a life-long friend may jump with you. A real friend would grab a boat and save you. A true friend, however, would mock your suicidal ass until you yourself are no longer willing to jump.

“Why haven’t we come across any animals to hunt?”

“A useful question at last, but ideally it should be something you can think of for yourself, Hazel. Even though they’re animals, they have their own sense of intelligence, you know? Most animals have a survival instinct much stronger than the average human, so did you think they’d walk up to you asking to be made into a meal?”

“But we haven’t even seen any tracks of deer or rabbits! We’ve tried sooo hard!”

“Even if there were tracks, could you spot them? Have you earnestly checked the soil, the foliage or potential location for animals to gather?

“I was staring at the ground for hoof prints the whole journey!”

“Ok. Look at me in the eyes. Now, without breaking eye contact, tell me – there’s a flower on the right side of your left leg, what colour is it?”

“H-how am I supposed to know!?”

“Weren’t you looking at the ground the whole journey? You’ve been sitting on that spot for over ten minutes now, but what have you noticed on the ground?”

“I… uhh… okay, maybe not the whole journey.”

“Also, that was dangerously close to a question, but I’ll forgive you.”

“Ughh, so mean.”

“The ruckus you constantly make as you travel, your footsteps and prints, the stuff you leave behind in the bushes, all of that signals your presence in this jungle. Most preys would avoid-“

“THERE ISN’T EVEN A FLOWER ANYWHERE!”

“… avoid you. This place is rather warm, you can see the forest life thriving. Fruits and vegetation everywhere, it should have a rich wildlife ecosystem too. The preys would naturally avoid obvious interruptions like ours, whilst predators would either be wary and stalk us first, or go after easier marks. Animals that won’t avoid us will hide themselves. Those that would approach us would only include critters that have little to no intelligence or senses, or things that are confident they can kill us. Do keep in mind that none of you are completely concealing your mana either, and most animals can feel the disruption your mana causes.”

“And are there creatures out there capable of killing us?”

“You’ve used up your questions of the day, Amelia.”

“Rude…”

“Well, I guess we should spread out and find some small animal to bring back.”

“Does it have to be an animal? Didn’t Master mention that there’s fruits everywhere?”

"Oh yeah! But what fruits are edible? I’ve never been in a forest before.”

“Doesn’t matter, just collect them. We’ll just eat a bit of it and check if it’s okay, it’s better than starving.”

A light bulb went off in Kelvins head, and he couldn’t help but acknowledge Hazel’s decisiveness.

“… I’m see why you’re our leader now. I’ll go find us some animals.”

“I’ll look for fruits and vegetables. Amelia, could you refill our flasks from the stream and collect some logs for a fire?”

“Sure thing!”

“Where should we meet up? Back here, or at the stream?”

Hazel asked for Amelia’s opinion on Kelvin’s suggestion, but she simply shrugged. In the end, she went with the easier option.

“Back here… it’ll be hard to find each other if we get lost at the stream.”

“Good decision, but for the wrong reason, Hazel.”

“What do you mean?”

I made a zero with my hand, and gave her a helpless shrug. Hazel could only ponder for herself whilst they went about their business.

Their meal for the evening was boiled vegetation and some extremely sour wild berries and apples. . It didn’t stay long inside their stomachs. Kelvin failed his hunt, but I didn’t. I roasted a wild warthog right beside them, using a crudely-fashioned tripod and spit. The taste was mediocre, but what can you expect when you’re stuck in a forest? The size of the warthog was considerably bigger than those on Earth, but not as big as the appetite of the powerful.

The image of a boy with an appearance of a 13-year-old ectomorph devouring the entirety of a warthog five times his size was unsavoury to say the least. Not the mention the three drooling children at the side who could only watch and dream.

Day 3.

I advised them that hunting only when you’re hungry might be a bad idea. They should be on the lookout for edible supplies as they travelled. For some reason, their replies were filled with curses and cussing.

They asked me two useless questions, and left one in reserve until they fell asleep, rendering that opportunity useless.

The day ended uneventful and unhelpful. Their previous optimism was starting to wane.

Day 5.

Kelvin finally managed to capture some game. The group tried to imitate me by creating crude tools, but they failed in the selection of material and construction of the spit. Inevitably, the heavy deer-like creature fell into their bonfire. Such a cumbersome creature should’ve been dismantled and cooked, but they lack of experience ended up with this as a result.

The meat they ate was burnt and muddy on the outside, but still rather raw on the inside. Still, their hunger could be detained no longer, and they tore into the deer like savages, all symbolism of civility abandoned.

In their haste and excitement, they completely wasted their three questions. Was this deer edible? What should they do after it fell into the fire? How long will it be until the leftover meat (there was still over half of the carcass uneaten) becomes rotten?

I answered appropriately, but never gave more information than what was required. Hunger distracted their sense of judgement.

Day 7.

The carcass was left abandoned with more than half of its contents remaining. The four of us ran at full speed in an attempt to escape the pursue of a wolf pack. Wild predators are often strong in mana due to the harshness of survival in the wilderness, but even so, dealing with two or three shouldn’t be a problem for QPCS students. However, the number of mouths was nearer to seventy, and they were attracted by the stench given off from Kelvin’s hunt.

Kelvin had no problem outpacing the wolves, and Hazel could propel herself like a rocket should she choose to. The problem was Amelia, who had the speed of a normal 13-year-old girl.

“Can you fly to the skies with me on your back?”

“You make it sound so easy!”

To be able to balance the output of fire in different directions for a stable flight required a remarkable amount of technical control and skill. Flight was one of the targets that Hazel had been trying to accomplish in school, but her performance could be described as barely-non-suicidal at best. However, taken into consideration how little time she had to begin learning, the progress she’s made so far was astonishing.

Reality isn’t that kind though. Neither the wolves nor the fates waited for Hazel to gain a sudden enlightenment, and death chased the group down nipping at their heels.

“Master! What are the chances of us winning?”

“Mathematical zero. Useless question.”

“Then… how can we survive?”

“This question makes the previous one redundant. Your group can only move as quickly as your slowest member. Buy time for Amelia to run as far as possible before the two of you catch up. Meanwhile, offer something else to the wolves to be distracted. You’re making a trade, and you wish to buy your lives, so offer something of sufficient value to them.”

“Like wha- wait, no!”

Hazel pondered for a brief moment before rephrasing her question.

“Where is the nearest herd of prey that can distract the wolves?”

Being ignorant of the mixture of acrid smells in a forest was a blessing, but I braced myself against nature and activated my power, [Sense Smell]. Immediately, odours from the plants crushed underneath the thundering paws of the wolves, faint sour smell of the fruits hanging above, the sweat of four humans stuck in a forest with no hygiene to speak of, all came rushing through my nose.

The one I paid attention to is the telling signs of a herd – a strong stench of excretions from a wide area. Once I noticed it, I immediately stopped strengthening my nose, and instead empowered my vision with [Sense Sight], as well as [Mental Fortitude]. I became like a robot scanning the area at inhuman speeds, until I spotted the rubbings of more deer-like creatures and traces of their tracks through the gaps of the trees. Soon, I also caught a glimpse of some deer.

“That way, at this speed, around 20 minutes away.”

“Amelia, keep running! Don’t stop until the sun starts to get dark, and once it does, check you’re safe and light a fire! We’ll regroup then. Kelvin, come with us instead!”

“But what about Master? What happens if we split up?”

Sneaky brat. He phrased that question to Hazel, yet his eyes were boring into my back. He’s learning.

“I’ll just have to keep eyes on all of you.”

As such, our group split up. Amelia continued running away from the pack of wolves, whilst Kelvin and Hazel stuttered to a halt, turned around and began attacking the predators with stones and fire. They began luring the chasing horde towards the direction I indicated before.

Instead of following them, I jumped up. All the way to the canopy of a nearby tree.

Their overall escape was successful, but not without any mishaps. Hazel crashed into a tree when she attempted to fly away after being surrounded, but Kelvin managed to rescue her. He carried her in his arms as he ran, ignoring the wind and tree branches whipping at him in his path.

They went hungry that night.

Day 8.

“What are we doing wrong?”

“Hmm… where to start?”

“Geh, how rude!”

“Well, first off, you’re not going in the right direction.”

“…Eh?”

The three of them gave me a collective look of confusion, their head slightly tilted like puppies.

“You’ve been mostly following the stream; did you expect that to always lead west? Not to mention you had to run away from wolves just now.”

“Then how fa-“

“I’m not done answering your first question. You know little to nothing about the topography, nor do you have an inkling what kind of monsters inhabits this place. You don’t know which group’s territory you’re wandering in, nor any techniques on how to survive in the jungle. You have yet to begin using your questions efficiently. As a group, all you do is react, but you never plan. Most of the things you’ve asked are what you needed to know now, but they’re also questions you could’ve answered yourselves if you put some effort into it. Start thinking about what you truly need to know, in order to prevent things from happening, rather than escape it when it has already happened.”

They spent some time having their planning session once more, until I gave them some more information.

“By the way, time is not on your side. It would’ve been an 8 days non-stop walk from the starting position to our destination, but now, that time has increased to at least 14 days. I have little to no confidence you’ll be able to make it there in time.”

“How can we find west ourselves?”

“Simplest method is to use a compass.”

“We don’t have one! Nobody told us we’d needed it!”

“You think there’ll be someone telling you what you need in all occasions? All of us learn this through experience. Now that you experienced it, next time you’ll have the knowledge to keep a compass in your pouch.”

“So mean…”

“Hazel. Which way does the sun come up?”

“East.”

“And which way does it set?”

“West… oh!”

“No, don’t eye-ball it, every small incremental mistake will add up.”

Hazel didn’t reply. Instead, she used her eyes to prompt me to continue, and therefore avoided using another question.

“How can you accurately measure the sun’s position without looking at the sun?”

“Uhh…, where it shines the brightest?” (Amelia)

“That will be where the sun is. What can you do to determine the sun’s location, without looking at it?”

“Use a mirror?” (Hazel)

“No. You’ll be indirectly looking at the sun, and it’s not like you have a mirror with you.”

“I have one!”

“I stand corrected, of course you did, Amelia. Still, that isn’t the answer.”

I thought they had no trinkets, but despite not given any time to fill their pouches or take any belongings, Amelia somehow still managed to smuggle along her mirror. I could only praise her commitment, and wonder what else she managed to bring. I waited a moment before providing yet another hint.

“What can you look for, that only exist when there is a sun, and will always represent the sun’s position?”

“A shadow!”

“Well done, Kelvin. Why is that important?”

“The sun will always be on the opposite side of a shadow, so if the sun is east, the shadow will point west!”

“Nearly there. It’s incredibly inaccurate to simply follow your shadow. What do you need? You should’ve learnt this in school.”

“Sample size!”

Yet again, it was Amelia who managed to provide a straightforward answer whilst Kelvin was still whizzing through a load of irrelevant terminology in his head.

“That is why you need to treasure the time you have. Find a clearing where the sun shines brightly. You’re lucky that this isn’t a dense forest, and the weather’s forgiving. Use sticks to provide you with shadows, and other sticks to trace the line of the shadow. Spend a couple of hours today, and perhaps you might save many days of trial and error.”

They spent the rest of the morning and afternoon doing just that. Whilst waiting for the shadow to move, they hunted and gathered for provisions. They spent their final question asking about a water source, and I use my supernatural powers of fictional convenience to answer them off-script.

The following day, they set off once more with a better idea of what to do. Unfortunately, and I’m sure you’ve spotted this by now, they face a big problem I didn’t mention, to which I could only wait until the question is asked.