Chapter 56

Surviving

“I pondered on the Throne, would I re-do it? Would I once again cast myself in that fire and watch it all burn? No… never again…”

My Dawn, Vol. V

“Quintessential elements of survival,” four souls sat on their knees with confused expressions, hidden in the shade of the overarching trees providing some cooling against the scorching, late-Summer day, staring at the figure in front of them who was leaning against the trunk while chewing on some meat from their lunch. “What do you think they are?”

“… u-uh… food?” Sash threw out a guess while Myrell, Claire, and even Lyon nodded in agreement.

“… why?” Noah glanced at him, asking.

“So… we don’t starve?” Sash replied dubiously.

“People can survive without food for weeks,” Noah said. “In essence, what we do by eating is just storing energy that our bodies then use for actions. When there is no food intake for prolonged periods of time, our bodies adjust and look for that energy elsewhere – namely in our fats. While food is important, it should never be your priority. Lyon, what do you think, then, is the quintessential element of survival?” though their confused faces revealed the fact they hardly picked upon anything he just said, Noah didn’t bother to explain – rather, would he even be able to explain? Chances are that they didn’t even know the concepts of energy and how it impacts the bodies. And he was hardly in the mood to start a course in it.

“… water, then?” the young boy threw out the next-best-guess.

“Hm,” Noah nodded. “Unlike with food, water is a far more immediate necessity. But, still, a day or two without it won’t kill you. I am talking about immediate ones – the first few hours.”

“…” the four went mute, uncertain. They had no means of knowing, after all, as even Myrell and Sash had never lived in the ‘wild’ and had to survive, let alone Lyon and Claire.

“… ascertain your conditions," Noah explained with a sigh. "What is the topography of the surrounding area? What's the climate like? How likely are the increases and drops in temperature? Is there any wildlife? Can you access any form of the high ground? What's the situation with a shelter? Is there a natural one or do you need to build a makeshift one yourself? Assess your immediate surroundings and confirm how likely are you to die if you stay there."

“…” the four stayed silent, still trying to process half of what he said.

"Look at where we are at right now, for example," Noah elaborated, pointing around; they were seated on top of a small, circular clearing and were surrounded by thick, medium-sized trees on all sides. "Do you think this is a good place to hang onto?"

“… y-yes?” Sash ventured another guess, realizing immediately that he was wrong when his Master sighed audibly.

"No – places like this, despite their initial allure, should only ever be used as temporary stops for rest and nothing more," Noah said. "You are exposed from all sides without a clear view of anything around you due to the thickness of the trees. In addition, all trees are roughly the same height which means that you can't establish a high ground to scout your surroundings from above. While they do provide natural protection against the elements, they leave you just as exposed to external threats. Not only that, but it lacks two crucial elements necessary when you're trying to assess the quality of some place – sources of food and water. While you don't need them immediately, you can't live on the air forever, so when constructing a shelter, you need to build it at least close to one of those two.”

“…” Noah knew that the four were struggling to latch onto everything, but it didn’t matter; for now, as long as they captured the few key concepts, that was good enough for him. “What would be a good place, then, to build a shelter?” Claire asked.

"The best solution would be to find a natural one," Noah said. "A cave, for instance. Caves are usually humid and cool, and provide the best protection from the sun and even insulate from the cold climates better than any shelter you could build. If natural shelters aren't an option, you have two choices – either find a massively open place, one much, much bigger than this so you can spot potential threats much quicker, or tangle yourself high up, building a treehouse if you have the expertise. The most important factor is to always have at least two escape routes if things go awry, regardless of what kind of shelter you choose to take.”

“…”

“Assessing all of this, naturally, isn’t as easy as it sounds,” Noah said with a faint smile. “But, in due time, you’ll get there. For starters… how would you identify potential sources of water? Let’s say you’ve found your shelter, you’re protected well-enough for now, but still need water. How?”

“… uh…” Noah didn’t expect them to know; after all, civilizations here have been entirely built by simply finding a massive source of water and living next to it. Trying to locate the niche types, especially on unknown terrain, isn’t something they ever really needed.

"The easiest way is to find an animal and follow it," Noah said. "Not the insects and such, but land-dwellers. Herds usually congregate at the water source, and even during migration follow a path that has a continuous water source, usually a river. In the forest, for instance, if you spot an animal, it has to eat and drink, just like you and me. If you follow it, there is a good chance it will lead you to a source of water – usually smaller ponds, and perhaps even rivers that turn underground. Perhaps an easier method is to follow the birds," Noah added, pointing toward the sky. "Especially in the mornings and evenings; chart out their route and follow them."

“…” the four nodded absentmindedly, seeming an inch away from headaches.

“On occasion, though, such as now, it will almost seem impossible to locate water,” he added. “No wildlife, no sounds of streams or rivers nearby, no birds… what then? Tree roots contain some water, rock crevices also tend to contain some – there is also the rain that is perhaps one of the safest ones. You can also dig sills and use the moisture of the deep earth. In the direst of straits, especially if there is wildlife but you still can’t locate water, you can drink the blood to temporarily quench the thirst. All of it is entirely dependent on the topography of your surroundings and how well you can identify them. Naturally, finding a civilization is the best possible outcome, but you ought to have at least a few key pieces of knowledge, even if you never do intend to find yourself abandoned in the forest.”

Noah stopped there, letting the digest as much as they can. He could have gone on and dug deep into climate-specific means, the ways of collecting the rainfall, the ways to purify the water so you don't die due to the bacteria, the need to learn which plants collect large amounts of water so you can identify them easily, collecting morning dew, or even learning to purify one's own urine and use it in the extreme conditions. None of that, however, was necessary just yet. In the long-term, however, it might be, as the future is extremely uncertain.

Despite his numerous experiences back on Earth, it wasn't as though he was an expert on survival here, in Lumina – at least not just yet. He simply bided by the simplest and the safest of ways; he, especially, wouldn't drink the blood of any animal here. Even back on Earth, it was extremely dangerous as the number of diseases that one could contract was nigh-infinite, to say nothing of this place whose microbial life was entirely alien to him. Furthermore, blood tends to contain a lot of salt, and it really is an extremely temporary patch that will create a much bigger problem if not resolved later on.

He sunk into thought as well, wondering whether he’d be able to survive out in the wild here, in the Lumina Kingdom. Had he not chosen to follow those kids back to Elucido, and instead chose to wildly chase after potential sources of water and food in and about the forest, would he have survived? He suspected he wouldn’t have; with no means of identifying any plant or insect as safe or not, and only having to rely on larger mammals that ought to be safer after some good frying, he might have already been swarmed under the layers of weed and trees' roots sucking him dry as a nutrient.

I really do need to lock myself into studies more once again, he sighed inwardly, cursing the fact that he was inching close to his fifth decade. He’d realized years ago that his mind was nowhere near as quick as it was in his youth, and what used to take him a few weeks now needed months of repeated studying. Even with every trick in the book that he used for studying purposes, those things were not magic – it was like running a really optimized game on a really bad system. No matter how well-optimized the game may be, if the system running it is incapable of processing everything quickly, that optimization is wasted.

Nonetheless, he was still unwilling to surrender over to the father-age; he’d known quite a few men and women who remained wit-nimble well into their sixties and continued operating even after their skin began melting off due to their age. To them, his forty-five was the youth. At least he managed to somehow maintain his conditioning despite taking some liberties with his training; especially now, with the addition of magic, he felt even nimbler and more energetic than in his twenties. It was not magic without reason, he mused in silence; perhaps, this was not even the extent of it. He didn’t have high hopes considering that aging here seemed no different than back on Earth and the life expectancy followed the same curve, but it could be that they simply never learned how to utilize the magic at a cellular level. Eh… aren’t I a bit too old to be a drooling dreamer? Sheesh…