CHAPTER 50: Survival Training (1)

[George's POV]

I sat in the classroom with the rest as usual. On a normal day Professor A would have been teaching us something, but today there was a very serious air about him, even more than usual.

"The final examination is coming up next week. This is the final class we will have this year, so I will be teaching you something that is absolutely needed to survive it. The first stage of the examination is Freedom Night, where everything goes. There are no restrictions or bars on the actions you can take, and in addition to that, you will be taking the examination in conjunction with the other groups."

His words made me freeze up.

With other groups? What happens to me in that situation? I'll be outclassed everywhere I go.

Seeing the looks of apprehension on our faces, Professor A sighed and gave further explanation.

"I can understand your plight. Speaking honestly, the chances you have of surviving this are close to zero."

I tensed up even further.

"Because of your massive disadvantage, I'll teach you something special today. But you must pay attention, each and every one of you. If you don't fully assimilate this and learn how to apply it, you will not survive."

What he said about paying attention made me feel a little guilty. I did have a history of blanking out during class. I sat up straight, telling myself to pay attention as if my life depended on it, because it did.

He swept his gaze over us. Upon seeing our expressions, he nodded in satisfaction.

"Management has agreed to give you a handicap because of your situation. Before you ask, because I can see the questions on your face, they don't care about your circumstances, they only want to make it more interesting."

He paused and then continued.

"I will teach you how to survive in the wild. Listen closely."

An image came up on the whiteboard. It was a thick green forest with tall trees and a canopy formed through the leaves of the trees as a result of the closeness of the plant life.

Professor A stood to the side of it and started giving a presentation.

"As you can see, this is a forest. I will teach you how to survive in places like this with no supplies. In a situation where you are dropped in a place like this, the first thing you need to do is to scout your surroundings. I'd suggest climbing a tree or finding a place that overlooks the forest. When you do that, you may be able to see a water source or a clearing to set up camp."

"After you're able to get a grasp in where you are, the next thing to do is to find food and water. If you're lucky, you would have seen a water source close to you when you climbed the tree, otherwise you have to use other methods."

The image on the screen changed to split into four sections each containing an image of water in different places.

"The normal way to find water is to look for water bodies but that method is unreliable and relies on luck. The alternative is to dig for water. If you can make it through the first day until nighttime, dig a hole before you sleep. It shouldn't be too big or too small. When you wake up, the hole should be filled with water. It will also probably be muddy, so strain the water with a piece of cloth like your shirt. If you don't have a container to strain the water into, you can use your shirt to soak up water before wringing it into your mouth, the shirt should hold on to most of the mud."

"Another method is to collect moisture from the ground and plants if you can't find other sources of water. In the morning, use your shirt to collect the dew. Just press it into the ground to soak up water and wring it into your mouth. During the daytime, trail your shirt behind you through the underbrush. It should pick up some moisture from leaves."

"The last method is cumbersome and the most tiresome. You have to look for ants climbing up trees. I wouldn't personally recommend this method, as it leaves things mostly up to chance. Anyway, if you see them, there's a good chance they're going towards a water deposit in the grooves of the tree. Once they reach their destination, press the shirt against the deposit and wring in into your mouth. And be careful not to swallow any ants."

The image changed again to a picture of a crude shelter this time.

"To build a shelter, you'll want to find a large surface that can block any wind and hide you from predatory animals. Also if possible, keep it close to your water source if you have one and make sure there are no animals living in the vicinity. Another thing you could do is use a hollow tree to take shelter, but be very careful if you do so. They are natural shelters for venomous animals like snakes and spiders. They could also be holding disease-transmitting bat droppings. Check out the tree very carefully going inside."

"To build a crude shelter, put large branches against the surface you would have found earlier. Make them as close together as possible. There will be gaps in the branches so use smaller ones to fill it up. Also use leaves to cover the floor so you won't be sleeping on the cold ground. Make your shelter as small as possible so you will be able to warm it up with your heat."

"The obvious next thing to do after securing shelter and water is to find food. The best thing would be to eat bugs. They are a good source of sustenance and protein when needed. Another thing would be to forage and eat plants, but that would only be possible with extensive knowledge of plants which would let you know which ones are edible or not. Luckily, we should've already gone over some of these things in class. I trust you all remember?"

I received a jolt in my body because I did not know what he was talking about.

'I trust you all remember'? I don't!

I wanted to hit my head really hard.

This is why I'm so stupid! All that sleeping in class is now coming back to bite me!

Professor A went on to the next topic.

"Next, how to build a fire...."

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