288 I Feel So Empty Inside

The first day was the hardest. Adam stuck to the three rules of shelter, water, and food. However, it was a much harder trial than expected. The first shelter he found was a cave already occupied by strange creatures he'd never seen.

("Is that a pack of carnivorous buffalos?!") [Adam]

Buffalos with spikes protruding from the spine along with sharpened teeth. They had four eyes with pupils like frogs, and had horns growing out like branches on their heads. It was like a scientific experiment gone wrong.

"Hey, maybe you've found food! Hunt them!" [Krino]

("You might be right about that.") [Adam]

Whipping out his trusty blade, Adam charged in thinking that it would be easy. It was only three of these strange creatures. Even so, he didn't expect his sword to be unable to pierce their hides.

"Huh?!" [Adam]

It felt like the fur softened the impact and ended up stopping his blade at the skin. He also tried stabbing, which also didn't amount to much.

"Krino! Give me some lightning!" [Adam]

"Boosting!" [Krino]

With lightning shooting up his arms, Adam attempted many times to harm the creatures.

("Why isn't it working?!") [Adam]

At some point, he figured that blades wouldn't work. Instead, he punched one of the bison. Unfortunately, it ended with the same result.

("Seriously?") [Adam]

Is what he thought before one of the bison rammed into him.

"Argh!" [Adam]

He flew into the wall, causing the cave to tremble. Thanks to his durable body, Adam was able to stand without trouble.

("Yep, I'm giving up on this place.") [Adam]

The three bison huffed at Adam as he turned away. It was surprising that they didn't give chase.

"Hahaha! You couldn't even handle a few farm animals!" [Astos]

("I don't know what kind of farm animals you've seen, but those definitely weren't your average animal.") [Adam]

"Tough talk for a mortal who turned tail the moment you ran into trouble!" [Astos]

Adam continued to search for shelter as Astos hurled insults at him.

("Just so you know, I didn't keep attacking because I couldn't win. I just didn't want to waste energy fighting over some shelter. I still need to find food and water.") [Adam]

"Speaking of which. I think I see some fruits over there." [Krino]

("Where?") [Adam]

Glancing around, he spotted a tree with several unknown fruits hanging from its branches. With just a little bit of strength, Adam jumped up and plucked one off.

("Hm. You think this is… poisonous?") [Adam]

He inspected the fruit and its odd hue. It was a shade of orange with black lines going down the sides. Its outside was hard like a pumpkins, somehow tempting Adam to knock on it a few times.

("Is it like a coconut?") [Adam]

Placing strength in his hands, Adam attempted to pry it open.

"Hrngh!" [Adam]

Adam gripped it until his hands turned red, but it didn't seem to crack open.

("Why is this so hard?!") [Adam]

After several minutes of struggling, Adam took a moment to rest.

("...Wow, this is a humbling experience. Screw it. Krino, I need you to come out right now.") [Adam]

"You're not planning on using me as a kitchen knife, are you?" [Krino]

("How'd you know?") [Adam]

"..." [Krino]

Yielding to his fate, Krino allowed himself to be summoned. Like a hot knife through butter, Adam managed to cut open the fruit.

"This really is a humbling experience…" [Krino]

A yellow substance flowed out of the fruit with a sweet scent, stirring Adam's appetite.

"Are you still not going to question if it's poisonous?" [Krino]

"At this point I really don't care. I'll tough it out." [Adam]

Placing the fruit to his lips, Adam drank the yellow substance. It enveloped his mouth with nostalgic tastes, reminding him of his sister's cooking. This caused him to pick more of these fruits and consume them. It was almost addicting.

("Wow! This is good!") [Adam]

By the time he was full, Adam had opened 23 fruits.

("Now I'm thirsty. Maybe I can find a river nearby or something?") [Adam]

So he thought, but there was no sight of one after an hour of walking.

("So… thirsty…") [Adam]

Out of desperation, he also used Implode to fly up and check from above. Sadly there was no sign of any form of water. Even if there was, it was most likely covered by the sheer amount of trees.

"Maybe you should've taken some more fruits to drink?" [Krino]

("My guy, they were the reason why I wanted to drink water. It's too sweet.") [Adam]

As he continued to wander, he felt something wet touch his neck.

"Huh?" [Adam]

Rubbing his neck, Adam found that it was a clear liquid. Assumingly, water.

("From above?") [Adam]

Turning upwards, he realized it was beginning to rain.

"Quickly! Grab a leaf or something to collect the water!" [Krino]

Heeding Krino's advice, Adam rushed to the biggest leaf he could find and held it out. The rain began to pour down even harder, filling his leaf before it even hit a minute.

"This is perfect!" [Adam]

Adam gleefully drank and took several refills until he reached satisfaction. It was only then that Adam was in a predicament.

("I still don't have shelter.") [Adam]

That wasn't the only problem. After several more minutes of walking, he felt pain in his stomach.

"Eh?" [Adam]

The pain grew and grew, which started to feel similar to something Adam has experienced rather recently.

("Poison?!") [Adam]

He hunched over as his insides churned. It felt more painful than getting hit with a guardian's laser.

"I knew that fruit was poisonous!" [Krino]

("Wait, no! I feel something else!") [Adam]

"Really?!" [Krino]

("Yeah it's just-!") [Adam]

Within that instant, Adam's bowels emptied itself.

"Ah." [Adam]

"...A humbling experience indeed." [Krino]