Survival

Stage One

After about 2 hours, the two finished making their weapons. They upgraded the spear, adding a sharp rock to the tip, secured by multiple vines. Of course, they didn't just make two spears. They carried 2 smaller knives attached to their legs with vines in case they were needed.

"Hey Emilio, I want to check the clock with you this time if that's ok. It'd be better if I start practicing how to climb now than later." Emilio nods at Quinn's request and begin his little tutoring session.

"Well first, I would say you should work out a bit but since we don't have that convenience right now, we can skip to stretching. Every time I wake up, I stretch all my muscles. That way I won't get hurt if I need to climb up fast. Next..." After a few minutes of Emilio explaining the basic, it was time for Quinn to start climbing.

"Just follow my lead and I'll wait for you once I get on a branch. There's conveniently a lot of them so I think you'll be fine if you accidentally fall. Just grab one that's nearby." With that, Emilio starts climbing up first, looking for good gripping spots to pull himself up. After a bit, he reached a stable looking branch and sat on it. "Your turn!" He yells down at Quinn. She starts climbing, copying the exact movements of Emilio. She did a very good job climbing up to where Emilio was, but that's what surprised him the most. "You learn extremely quick.. It's a useful skill." Quinn looks at Emilio and replies, "I'm just very observant when it comes to visual teachings. It's my learning type after all!" Quinn says proudly but Emilio face-palms. "You sound like a 6th grader." Quinn shrugs, still keeping her small grin.

They finally arrived at the top without any trouble and Quinn pointed out the time left. "9 hours huh. We should speed up the pace. I still need to learn basic self defense. Think I could learn at least two moves by the end of the countdown?" Emilio places his hand on his chin to think. "Hmm.. you ARE a fast learner so I think you'll get the moves pretty easily. Now let's go down. Careful, it's a little harder to see where your going when you descend. I'll go first." Emilio climbed down to a nearby branch and waited for Quinn. "This is a little nerve-wracking to be honest. Not being able to look down properly..." Quinn started going down slowly to where Emilio was, trying to copy his shortcuts but that's when she looses her footing and begins to fall backwards. However, as quickly as she fell, she was caught by a pair of strong arms.

"Be careful pipsqueak. You're quite a bit shorter than me so try not to follow every single move I make." Quinn, still surprised, began to sit up, still brushed up against Emilio, breaking out in cold sweat. "I- I almost fell.. I almost died..!" Quinn slowly starts to panic a bit but quickly calms down after forcing herself to breathe. "Sorry about that Emilio. I've managed to control it pretty well. My anxiety attacks I mean, but lately it's been difficult to do that. Obviously." Emilio shakes his head. "You have nothing to apologize for." Quinn smiles at his statement but soon realizes the position she's in. "Right, uh, I should probably get off of you now, I might be heavy." Emilio places Quinn down on the same branch. The branches, big enough to fit two people, gave Quinn an idea one she got placed down. "Hey Emilio.. shouldn't we check up on our surroundings again? We have to make sure no one is near us. Seeing as how big the branches are, people might be hiding in the trees. But until time runs out, it's be best to scout after I've learned some defense moves." Emilio nods. "I'll teach you the quicker ones. That way you'll be able to get stronger quick. If you start learning different skills, your physical attributes will be heightened." Quinn gives Emilio a questioning look. "What do you mean?" Emilio makes the same dumbfounded expression. "You mean you don't know about the enhancement system?" If it was even possible, Quinn started to look even more confused. Emilio took this as the cue to explain. "Well, it says it in our manual, if you just open your inventory..." Quinn stops him right then and there. "Whoa whoa whoa, what inventory?"

"It's the little bookbag icon on the bottom right. You haven't noticed it yet? It's pretty obvious" Quinn glares at Emilio out of embarrassment. "Well sorry I was too focused trying to stay alive. Anyways, let's talk about this later after this phase. We'd have more time." Emilio nods.

After that small conversation, Quinn started to learn basic defense moves from Emilio, who thankfully was a great teacher. Quinn learned fast, and as time goes on, she'll soon know that her learning skill would be able to save her friends...

The two were able to have a successful defense lesson, having enough time to explore their surroundings. After they rested for a couple minutes and drank fresh water, Emilio climbed up to the tree to look at the time. Ten minutes remained. He met up with Quinn at the bottom. "We don't have that much time left Quinn. Let's be very careful. Never leave each-others side unless absolutely necessary. Got it?" Quinn holds up an 'ok' sign. Seconds later, a voice boomed from the sky.

"Hello ladies and gentlemen! As you might have noticed, ten minutes remain. Every time there's ten minutes left, I'll be telling you what obstacles you will be facing today. I know, I'm too kind~ Anyways, tonight, you'll be facing the 'Blinded Creatures'. These creatures are extremely powerful and can rip you to pieces in mere seconds. On the other hand, they are not able to hear or see, however they have extremely sensitive noses. In about 9 minutes and 45 seconds, the monsters will appear at random. Don't try to hide in the trees either, it's pointless." And with that, preparations began.

"We have to be quick about this. Emilio, grab as much dirt as you can and set it by the river. When I was looking for you yesterday, I'm pretty sure I saw this hole in a tree and I think it's big enough for the both of us but I'll go double check." Quinn sets off to find the nearby hiding place. Fortunately, she was able to find it quickly. Double checking the size of the hole, she confirmed that it was the right fit. Running back to the river, she noticed that Emilio had dug up a good amount of dirt.

"Hey, I'm back! The hole is big enough for the two of us. We'll be fine." Emilio wipes off the sweat from his forehead. "That's great and all but, what's the dirt for?" Quinn crouches down to where Emilio was, molding a small crater in the middle of the dirt hill. "Help me put some water in the middle. We're making mud." That's when it clicked in Emilio's head. Quinn was making mud to hide their scent!

Emilio and Quinn started to mix the water and the dirt together, making a brown paste. "Alright, this is gonna be a bit weird but.. It'd be best to take our clothes off. Now, don't get me wrong, it's embarrassing for me too, but we can't cover our clothes with mud in time. We only have about 4 minutes left. We'll keep our undergarments on, patting the fabric with mud so it could soak easier and after, we put it on our skin and hair."

Emilio although hesitant about taking his clothes off, knew there was no other way. The two turned around from each-other, saving the embarrassment of undressing, and quickly started rubbing the dirt on, having no time to be flustered.

About a minute remained. Quinn took a hold of Emilio's hand and ran to their safe haven inside the hollow tree. Their night was about to get crazy...

A/N
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Hey! Sorry for the very late update, I sometimes get writer's block and every time I wanted to work on the story, I'd be busy XD As you can tell, this story is slowly going to be updated so if you're not one for waiting on a chapter to come out after a few weeks, I suggest you find another book to read hehe 😅 Anyways, here's the 3rd chapter, I hope you enjoyed!