The Genius Tamer of the Academy

Chapter 101

Finding a slightly safer spot, starting a fire, and holding out was the only way they’d have a chance of surviving. If night fell without any preparation, their end wouldn’t be pretty.

This was something I learned from the survival master, Bear Grylls.

Of course, if I rattled off what I knew from him, people might look at me weird, so I added a little flair to my explanation.

“Professor Ernst told us to start by making a fire. Adela, do you see any place suitable to settle?”

“A place to settle?”

“Yeah. Since the goal is survival, we need somewhere to stay for a few days. Like a cave, for example.”

Adela nodded, understanding what I meant, and then bent down, placing her hand on a rock.

Whoosh.

Blue mana flowed into the crevices of the rock. Adela was using her sensory ability to understand the nearby terrain through the feedback from the mana.

In the future, Adela would become so familiar with any terrain that she’d navigate it like her own backyard, but for now, she was still just a second-year student. The range she could detect was limited.

She stood up and shook her head.

“I don’t think there’s a cave around here. At least, I can’t find one from where we are.”

I remember there was a cave somewhere around here. Lee Han had found it and lived the easy life, catching fish, exploring the cave, and even making all sorts of contraptions, like a smoker for cooking. But if we couldn’t find it now, it was time to come up with a Plan B.

“Let’s head over there.”

“Huh? Over there?”

From what I could tell, that area was on higher ground and relatively flat, with plenty of sunlight.

In this damp environment, you’re bound to get wet somehow, so we should avoid areas that are too dark or too low, where flooding could occur.

This was my best guess after weighing our options.

Seymour nodded in agreement.

“Seems like a good idea.”

“Let’s move over there.”

Maybe it was because of the terrain, but it felt like we were walking in circles.

The others, exhausted, quickly agreed to find a spot to settle. Even Adela, who hadn’t shown much outward struggle, sighed deeply as she sat down, making a sound you’d expect to hear from an elderly person.

“Ah… my back….”

“I feel like I’m dying.”

“I know it’s tough, but if you lie down now, you might never get up again.”

“Wha… what?”

“Get up quickly.”

I told you, we need to start a fire. If you sleep now, you might wake up with a crooked mouth—or worse, you might not wake up at all.

“Let’s get started.”

Now it was time for the essential but challenging task in survival—starting a fire.

Especially in a place like this, where we had no lighters or modern tools, we might have to rub two sticks together until sundown.

“I’ve read somewhere that you need to rub two sticks together….”

Well, I guess Seymour read it too. He started to explain the process, sharing his meager knowledge.

From a modern perspective, all we needed was a lighter, and it’d be done.

“Adela, can you gather some straw?”

“It’s not hard.”

Woong.

Gathering light straw was quicker than moving rocks with telekinesis. As Adela effortlessly pulled together a pile of straw, Natalie gasped in amazement.

Once we had gathered a good amount of straw for the fire,

“Okay, so to start a fire, you need to….”

“I don’t think that’s necessary.”

“Huh?”

My gaze had already shifted to Basilus.

Correction: we didn’t have a lighter, but we had Basilus.

Seymour clasped his hands together, looking astonished.

“Wow, a dragon!”

* * *

“Basilus! Basilus! Basilus!”

“Oh my gosh, look how cute our Basilus is. Will you start a fire for us?”

Adela, in a rare display of high spirits, patted Basilus’ head, her voice dripping with sweetness.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen her this excited.

Then again, the thought of spending hours rubbing sticks together versus having a portable lighter… I totally get it.

“Basilus… I believe in you….”

Natalie, too, sat down reverently as if greeting a savior.

Of course, Basilus wasn’t one to back down.

“Hmph.”

He was definitely sizing up the situation.

Basilus blinked, lifting his head proudly.

I knew exactly what that meant.

“What do you want in return?”

Nod.

Look at that sharp response.

Won couldn’t help but laugh.

“See, this is why raising kids is pointless… they grow up and start making deals.”

“Kuoo!”

“I’ll give it to you when we get home.”

No reaction.

“I’ll buy you a whole set of your favorite cheese at the store.”

“…Hmm.”

The deal was sealed.

Basilus leaped over the pile of wood.

Hoo.

With a deep breath, Basilus exhaled a burst of flames, and the woodpile immediately ignited.

What would’ve taken me half a day was done in just five seconds.

Now I understood. If you ever get stranded on a deserted island, forget food; make sure you have a dragon with you. It’s like carrying around a living flintstone.

“Basilus! You did great!”

“Wow, having a dragon really is something else, huh?”

Natalie, sounding like an elementary school teacher, gently praised Basilus, while Won grinned from ear to ear.

I guess he didn’t expect the dragon he usually had to clean up after in the dorms to be such a help.

But this wasn’t the end.

We became even busier after that. We had to gather materials and build some sort of shelter, no matter how makeshift.

I’ve never pitched a tent before, so I had no idea what to do. Seeing Won and Seymour struggling side by side was almost pitiful.

Still, I’m better at this than a fifteen-year-old. I pitched in to help.

“Won, hand me the rope!”

“Here!”

It’s only natural that the structure keeps collapsing if you’re trying to stabilize it without ropes.

Even though I’ve only learned survival through books, I quickly reviewed what I’d read.

Is this the right way?

Honestly, I’m not sure.

While Basilus climbed a tree, breaking off thick branches with his claws, Adela used her telekinesis to lift and deliver the logs to us.

This just proves that everyone who gets transported into a novel must have been a special forces operative in their previous life.

Honestly, I think I would have been better off training at Ardel Academy instead.

I forced myself to stand up on shaky legs.

“Still, we should be able to last at least a day with this setup, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, it seems like it.”

We’d laid out leaves to cover the roof and floor, making the place somewhat livable.

Sure, it wasn’t anything you’d want to spend the night on willingly, but it didn’t seem life-threatening.

I was praying that it wouldn’t rain, but even if it did, we should be able to hold out here.

The next step would be to focus on finding a cave.

Adela nodded as she gathered her things.

“Han Siha, I’m going to head out for a bit.”

“Why?”

“I’m going to look for that cave you mentioned. If I can’t find it, I’ll try to hunt down some food.”

She was planning to explore the area and maybe do some hunting. Given that this area was set up by the academy, it probably wasn’t too dangerous. And with her temperament, she wouldn’t back down even if she ran into some third-year seniors nearby.

Wait, no, that’s not right.

Don’t pick a fight with the seniors!

If you do, our half a bottle of water could turn into none.

Instead of saying anything more, I pushed Basilus toward her.

“Take Basilus with you.”

“Will do.”

And with that, Adela disappeared into the forest.

* * *

Adela said she’d be back before sunset, and by then, our makeshift shelter was nearly complete.

That’s when it happened.

“Oh… Oh no!”

“What’s wrong?”

Natalie’s panicked voice echoed through the clearing.

“What do we do? This… this is….”

“…!”

The look on Natalie’s face was one of sheer terror, the kind that made you want to scream.

“Ugh!”

In fact, it was more like a silent scream.

Natalie was flailing her arms, clearly at a loss for what to do.

The girl who didn’t even flinch during a kidnapping was now panicking because…

“Oh.”

“Is it a rat?”

Seymour grimaced and took a step back.

Natalie explained that while she was gathering leaves, she accidentally knocked something out of a tree, and what she thought was a stunned critter turned out to be a very lively one, which she had to subdue with a binding spell.

“What should we do with it?”

I stroked my chin, considering her words.

“You accidentally knocked it out…?”

Her mental resilience was truly remarkable.

I mean, that doesn’t seem like something you do by accident.

I was about to tease Natalie a little when Won’s suggestion made me stop.

“We should catch it! Shouldn’t we?”

“What? Why would we catch a rat…?”

Seymour’s eyes widened.

“To eat, of course. We’re not exactly in a position to be picky right now. We have no food, and it’s going to get dark soon. We need something to keep us going tomorrow.”

“We’re going to eat… a rat?”

Natalie silently screamed again.

And honestly, so did I.

“I can’t even eat silkworm pupae.”

“What are you talking about?”

I grew up sheltered, okay? I’m not from the generation that ate fried grasshoppers.

I wanted to shout that, but Won was right this time. If we wanted to survive tomorrow, we needed to catch whatever we could.

With a heavy heart, I made the call.

“Let’s catch it.”

As soon as I gave the order, Won grabbed the struggling rat and moved to toss it into the fire.

“Aaagh!”

“Squeak!”

The creature, teetering on the edge of survival, began thrashing violently, and Won, barely managing to hold on, cried out in distress.

“Aah! It bit me!”

Won, clutching the squirming rat, shouted desperately.

“I’m scared! I’m scared to death! This thing is squirming around, ahhh!”

“Hold on, Won! Don’t let go!”

“Where’s Basilus? We need to roast it, but—oh, damn. Basilus!”

This was something Basilus would be good at, but he had gone off with Adela to explore the area.

Seymour, in a moment of panic, suggested something drastic.

“Should I just stab it with a knife?”

“You can’t do that.”

“Aaagh!”

What a disaster—just trying to catch a single rat.

The irony was not lost on me: Seymour, who once tried to kill me in a basement, was now unable to kill a rat, and Natalie wasn’t much better.

Won, at his wit’s end, shouted.

“Shouldn’t we just kill it before we put it in the fire?”

“Yeah…?”

“Let’s just kill it.”

Nods all around.

Won, Seymour, and Natalie all turned to look at me.

But why are they looking at me?

“…You want me to catch it?”

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