John and Alfred rested after overcoming the ordeal and soon fell asleep.
John's defense also increased by 1 point after this challenge. It was too low compared to Alfred, but better than nothing until he acquires a Monster Geno Art.
Only those at silver-rank and higher could start to use the Monster Geno Arts, and John planned to break through to silver-rank using a different method during this survival event.
The Rune of New Beginning was going to give him some additional stuff once he reached Silver-rank, so he wanted to prioritize it, hoping it would give him a Monster Geno Art.
After half an hour, Max and Maxon also stopped training. Max was beaten up, but he had some good fruits he had collected, so he and Maxon ate them and then lay on the ground, snoring loudly shortly after they fell asleep.
It was a rule of thumb to always sleep with your Monster Pets outside because they were more wary and could sense danger faster, especially for newbie adventurers who didn't have much of an arsenal of powers themselves or for their Pets.
...
Shortly after Max and Maxon fell asleep, John and Alfred woke up.
Both of them had fully recovered, so John ruffled Alfred's head and said, "It's time to eat another fruit and max your potential. Let's hope you reach 50 in all."
"Woof!" Alfred barked determinedly after looking at him and opened his mouth.
John smiled and dropped the second fruit into Alfred's mouth.
It was easier the second time for John as he accurately determined the parameters required to keep himself alive while minimizing pain, but Alfred suffered the same battle inside him and fought valiantly.
It was over after five minutes as John recovered from frost after Alfred regained his bearing, stronger than ever.
[Pet Growth Stage]: Prime
— Gene Potential: 100/100
— Strength: 51
— Speed: 50
— Defense: 50
— Soul Core: 100/100
Alfred gained an extra point of Strength! This was straight limit-breaking that only a few rare pets could do!
"Awesome, buddy." John looked at Alfred's stats and felt jolly. Alfred lay with his belly open, totally lying back. John rubbed his belly and said, "We had great progress, and it's enough for today. Now we rest, buddy."
Since there was no sun underground to look at for him to use his ability to tell time based on the sun's position, John looked at his wristband.
'It's almost going to be two in the afternoon, eh?'
John looked around the cavern and frowned. 'How did the water come here to form a pond?'
'It's not like the tree created it.'
Suddenly, John recalled something he read in a book about Paladon Forest's Silver Hill Spring area.
It was a minor detail to mention how some of the springs would spill out at night, bringing out Fish monsters that would either evolve or get devoured by others.
In the world of Monsters, day and night were constant phenomena that caused changes, while some places had even more influence of natural spirit energy that formed into unique phenomena.
'If Springs spills, it means spirit energy would increase the water content in some springs. If so...'
John stood up and walked towards the edges of the cavern, feeling the walls. The walls also had moss and some other random stuff growing.
"Alfred, swipe your claws here."
John pointed at a particular wall that had a thick layer of moss, and despite looking thick because of the moss, it was a weak wall.
With Alfred's enchanted paws attacking it, it broke down and revealed another cavern with a passage.
Max and Maxon woke up due to the sound but fell asleep again after seeing what happened.
Meanwhile, John and Alfred entered the new cavern.
'So this cavern must be getting filled with water when the spring connected to it rises, and then eventually, it would also fill up the other cavern.'
The cavern with the pond was a safe one due to its pathways that prevented it from filling up, but this second cavern must have simple pathways with its entrance higher in a certain spring.
'If so, this place isn't good for spending the night. Better to create solid tents and a campfire area with wood on the surface,' John thought as he went inside the passage of this cavern and soon saw light with a small amount of water spilling into it from the spring.
Coming out of the entrance, John saw the edges of this spring just a meter above and climbed up.
There were already some kids who formed temporary groups and were preparing their camps.
The majority of students would camp near each other to feel safe, and it was indeed a good option. After all, the night could invite new troubles.
Though Alfred would have quite an advantage at night due to his Darkness attribute. For instance, some monsters would have weak eyesight during the night, while some would have better vision in the dark. These things could become more prevalent when Monsters awaken their innate talents and passive skills, which could bloom into a wide variety of effect mechanisms.
After coming out of the spring, John summoned Alfred and could also feel that Pymon wasn't too far.
Since Yuna was training her Eagle, she would be wandering around to fight Fish Monsters or normal ground Monsters.
Silver Hill Spring was a large area, so there were many groups of monsters at their various nests. They would venture out in small groups or solo to hunt, depending on their lifestyles in the wilds.
'Pymon is near,' John blinked and looked around before raising his head and pinpointing the direction.
Roughly two hundred meters away was a large tree, and a few hundred meters above it on a branch were Pymon and Yuna's Eagle, fighting against other Silverwind Eagles.
John created an arrow on the ground before walking towards that tree.
The students were camping, and there was enough space near that tree with no spring within a 100-meter radius, so it was a good spot that could be taken if another group stumbled into his area.
The trees were huge, so the only way to get wood was to climb up one and cut their branches with their Pet Monsters' strong strength or handy slash-type projectile skills like Alfred's Crimson Swipe.
"Buddy, go up and cut the branches according to my instructions."
"Woof!"