Adam wasn't entirely sure what exactly he was looking at. Or, well what Troy was looking at.
The creature had definite outlines of its scales, with bony plates being shown plenty times down the back. The colours on it were a mixture of grey and green, likely made so by the larger amounts of mud floating around in the water. The more notable part of the body would be the longer snout. Even from above it, Adam was able to see the long, set of teeth within it. The power such a creature could bite with must have been utterly massive. In the least, it was likely
While he was about to go into another deep dive through his pre-known information, trying to categorize exactly what this creature was, Troy's voice stopped him. Much to Adam's displeasure, of course.
"Now, that is something you don't see every day", Troy muttered, most likely to himself. "Is that an alligator or a crocodile? I honestly don't know the difference between those two."
Even if the words weren't directed at him, Adam was still easily able to hear them. While it was an arduous task, he wouldn't have minded researching creatures, based on the few physical features he could see. It allowed him to further optimize his search functions, while also having an excuse, for looking through the pre-known knowledge.
With Troy having already stated, what the creature most likely was, Adam had no such excuse, to lengthen the time taken. He still had a promise to keep, about taking as little time as possible.
At the very least, though, it had not been explicitly stated, which of the two possible creatures it was. With Troy's specific wording, one could even call it… a hard task to distinguish.
Adam was on it, at the same moment. As fast as he reasonably could, he pulled the descriptions for each creature out. The results were not well-liked.
Alligator: Larger, water-based animal. Has the appearance resembling a Crocodile.
Crocodile: Larger, water-based animal. Has the appearance resembling an Alligator.
The information gained was not as helpful, as Adam had wanted it to be. Yet, anticipating anything other than it being lacklustre was foolish. From the many pulls of descriptions, many had had fewer words, than these had. It had been a statistical miracle, that Adam had been able to scrap enough descriptions about birds together, to predict the corvids, in the last chapter. With this, he did not seem to have the same degree of luck.
There weren't even any sub-categories to work with. No descriptions about specific species. Instead, there was only a general one, likely designed to describe them all. With the number of details written, Adam thought it did not get anything wrong, in the least. Altogether, his chances of getting in-depth about these creatures, before the second species appeared.
…
No. Adam wasn't giving up just yet. He still had one opening.
'Troy. I have another question.', Adam sent. He knew that he had been using Troy too much, these last few tests. Yet, it had nearly always brought some form of result, no matter how bland.
"Is it about the water levels again?" Troy asked, not sounding too trusting. Which was fair, of course. "Because, if it's about that, I'm not answering with anything worthwhile."
It seemed that he was still of the mindset, that Adam was lengthening the time at each environment. A hypocritical way of thinking. He had already proven his lack of doing so, only a minute or two ago.
'No. It is about the creature right under you.', Adam clarified, while also feeling like he shouldn't have needed to do so.
"Ah, right, of course. How silly of me," Troy said, not sounding much like his usual self. His tone was… deprecating? Yet, it wasn't directed towards Adam. "What's your question?"
Troy was definitely acting, as he usually did. His body movement was stiffer, his shoulders slightly up, instead of slouched, and his arms were behind his back, seemingly in a relaxed position. Something was wrong. Or, right, if one wanted to look like such. At least, his posture had become better.
Anyway. Back to the conversation. Adam needed to focus.
'From your earlier words, I presume that you are unable to distinguish between the two species. With this, it would also be safe to presume that they are alike in physical appearance. Altogether, with the earlier knowledge, I would like for you to talk a little about the two species.', Adam sent. It wasn't too hard a question. Troy was able to pick them out, so he must have a general understanding of their general features and functions.
"Honestly, I don't know what to tell you", Troy answered, not having anything further to state. With the comment, both shoulders went up, to further symbolise his lack of information about the subject.
'I would prefer information about the creature before you, as stated earlier.`, Adam sent in response to Troy's unpredicted answer. He hoped it was due to a misunderstanding in the question asked, and not the actual subject.
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"And, I don't have that information, Adam", Troy said, now slightly agitated, from the tone of his voice. "We don't learn about such things anymore, you have to understand. The only reason that I can even recognize them is due to the picture of them, which I have seen online. Only pictures. No fact bars, detailing their entire organ distribution, with proportional models, added."
Adam hereby likes the slightly annoyed version of Troy more. Instead of answering concretely, he now took the time to intricately detail, why he answered in such a way, while also bringing a hypothetical scenario up, to illustrate the point he was trying to make. It made it all so much easier to understand.
Nevertheless, it was not the answer, which he had been hoping for. While it did highlight the needed information in the outside world and inside here too, it did not assist the current problem.
It looked like Adam would be forced to stipulate information through continual observation instead. It wasn't ideal. It would take time. And, Troy wouldn't like it But, Adam needed to do it, if he wanted anything better than a sup-bar description.
The waiting game was on. He hoped it wouldn't be too long.
----------------------------------------
Troy was wondering if he should say anything, staring forth like he was as a cow looks at an oncoming train. Adam had been quiet for a long while, now. No questions had been asked. No ordering around either. The last one was the most unusual to be silent. Usually, there would be small requests for turning the head in a different direction or something matching in energy requirements.
With the count, they should have been nearing six full minutes being used up. Four to go, before it went above the last tests average. Adam had promised it wouldn't, but Troy was having a harder and harder time believing it.
Really. By now, they should have started writing down his description of the place. With their current pace, it would at least take them… twelve minutes? Maybe. Troy wasn't too sure on, how long he was planning for the description to be. If the earlier tests had anything to say, the first few environments had the shortest descriptions. Personally, he thought it was due to the less than original places they were shown.
Sure, they were different. Troy hadn't seen any direct copy of previous environments yet. But, just because they were identical, it didn't mean that they were alike. The general theme was the same, with it being simulated to be just above the equator. Never to hot looking, yet also not cold. The trees were a special stable as well. There were always some of them hanging around.
Was that why Adam isn't saying a long description, in the first few tests? They simply weren't unique enough, for him to say anything? Sounded a little arrogant, but that might just have been his interpretation speaking for the wrong side.
Right now, Troy may have been a little annoyed with Adam. It was for a variety of reasons. Only some were Adam's faults. He didn't want to think about that, for too long, lest Troy would focus on it.
The lack of sleep may have been the main reason for his higher levels of irritation. Not the catalyst, of course. It could be more accurately described as being the focused multiplier. It made everything negative he felt worse, yet the good stuff remained in its usual position.
When Adam asked, for the third time in a single minute, about the same thing, Troy had been more than a little irritated. If he had been of well-rested mind, he might have just put it off. But, oh no, he didn't do that, of course. Such a thing would have been too mature of him.
Instead, he decided to withhold information from him. Information, which could have helped Adam, in finishing this segment quicker. If Troy was good enough of a person, he would have notified him of this mistake and helped him gain a better understanding of the alligator. Crocodile. Whatever it was supposed to be.
Speaking of the massive reptile. Troy was not entirely sure what exactly the animal was trying to gain from its current actions.
If the barriers around him weren't in place, he would have been soaked in swamp water by now. The massive animal was spinning rapidly, spraying the muddy water in all directions. From what little knowledge, which was preserved in Troy's feeble brain, this performance was limited to subduing prey. It was supposed to confuse them into drowning themselves, or some other utter nonsense like that.
The problem with that was, though, that Troy was not able to see anything, which resembled another creature in the water. Briefly, before realising this, he had been extraordinarily happy. It would have meant, that the second creature would have appeared. And, that the interaction had happened, giving Adam no further reason to delay the description.
Yet, alas, it was not meant to be. The spinning only succeeded in giving the reptile a thorough soak. In the process, it had even gotten itself a larger amount of grass plastered on itself. The most surprising thing about that was the continued living off the grass. From, what Adam had said, such small plants should have been dead by now.
Maybe, he was not always to be trusted, in his observations. He made his logic be seen, yet it was never criticized. Troy needed to do things like that more often.
His inner thoughts were halted, as the focus came back on the large reptile. It had begun moving yet again. Instead of spinning, it had instead opened its mouth right open. The inside was right down disgusting. What should have been a cleaner mouth, full of a horrifying amount of teeth, was instead filled with… leeches. Or something like.
At the long gums, just under where the teeth resided, it was absolutely filled with these small creatures. It must have been painful, Troy had thought to himself. Even from a distance, he could see more leeches getting into position, nearly fighting over the open space.
Troy strongly shuddered in disgust. Why had anyone thought of this as a good idea? It looked terrible. It sounded terrible. And, if he had been able to smell it, Troy was sure it would have smelled terrible as well.
Having to look away, from the more than disturbing sight in front of him, though, was the least of his problems.
'Please continue looking at its mouth. I need more details.', Adam ordered. Did he not realise how cruel such a thing was? If Troy puked, he was not blaming himself. That was for sure.
"Are you sure, that you need another look?" Troy desperately asked, while trying to hold his meals in the same place. "With that perfect memory of yours, I am sure, that you don't need longer observation times on anything... Right?"
The last part may have come out of his mouth, as slightly desperate. It could have been told in worse ways, really. At least, Troy didn't puke. So many meals would have been wasted.
'While your thoughts about my memory are delightful to hear, I fear they may have initially started as a misconception about my abilities. While I have a near-perfect memory, I cannot extrapolate more information from them than I already have. The earlier does give me worthwhile knowledge, yet it still is not enough to confirm any earlier suspicions. And, most of my thinking has been on the larger reptile before you. The leeches are a new addition, which will require more, independent analysis time, to get a broader understanding. I have not put the time to do this, in the few seconds, where you observed its open mouth. So, I'll need you to complete your earlier action, if you want this to end as quickly as possible. Otherwise, I'll have to make do with your unconscious glances at it, and that will take quite a long time, then if you simply cooperated.`, Adam sent, going directly into detail on, why Troy should do as ordered.
He could understand all the reasoning, even. Troy definitely did try to find fault in his logic, yet could perceive anything worthwhile to bring up. At least, not anything, which would clear him of his dawning obligations.
Could it really be so hard to stare at it, for half a minute or two? Taking a quick glance at it, Troy definitely amounted it with that. His stomach was not playing games. It had already done its warning shots, which Troy narrowly escaped, by not letting it escape.
Yet, this segment taking more time would only lengthen his suffering. If this was the standard, with all the next environments, Troy needed to be ready for it. He needed to desensitize himself. This meant… he had to look. The leeches were the other creature, or creatures if one wanted to call it that, and they needed equal study.
With that mental hype-up of his, Troy moved his head with purpose. The moment the sight came into his peripheral, he desperately wanted to look away, his body just as disturbed by it, as his mind was. His stomach was prepping up its next shots, and Troy was beginning to be unsure of its survivability. It was going the nuclear way, and he knew the target was himself.
Still. He held on, for the sake of it soon being done.
As he thought that specific thought, he heard a chirp from the nearest tree. A few realisations came with it.
Troy had forced himself to look at something disgusting, for a reason, which was now invalidated. The leeches were there, not as a creature themselves, but as a reason for mutualism.
"Oh, for fu-"