Chapter 6

After finishing his lunch, he didn't have much to do, so he decided to explore the forest to familiarise himself with the terrain.

As he was walking through the woods, a coconut fell before him, missing his head by an inch. He looked up and found a monkey hanging from a branch.

It screeched out in his language and Alex said "I don't understand what you are saying, but I think you want to pick a fight with me. Fine by me."

As if the monkey understood what Alex was saying, it came down and landed before Alex. It was around his height and had brown fur. Alex noticed that the monkey had many scars on its body. The monkey looked at Alex and he started back at it.

Without any signal, both threw a punch at each other, aiming at their jaw. Both also had quick reflexes to dodge the punch. They both again aimed for each other's gut with the other fist, which they blocked with their legs.

Both jumped back and maintained some distance between each other. It was as if there was a mirror between them. Both had the same moves.

'It makes sense. He grew up in the woods.' Alex thought. They both had the same moves and same survival instincts. Alex learnt his combat from the game as he lived in the woods. He was no different from the monkey, who also learnt to fight by surviving against many other wild animals.

The monkey immediately moved back and Alex could tell what it was going to do. He picked up a stone and threw it at the monkey, which it easily dodged and climbed up a tree.

It hung from the branch and the only way Alex could hit it was with stones. He picked up a bunch of stones and chased the monkey, which was running away by hopping on from one branch to another.

While jumping, it was able to easily evade the stones thrown at it. This continued until Alex ran out of stones. As if waiting for this moment, the monkey jumped at him, aiming to kick him in the face.

"You are still inexperienced." Alex said and performed a roundhouse kick to its ribs. It was the first move which connected, delivering the whole power intended.

The monkey screeched at Alex while holding the place the kick connected. Alex said "It was a great fight. You can come and challenge me again when you heal."

They decided to end it after a single move because, they were running around for a while and both were tired. They didn't want to fight to an extent where they both are unable to move. They would be sitting ducks for the rest of the predators in the jungle.

Alex returned to his cave, are dinner and slept. He woke up the next day and trained early morning. He had a training regimen in his mind, which was something a player of the game taught him.

The one who thought him was a bodybuilder and he knew of the best way to train the body quickly without any external foods or chemicals.

The method was simple, train with heavy weights, which you keep increasing gradually, and select compound movements, which involve multiple muscles at a time. This way, you can focus on multiple muscles at a time while improving them at a rapid pace with the help of weights.

Alex trained for 3 hours straight and was completely exhausted. He then waited till he could move and went back into the forest. He only had food for one week which, he estimated that, wouldn't last for more than three days.

So, he decided to hunt. He walked through the forest and met the same monkey from yesterday. Even the way it greeted him was same, throwing a coconut.

"Sorry man, can't fight today. I am tired and I also have to hunt some animal for meat." Alex said and the monkey didn't do anything but stare at him.

Alex chuckled and said "Humans really are social creatures. Look at me, it has only been two days since I came to this forest and I already feel so lonely that I am talking to a monkey. I must be going crazy."

The monkey then jumped to another branch and looked at Alex. It motioned it's head as if signalling him to follow it. Alex was confused, but still followed the monkey.

The monkey led him to a weird place with many burrows. Alex turned to the monkey for answers and it walked to a burrow. It threw in a rock and immediately, many rabbits came out of all the burrows.

They started running away from them. The monkey turned to Alex and gestured him to catch them. Alex immediately got to work and while they were running around, Alex said "How about we take this as a challenge and see who can catch the most rabbits."

When Alex finished, the monkey increased its pace and started catching more. After catching a rabbit, they would tie their legs and put them in a basket.

The different thing about these rabbits from the usual ones Alex was familiar with, is that they moved a lot faster. Alex had to run around a lot to catch them.

They started at around afternoon and they continued this till evening. The rabbits would run near the perimeter of the area, probably because they can't survive in the jungle of they ran off too far.

During sunset, they started counting the rabbits and Alex ended up catching 18 rabbits while the monkey caught 20.

Both of them decided to sleep at that place and Alex cooked dinner. They both had dinner and as they were sleeping near a tree, Alex asked "It looks like you completely understand everything I say. Were you trained by someone?"

The monkey replied with a slight nod. Alex asked "So, you were either a companion of a human..." and the monkey shook its head, "or you must be a circus monkey trained by a trainer." which made it go silent.

"I can understand how you feel. I have also seen the cruelty of humans. Anyways, do you have a name?" Alex asked and it shook its head.

"Shall I give you a name?" Alex asked and the monkey denied, but he ignored it and was thinking of a name.

He thought for a while and said "How about 'Brittles'?"