Chapter 16 New Member to the Team

"huh where am I" said Ajax as he slowly got up from where he laid.

Ajax slowly got up and looked around his familiar surroundings. He was in the hut that he was born and raised in. As Ajax looked around, he saw a familiar orangutan not far from him. The orangutan looked familiar but strangely, Ajax noticed a few differences between the Tim today and the Tim yesterday. Tim's hair was still orange but now Ajax can spot a few white spots on some of his fur. Not knowing what it really meant, he decided to use his observation skill on Tim.

Name: Tim [lvl 10]

Race: Primate [Orangutan; sage ]

Strength: 30

Defense:35

Agility:32

Intelligence:40

Endurance: 30

Skills: Swordsmanship [lvl7], Spear fishing [lvl1], Language [lvl10]

"Sage? what is that, his intelligence shot straight up, does it have something to do with that?" Ajax pondered while looking at the title next to Tim's race.

Looking at the new and evolved Tim, Ajax decided that he will probably find out what kind of benefits it can bring later on in their journey. Although Ajax still felt some muscle ache for expending his energy by so much during the battle and get away, Ajax decided to look at his stats before going to meet his father to report his experiences and what happened after he had arrived near their tribe's entrance.

Name: Ajax [lvl 10]

Exp: 1000/1500

Race: Primate [chimpanzee, martial ape]

Strength: 42

Defense:27

Agility:33

Intelligence:25

Endurance: 22

Attribute points: 5

Skills: Warrior [lvl5], language [lvl10], , Observation [lvl1], Spear Fishing [lvl2], , Wind enhancement [lvl2], Cooking [lvl3], Perception [lvl1].

Looking at his stats, Ajax decided to put in his last 5 attribute points into endurance because he realized the after the battle with the wolves, he simply lacked the energy to continue the run and that if not because he was close to his father's domain, then he and Tim would've just died after running out of stamina.

Name: Ajax [lvl 10]

Exp: 1000/1500

Race: Primate [chimpanzee, martial ape]

Strength: 42

Defense:27

Agility:33

Intelligence:25

Endurance: 27

Attribute points: 0

Skills: Warrior [lvl5], language [lvl10], , Observation [lvl1], Spear Fishing [lvl2], , Wind enhancement [lvl2], Cooking [lvl3], Perception [lvl1].

Looking at his stats, Ajax was now pretty satisfied with his stats and now he was planning on investing some points into agility and intelligence in the future. Although Ajax felt that having a focus on certain attributes would be good, for now at least, he don't want other stats to be too far behind or else it may give him a fatal weakness.

As Ajax began to move around his body to get rid of the soreness and feel out his body, Tim woke up.

"Ajax? huh, I guess we are still alive after all haha" said Tim as he saw Ajax and started patting his own body to make sure he wasn't just dreaming or thinking that he was in the afterlife.

" Yeah, what happened after I passed out" asked Ajax as he saw the silly behavior from Tim.

" Hmm idk, not much I guess. As I was about to take you and run a little more, I heard and saw many apes arriving and your father also appeared I think and told me that he'll take care of us. After hearing that, I could not hold on much longer and fell asleep on the spot, too exhausted to move any longer" said Tim as he slowly got up and explained what happened.

"hmm, okay that's good enough I guess. Come, I'll take you to go meet my father" said Ajax after hearing about what happened.

"uh okay, lets go" replied Tim as he slowly got up. As the two walked out of the hut and Ajax finally got a good look at himself and at Tim. Both of them were covered in wounds and some slight primitive bandage with leaves and saliva.

" We go up there and we can hear the rest of what happened when we fell due to exhaustion.

" Hmm okay, I am also quite excited to finally meet your father who is a long time friend with mine" said Tim as he quickly caught up to Ajax and followed him.

After traveling the huge tree to get into his father's hut, he noticed two guardsman that looked familiar to him. As he looked closely, he saw that it was Mark and Matt and saw that they became quite strong but not to the point where they leveled up yet. It seems that during the short time away his few buddies were out training and were on guard duty.

" Hey guys, how have you guys been" said Ajax.

" Hmm? Ajax is that you? Boy did you get bigger, did you already evolve?" replied the two.

" Haha, yeah pretty fast huh" laughed and replied Ajax.

" yeah haha. me and Matt have been doing pretty well lately, although slightly slower than you. Anyways your father told us to tell you that when you had woken up then to go and meet with him.

" Ah, okay then, I'll go in right now then" replied Ajax as he heard what his father said to the two guards before him.

As Ajax and Tim entered the large hut, he saw jerry sitting down not far from their location. Jerry was the young gorilla that was rescued by Mason.

" Ajax come in and bring your friend with you" said King Adros.

Nodding his head, Ajax and Tim came into the hut and sat down across from King Adros and not far from Jerry.

" Tell me about your journey outside the tribe and what led to you coming home into such a state" Kind Adros said as he saw his son settling into place.

"Okay" said Ajax as he began his story. Ajax began his story about the horned bear and the group of wolves that he fought off. Ajax chose to keep gained skill a secret. After that, Ajax explained to his father about him meeting with Tim and his encounter with the few humans. Ajax continued the story and went on and explained to him about his encounter with the Walker family and the information that he learned when he was there. Leading up to this point, King Adros face would turn to a proud face and sometimes one where it was utterly surprised as he learned the identity of the orangutan in front of him. The story then continued to their encounter with the eight legged alligator and the pack of wolves and eventually their escape and arrival at the tribe.

After hearing all of this, King Adros was surprised by the accomplishments of his son. Although he had had some contact with humans, most of them were not friendly ones. Most humans that ventured this far into the forest were always those that have sinister ideas and goals and would try to steal something from them. This was the main reason why he chose not to horde or have many things that humans would want. Although he did not fear a fight with the humans, he did not want there to be any major conflicts and have his tribe surrounded by enemies. He was also not that surprised by the origin of the world and where they were located in the forest. As monkey king, in his early years he would venture out further into the forest or further out in order to attain the strength that he had today. During his journey, he would occasionally pick up several stories about how the world was created and about the reason for the differences between the many creatures in and outside the forest. He even reached the sea but quickly pulled back as he saw that he was a very pitiful and weak creature compared to the many creatures in the sea.

Jerry was listening at the side of all this and was surprised at the information that he had learned. He was there in the first place so that he can request permission to leave the tribe for an extended period of time to go off training. Jerry felt that his progress in gaining strength was a little slow because of just standing around on patrol or going out to hunt for food for the tribe.

"What do you plan to do next, son" asked King Adros as he felt that Ajax still had things that he wants to do.

"hmm, first I want to explore this lower level of the forest. I want to find and challenge many of the creatures here and grow strong. As soon as I feel that I am stronger than most beings here, I will move on deeper into the forest and I want to eventually see the World Tree with my own eyes." Ajax replied with a voice filled with confidence and curiosity.

"Okay, you are free to do as you please. I will continue to stay here and protect our tribe. Once you are content with life, you can come back anytime you want to" said King Adros as he saw the confident look in Ajax. Ever since Ajax was born, Ajax was different. Ajax had learned early on how to walk on his two hind legs. He would always stay at the border of the tribe or top of a tree to look at the world around him. King Adros knew that this child of his would chose not to be chained down by his status or locked in the small forest that they were part of.

"But when you go, take Jerry with you. Help him grow strong and help him take revenge for his tribe as any ape would also do the same for us if we run into trouble" said King Adros as he looked at the three apes in front of him. " Beware though, the predators that took out his tribe must've been tough and I feel as if something may have been amiss as it is hard for any ordinary creature to take out a whole tribe". 'ding'

[ Because of acknowledgment of host's leader, a Subquest has been generated]

[Investigate who was behind the attack of Jerry's tribe]

[Reward: clues about the inheritance of the Holy Sun Forest]

"hmm, the rewards looks extremely tempting hahaha, of course I'll help Jerry now." " Yes father, I'll do my best" Said Ajax after seeing the new quest he just received.

" Okay good. Go see your mother before you leave again. She appears to be growing fairly weak since your birth." King Adros said before having them leave.

" Weak? I thought she was perfectly healthy" thought Ajax.

While leaving the hut he looked towards his group and said, " Tim take Jerry outside the forest and teach him a few things, go near the stream and I'll come to you guys after I meet my mother".

"Okay, we'll wait for you there" replied Tim as he looked towards Jerry.

As the two headed off towards their path, Ajax headed off towards his mother. Although Ajax never mentioned much about his mother, he still thought of her as his mother. Even though he often thought about and missed his mother from his past life, the things that he would do for his mother, he would do for the mother he had right now. Although things are slightly different, his current mother still felt like any other mother, caring and strong. As soon as he came into this world, he was on his mother's back. It was on this back that he learned many things about the ape tribe he was in and its customs. It was on his mother's back that allowed him to see much of the world when he could barely move. Although his father was busy and tough, his mother showed him compassion that moved Ajax as he was not expecting much when he tries to compare of what a human mother could do compared to an ape. Although these thoughts came to Ajax's mind, he chose to not dwell on it too much. He would let things flow naturally and do what he wants to do.

" Mother, I am back" Ajax said as he entered his mother's hut.

"mhm come son, let me take a look at you, I heard you were injured when you came back" his mother said while looking at Ajax enter the room.

As Ajax entered the room and went to sit in front of his mother, his mother began to check his body for bugs and any major injuries that Ajax may still have.

"Good my son, your body is very clean of bugs but there are so many scars on your body. Try to not over work yourself or me and your father will be sad and your father may go on a rampage" said Ajax's mother.

" Yes, mother, I know. I heard from father that your body is becoming weak, is something wrong?" asked Ajax.

" Nothing is wrong, mother is just getting old that's all" replied Ajax's mother.

After half an hour of catching up and talking about daily things, Ajax said, " Mother it's time for me to go, I am going back out into the forest to train and see more of the forest. Mother be safe and well, perhaps I want a little brother or sister haha".

" haha maybe, we'll see son. Go and enjoy your journey, feel free to come back and rest, after all this is your home" replied Ajax's mother dismissing Ajax's tease.

" yes mother. Good bye, be safe mother" Ajax said again as he left the hut.

As Ajax left the hut and out of the tribe, his mother can be seen watching his back from afar as tears starting to drip from her eyes. 'cough' 'cough' " My queen, you should not be talking so much in your state" said a younger female ape rushing from outside the hut.

" It's alright, as long as I can still speak to my son without him worrying" replied Ajax's mother.

" Well its time to catch up and see what Tim is teaching Jerry" said Ajax as he climbed on a tree and began his way towards the stream.

After some time of traveling, Ajax has reached the stream and saw Tim and Jerry sparring. Tim can be seen to be making laps around Jerry as he continuously slash at Jerry making small cuts on him with no wounds or scratches on his body.

" No not good enough if you want to keep up with us" said Tim as he once again side stepped and made a slight cut on Jerry's body. " Wrong... wrong again. You have to keep thinking ahead and try to come up with a way to get the upper hand on the opponent". Ajax saw Jerry continuously running on all four and just trying to bash into Tim. Tim was always several steps ahead as he continuously made feints and moving around Jerry. Orangutans and Gorrilas are similar ape species that was known for their great strengths. Orangutans however possessed slightly more of a more well rounded strength and intelligence.

" Stop" said Ajax as he saw the battle continuing.

" Although I had trained you more in the combat arts of swords Tim, not everyone will pick it up as well as you do" said Ajax as he jumped and landed next to them.

" Come Jerry, show me how you fight" said Ajax as he looked at Jerry.

" Alright here I come" said Jerry as he charged at Ajax.

Jerry charged at Ajax and right when he was about to shoulder bash Ajax, he stood up and started flailing his arms making punching motions, but it was really chaotic and not effective against Ajax.

Shaking his head, Ajax already knew what to do with Jerry but he did not have the equipment for him. As Ajax had easily dodged Jerry's attack, he sent out a kick which sent him flying. " Stop, I have seen enough".

Hearing this, Jerry stopped and sat on the ground where he was kicked to slightly dejected that he was so much weaker than the two. Ajax began thinking of what to equip Jerry with. He had always fantasize how a gorilla should look like while in battle. He had always had a vision of them clad in armor carrying a big two handed weapon. The main damage dealer of the group that can just go into battle and demolish ranks of troops in full swings. With this thought in mind, he decided to find a thick tree that he could make a fairly large club from. Before this however, he decided that he should first take a look at Jerry's stats.

Name: Jerry [lvl 7]

Race: Primate [gorilla]

Strength: 28

Defense:30

Agility:25

Intelligence:22

Endurance: 25

"hmm okay, seems like he needs to train a little more, so that he can evolve" thought Ajax.

" Okay, we'll do some hunting while exploring the forest until you can evolve Jerry. After that then we can go and look for a suitable weapon for you and then began going exploring more into the forest" said Ajax while walking near a suitable tree to make a club into.

Walking near the tree, Ajax took out his sword and swung it with all his strength near the base of the tree. 'wack' the cut only went half way through. 'wack', Ajax swung again and the tree fell down causing dust to rise from the ground. After walking up to the fallen tree, he began to hack the base small enough for it to form a handle. He then hacked around it and up the base making a crude wooden club. the top of the weapon looked extremely rough but was thick enough to cause some damage to a creature and not break. Picking up wooden club, he threw it to Jerry.

" here use this for now. Just swing it around for awhile and then we can go hunt and train" said Ajax.

As Jerry caught the wooden club, his eyes lit up as he felt that the weapon suited him quite fairly although he still felt awkward because he had not really handled any weapons before. As Ajax saw his look, he already had a targeted place in mind which was precisely the horned bears. The horned bears around their locations were fairly strong but had simple characteristics like Jerry. It would be the perfect oponent for the current Jerry.

" Alright let's go" said Ajax.