After returning from the hunt, Alex started experimentation on the Extreme state he experienced in the afternoon. Entering the Extreme state may be the fastest way to increase his strength.
Alex sat near the entrance and held a Vicious vine in his bare hand. The vine started sucking the Mana from his hand. After few seconds, it started squirming and wrapping around his hands.
Alex's hair stood up. This thing was really vicious. If he was caught by this Vicious vine, he would be sucked dry. Alex did not let the vine wrap his hand but still maintained physical contact.
Occasionally, the vine still tried to wrap his hand, and Alex stopped it. After few more tries, the vine gave up. It seems the vine was not that strong. It took two minutes for the vine to completely suck his energy dry.
Without any hesitation, he cut the vine with the M-1 machete using his other hand.
Alex fell back tired, without a speck of energy in his body. However, he can feel his body slowly recover. His cells passively absorbed the Mana as he breathed, and it will take few hours to get back to normal.
Alex can't wait that long, so he took out the remaining half of the meat he grilled this afternoon and ate it. With every bite, his cells cheered and absorbed the energy from the grilled meat. He can feel the quantity of Mana increase fastly. He kept eating until the Mana was about to burst.
After half an hour of high-intensity exercise, he returned to normal. His strength also made a significant improvement of 20KG (44 lbs). He can now pull around the 160Kg (350 lbs) draw weight. That's almost twice the amount of the earth's record.
Although it's fruitful, Alex does not want to do this kind of extreme exercise too often. It might leave some hidden dangers. So he decided to practice it twice a day.
After a break, he started eating the yellow fruits he bought. After two hours of exercise, as the sun was setting on the horizon, Alex got ready for the night.
Usually, at this time, he would start observing the wolves. But after finding the situation of this crater yesterday night, he no longer carried it out.
After all, he found this was a Daycare for wolf cubs, except it's at night. There was no need to look at those cubs hunting hamsters at the expense of his battery.
He was totally free tonight. He cannot exercise, as the sweat may draw the wolves' attention and also cause he was tired.
So Alex decided to meditate. It's a good way to focus and relieve stress. And if the references in the movies were to be believed, meditation and Mana went hand in hand.
Alex sat down in the lotus position and breathed slowly. Alex focused on his breathing while clearing his head of the thoughts. But soon, the howls of the wolves echoed in the crater and messed up the breathing rhythm.
Damn it!
After serval minutes of adjusting his mind, Alex focused on his breathing. He observed the breath in and out, his chest rising up and down.
Slowly he felt his body energized with every breath. He can feel warm energy slowly flowing through his body and then slowly absorbed by his body.
Success! But then his focus shattered and exited from the meditative state. Alex was not disappointed, as he found out that the meditation does work. This means he can absorb Mana freely from the environment, which will come in handy in some tricky situations.
He once again focused on his breathing and entered the meditative state.
The air around him contained pure Mana. Usually, with every breath, it enters the body and slowly strengthens the body. But this process can be improved many times in the meditative state.
After an hour, his body was brimming with energy, and there was a slight increase in his strength. Alex was happy, but unfortunately, he reached his limit and can no longer absorb the free Mana.
Meditation can recharge your Mana, but there was only a slight increase in strength. It seems he still had to hunt.
When understanding Mana, Alex always felt like a little kid trying to understand Math. This meditation was another step forward in his research in Mana.
Remembering the Night wolves, which practically disappear at night, Alex felt something missing in his research. He had to find more applications of Mana.
With a lot of thoughts, Alex quickly drifted to sleep.
The Next day he woke up late. He consumed the fruits and started working out. With every fruit, his strength increased by 5KG (11 lbs). It's already noon, as he completed his last fruit. Alex's strength now was around 200KG (440 lbs).
Alex previously decided to enter the extreme state twice a day during noon and evening. So Alex prepared to enter the Extreme state using the vicious vines.
First, he grilled the hamster meat. In the extreme state, you will be very hungry and tired. So going to an Extreme state without meat was suicide.
Second, he dragged a Vicious vine to the middle of the cave using gloves made of dead Vicious vines and sat in a comfortable position.
Alex closed his eyes and centered his meditative state. Alex had a conjecture if his control over the Mana increases, can he stop the Vicious vine from sucking his Mana?
Now the question was how to increase his Mana control? Can just meditation increase his Mana control? Alex does not know the answers, but he had to try.
In the meditative state, Alex can feel the Mana stored in the body. Alex extended his hand and held the Vicious vine. He can Alex Immideatly frowned, as he felt his Mana being drained.
In the end, Alex focused on his hand, his forearms bulged, and a pale blue aura wrapped his hand. Alex, who closed his eyes and was in a meditative state, did not see the blue aura, but he felt a mental connection with the Mana in his hand and tried to stop the suction.
It was successful. Alex slowed down the flow of Mana using his willpower. It was like his willpower was in a tug of war with the Vicious vine over his Mana.
After three minutes, his mental energy dried out, and the control over Mana was lost. The Mana flowed away like an open dam.
Just before complete exhaustion, he cut the vine with the machete. He fell back on his bed, tired both physically and mentally.
He ate the grilled meat, replenishing the physical energy. But the mental energy recovered slowly. It took him twenty minutes of deep meditation to recover the mental energy. Alex discovered another use of meditation, which made him happy.
Afterward, he checked the growth of his strength. He adjusted the draw weight of the bow to 225KG (500 lbs) and pulled it effortlessly. Alex was happy at the result.
There were only a few hours before the dark, and Alex had to hunt to get food for tomorrow.
Alex wore his camouflage suit made of dead vines and went to the lake. On the way, he picked few fruits. After reaching the lake, he found a spot for an ambush and hid in a bush nearby.
After an hour, there was no sight of any prey. Alex was getting edgy and was about to abort the ambush. But suddenly, a huge hamster came to the lake. The hamster looked left and right before getting ready to drink water.
Alex was happy and did not intend to let this one pass. He raised the bow and shot the arrow. The arrow pierced through its chest.
After taking a cursory glance at the surroundings, Alex quickly approached the game and was about to put it away.
All of a sudden, Alex heard rustling in the nearby bush. Alex was petrified at the unexpected development.
He had slackened due to the smooth sailing till now while forgetting that he was in a strange magical forest surrounded by deadly beasts. Alex cursed himself for his own negligence.
"Damn it! Please, don't let it be a Night Wolf," prayed Alex.