The next day Alex woke up in cold sweat. He had a nightmare in which he was chased around the crater by the wolf's cubs. That was a terrible dream, thought Alex as he got ready for the day.

Alex looked at his itinerary for today. Gaining strength was on the top of his list. He took a Yellow fruit and started eating. After few minutes, the hot energy surged through his body, so he started his high-intensity workout.

He ate one fruit after the other until he finished all the fruits at hand, and it was already afternoon.

Alex took a boxing stance and struck the air continuously. An audible swish was heard as he punched. After five minutes of shadow boxing, he stopped.

Alex was satisfied with the results. His strength, stamina, and agility made a huge leap in growth. However, he does not know by how much.

Alex saw the compound bow near his grass bed, and his eyes lit up. This custom-made compound bow's draw weight was adjustable. Its maximum draw weight was 300kg (660 pounds). Usually, Alex used it at 60kg (132 pounds).

He first increased the draw weight to 90kg (200 pounds), which was the world record on earth. He took the archer's stance and pulled the string without any effort.

Then he adjusted the draw weight to 120kg (264 pounds), this time, he can feel the resistance, but he still managed to pull. Alex was happy that his strength had doubled.

There are no more fruits left, so Alex got ready to find some more fruits and wore the camouflage suit.

Alex went to the cave opening and held the shroud vine, ready to climb down. Then an anomaly occurred. Alex felt the energy drain from his hand. He quickly released the vine.

Alex frowned. Why was this vine acting weird today? Yesterday when he climbed down, there was no reaction.

Did I touch a unique vine just now?

So, Alex grasped other vines and found all of them are draining the energy from his hand. After some observation, Alex found these vines are absorbing the Mana from his body.

What a vicious vine! No wonder he did not find any small animals in the vines.  Obviously, their energy was devoured.

Yesterday, He passed safely cause there was little to no Mana in his body.

Alex had a headache. He can't give up this cave cause it was now more secure than he expected. Security was paramount in this strange world. With this Vicious-vine guarding the entrance, he can sleep with peace of mind.

He had to find a safe way to pass through the vines. He touched the vine while wearing the leather gloves. There was some effect. The suction speed decreased a little, but it still did not solve the problem.

Alex looked at his belongings to find other suitable materials. He tried plastic, metal, and leather, but there was no substantive effect. Then he saw the camouflage suit he wore, which were made from these Vicious vines.

He wrapped the dead Vicious vines around his palms and then held the Vicious vines without any expectation.

To his surprise, it worked. Alex's energy was no longer drained. He sighed in relief and fell on his grass bed.

Now he understood what it meant: the problem was always the solution. The dead Vicious-vines can constrain the suction force. Alex cut a few Vicious vines to upgrade his camouflage suit.

After all the work, he felt tired. Those Vicious vines drained all of his Mana. He once again felt mortal.

After recovering some energy, he got ready to have lunch. His only option was the hamster.

He quickly grilled the meat with some spices and took the first bite. It was like chicken. After few bites, he felt the hot energy rushing through his body.  The Mana was much stronger than when he ate the fruit.

Alex was worried that the excess Mana may burst but was soon relieved. Because he entered an unusual state: his body craved for Mana.

All the Mana from the meat was smoothly absorbed by his body. It was like the first rain on dry land.

It must be due to the severe lack of Mana, Alex concluded as he continued eating.

After completing half the meat, maybe cause the body absorbed the Mana too well, the Mana overflowed and was about to burst.  At which point, he started high-intensity training.

Alex felt he was on a roller coaster. One second, you may die due to lack of Mana. The next second, you may die due to excess Mana.

However, he felt his strength increase rapidly during this state. Alex named it Extreme State.

This time after exercising for half an hour, Alex can feel a definite increase in strength. He tested his strength with his compound bow, and he effortlessly pulled the string at the 120Kg draw weight.

Then he adjusted the draw weight to 140Kg (308 Pounds) and drew it. It took some effort, but he successfully pulled the string. In an hour, he increased his strength by  20Kg. His eyes shined as he looked at the Vicious vine.

Alex concluded that when his body entered the Extreme state after completely draining the Mana, his body can easily absorb the Mana and increase his strength.

The meat also played a role this time. The meat was much more nutritious than fruits. It's no wonder that the wolf cubs hunted those hamsters.

Alex wanted to experiment with his findings but restrained himself. There was not much food left, so his first priority is to hunt and gather fruits.

Alex cut some Vicious vines and wrapped them around his palms without exposure. This should restrain the Vicious vines Mana suction.

He wore the camouflage suit before carefully climbing down. There were no more anomalies as the Vicious vines did not take action.

Alex breathed a sigh of relief. He went through the previous route and picked six fruits.

Alex checked the traps and found them empty. However, he saw hamster footprints in one of the traps. It seems a normal trap cant hold this hamster.

But he did not care too much cause he found a suitable place where he can hunt. It was the lake at the center of the crater.

Many small animals came to the lake for water. It was a nice place to hunt.

Alex went to the lake, climbed a tree, and started his watch.

After some time, he saw a tiny hamster come from a bush. It was 50 meters away, within his range. Yet, he just observed as the little one drink and leave.

He did not take action cause it's small. So it must be a juvenile and cause he remembered a saying from Uncle Jack.

"If you let the small fish pass, you would find the big fish coming," said Uncle Jack.

As expected, soon, he found a fat hamster coming from the same bush. It looked around carefully before approaching the water. 

It was probably testing the surroundings using the small one as a test subject. You cannot look down on these guys. But too bad they met Alex.

Alex nocked the arrow into the bow and aimed at the hamster. The tip of the arrow moved as the hamster slowly approached the lake.

It stopped before it started drinking.  Without wasting a second, Alex released the arrow. With the 140 kg (308 pounds) draw weight, the bolt moved at 600kmph, approximately half the bullet's speed. The hamster stood no chance. The arrow swiftly pierced from its neck and pinned it to the ground.

Alex quickly moved to its side, drained its blood near a bush, and took the meat back to his cave.

It was a successful hunt.