Chapter 4

It was only later, after I woke up did I realize that the strange wave of nausea that assaulted me was due to mana depletion.

Mana depletion was a detrimental effect caused by excess use of mana. Apparently, using telekinesis consumed a bit too much of my mana. Last night’s mana depletion’s effects were limited to Nausea and tiredness, but I had a feeling that if I pushed it a bit too far, things could get real dangerous, real fast.

Luckily though, mana depletion would only take effect if I used too much mana, so if I do a bit of micromanaging, I should be fine.

Strangely enough, the amount of mana I had wasn’t displayed on my status panel. Much like how usual game mechanics like HP and Stamina weren’t present either, Mana was left unstated. Since I couldn’t really do anything about that though, I decided to push that worry aside and focus on the day ahead.

Oh, and if you’re wondering how I knew this, well, call it an instinctual thing. It was sort of like preinstalled knowledge which I acquired the moment I reincarnated. It was weird, and had several mysteries, but for the current me, there was nothing I could do about it.

****

In the morning, Mother fed me some red fruit before we started walking around. Well, I say walking, but it was really just mother traveling from branch to branch while I piggybacked. As we moved through the canopy, we passed plenty of fellow monkeys. I observed the others with great detail.

One thing I noticed, was that the overall color scheme for a monkey was either white or grey. Mother was like that too, even now, the back that I clung to was composed of white fur. The others as well, either white or grey. The canopy before me quickly became a sea of white and grey as the more and more monkeys began to gather.

This left me feeling a bit nervous. I mean, I don’t have access to a mirror, so I’m not all too certain, but I’ve seen the fur on my arms and tail, and they look more black than white.

I was probably a black furred monkey.

…. This, I hope this isn’t any sort of flag. I’d dislike it if I were to be ostracized or picked on by the other monkeys due to a difference in hair color.

Suppressing this growing worry deep within me, I dutifully kept my head down while mother continued to move through the canopy.

My mother in question though, was quite sociable. As she moved, she did something akin to greeting the other adult monkeys. Although, despite Mother’s enthusiasm, the others weren’t as reciprocating.

She would call out towards each passing monkey, but strangely enough, none of them replied back. At first, I thought this was a normal thing, but when I looked over and saw a few of the other mother monkeys who we traveled with greet the others in a similar fashion, my original idea was quickly refuted. In the face of their greetings, the other monkeys howled back, rather enthusiastically if I may add.

Is mother hated? Maybe she’s just not popular?

As I wondered this, mother quickly reached a new spot within the canopy that rested on the edges of where the red fruit trees grew. This area was a place where most of the leaves had been plucked, allowing the overhanging sun to rain down vicious rays of light. From below, the jungle underbrush was illuminated with out-of-place sunlight, which greatly contrasted the more shaded surroundings.

In the middle of this “clearing”, stood a lone monkey. Although I said monkey, this thing looked big and scary enough that it wouldn’t be strange if someone were to mistake it for an ape. The monkey had a pelt of dirty white hair, and a tail that was almost twice its body height. Its face was morphed into an eternal scowl, while it held one eye closed, almost as if it were winking. Ah, no, that was wrong. There was a massive scar over its right eye, giving the illusion that it constantly kept one eye closed.

Without a doubt, this monkey was the leader. An Alpha in the truest sense.

Upon reaching the “Alpha”, mother made a dipping motion that closely resembled a bow. With a low grunt from the Alpha, mother looked back up, only to start making varying noises which I couldn’t understand. The Alpha returned these noises, which consisted of grunts, screeches, and guttural throat noises, with a collection of his own. I’m not too positive, but I think they were having a conversation.

As they conversed, from on top of Mother’s back, I began to wonder. Do monkeys have their own language? Will I be able to eventually understand them if I keep hanging around with other monkeys?

While I felt a bit weird about learning the monkey language, I had to admit, not being able to communicate with anyone sounded a bit too painful for me.

My thoughts eventually wandered over to idle things, and I quickly grew bored, so I decided to pay attention to Mother’s conversation.

Mother made varying gestures, each exaggerated and seemingly random, but to the Alpha, he seemed to wholly understand. He reciprocated with a few of his own gestures while every now and then he’d grunt or interject with a howl. On a few occasions, Mother would point towards her back, which I saw as a signal that she was talking about me.

Oooh, Mother, for you to talk about your son like that, even I’d get embarrassed, you know. I stomached the rising nervousness from being the center of the conversation, and idly payed attention to mother’s conversation.

After a while had passed, their conversation ended. Seeing this, I immediately perked up. I had grown bored a long time ago, so a change in scenery was well appreciated. I watched the Alpha eagerly with widened eyes.

He grunted lowly, before making a move towards Mother and I. At first I was on guard, but seeing as how Mother did not react, I quickly relaxed. When the Alpha reached us, his hand immediately moved over to grasp the back of my collar. His grip was a bit too strong, inadvertently causing me to let out a pain filled yip, but I doubt he did it on purpose. For a mighty Alpha Pygmy (?) monkey such as himself, controlling his strength might be unexpectedly hard.

He gripped onto me as he removed me from Mother’s comfortable back. I instinctively felt saddened from leaving my familiar spot, but I quickly regained my wit, as I shot the Alpha with a curious stare.

He lifted me closer to himself, until I was at eye to eye level with him, a mere inches away from each other.

With my own bright eyes, I curiously stared back into his. A pair of aged and hardened eyes bore into my own. The Alpha’s eyes were milky white, similar to that of a blind person, but I could see a clear hint of comprehension beneath them. Those same eyes were drooped and gave of a tired look, but nonetheless, they continued to stare at me.

Some time passed like this. Neither one of us talked or made any sort of noise, which clearly contrasted the varying chirps and growls generated by the jungle. Eventually, I heard a worried howl from behind me. It was mother. I wanted to say, “Don’t worry Mother, I’m fine,” but as expected I don’t know how to communicate with monkeys.

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Mother’s howl, which caused me to inadvertently look towards mother, was what caused me to break my staring contest with the Alpha. Seeing this, the Alpha finally let out a noise that vaguely resembled a sigh.

He lightly tapped my forehead with the wrinkled palm of his free hand while he made a low grunting noise. The unexpected tap caused my eyes to squint slightly, but otherwise I was unharmed. In the face of the Alpha’s grunt, I could only tilt my head slightly, indicating that I did not understand.

Seeing this, the Alpha once again let out a tired sigh, before he started moving. Seeing the Alpha move, Mother let out an excited sigh as she began clambering away. What was strange was that Mother was moving away from us, her every step bringing her closer and closer towards the other monkeys.

Mother’s actions greatly confused me. Wasn’t a mother monkey supposed to stick 24/7 to their babies? What type of Mother would leave her son just like that? … Well, there was also the possibility that Mother simply trusted the Alpha. After all, he’s the Alpha. If that’s the case, then I can accept it.

With me in tow, the Alpha began moving through the trees. His aged appearance betrayed the skillful movements he showcased as he traveled from one branch to another. The Alpha was moving away from the other monkeys, with no apparent direction in mind.

Since the Alpha had a constant grip on me, I could not do anything but quietly wait for what was to happen next.

After a while, the Alpha finally stopped moving. He tiredly sat down on a tree branch as he once again brought me to eye level. He grunted once, but upon my lack of response, he once again sighed. I didn’t quite get what was happening, so I like any other baby, began swiveling my head around, curious as to where I was.

Ignoring my movement, the Alpha did something I completely did not expect. In one quick motion, he casually threw me.

….

The bastard threw me!

The bastard threw towards the underbrush below! Why?! What was happening?!

As I quickly fell downwards, I saw the figure of the Alpha letting out another sigh before he swiftly departed. His speed was much faster than when he moved before, and soon, I quickly lost track of him.

Of course, I didn’t really have the time to pay attention to all this, currently, I was falling. For a fragile, baby monkey such as myself, falling from such a height would, without question, kill me. After all, my defense is 0.

Frantic, and with my mind racing, I desperately thought of what to do. I just reincarnated a few weeks ago, so I’d like it if I didn’t die so early in my new life. Without much option, I began moving my body in mid air.

My goal was to slow my falling speed down using the branches below me. The tactic worked somewhat, my body would bounce off and hit the twigs and leaves that rushed past me, but the only downfall was, it was extremely painful. At this rate, the intersecting branches will kill me even before I make it all the way down.

From the aftermath of the branches, my body was now riddled in gouges and scratches and it hurt to move. I didn’t know what to do. Looking down, I could see the ground rushing past me. In such a desperate situation, my mind ached and my heart palpitated before a flash of inspiration took hold. I finally remembered something crucial that I had completely forgotten about.

Telekinesis.

Although I knew that with my current ability, completely halting my descent was out of the question, but at the very least, it didn’t hurt to try. With newfound vigor, I scrunched up my face as I concentrated. I could feel the cold sweat and sultry tropical air rushing past me as I devotedly confirmed that “feeling” once again.

With effort, I managed to lessen the oncoming impact, but as expected, I could not completely stop it. Upon landing, I felt my body bounce off from the floor as if it were a trampoline before I once again hit the floor again. The second impact noticeably had less force in it, but as expected, it was still a painful experience.

I let out a pain filled groan as I tried my hardest to observe my current situation. The first thing I examined was my body. Doing a self evaluation check, I noticed that it was extremely painful to move. I’m pretty certain that I broke my tail as well as a couple of my limbs. My spine seemed to be in tact at least though, so I didn’t have any concerns regarding permanent paralysis. Although, unfortunately, as if to rain down on my parade, I felt a wave of familiar nausea hit me.

Without a doubt, this disgusting feeling was Mana depletion.

Stomaching the ensuing pain, I forced myself to look around my surroundings. From a fair distance away, I could see the spot where I had initially landed. On it was a red blood stain, that vibrantly stuck out from the mud colored dirt that made up the ground.

Looking over at it, I instinctively grimaced. Re-imagining the scene from a few seconds prior, I could do nothing but shiver in phantom pain.

Fortunately, I was finally able to calm down after a few seconds of cringing. This time, without moving, I felt the ground beneath me. The ground consisted of dirt and mud, covered by a layer of dead leaves and decaying twigs. Unexpectedly, the ground was pretty soft. Its softness is probably the main reason why I didn’t die, but still, that doesn’t change the situation.

This was bad. Really bad.

Leaving the unexpected betrayal aside, being in the undergrowth was bad. Especially for a baby monkey such as myself. The undergrowth was wear many of the vicious predators lurked. Things like a giant black panther, or a pack of boars… heck, I even saw a giant preying mantis skulking about before, all sort of “monsters” prowled the jungle floor.

The underbrush was definitely dangerous, and being out in the open like this was more so.

With great effort I moved my limp body over into a crook at the base of a nearby tree. Fighting through the nausea, I then used telekinesis once more to gather the dried leaves scattered across the ground in order to camouflage my hiding spot.

This setup wasn’t anything concrete, but for now, it would work.

Like this, I first decided to rest. My body was aching, my mind was buzzing, and most importantly, I was tired. For a baby monkey such as myself, over work is a no-no, so for now I’ll sleep.

Yes, I’ll take a nap and then hopefully, things will get better.