After four or five hours of deep sleep, Myrul was suddenly woken up by the buzzing of mosquitoes near his ear. The constant noise made it impossible for him to rest peacefully.
Just as one mosquito landed on his cheek.
Pang!!
Someone slapped his face hard, jolting him awake like an undertaker rising from a grave.
"What the?! Who just slapped me?!" he shouted, sitting up and rubbing his stinging cheek.
One of the warrior girls was sitting beside him, her sharp eyes glaring at him while her hands were busy swatting away mosquitoes.
Despite the pain, he could not help but laugh at the absurdity of the situation. "She actually looks kind of cute doing that," he thought, noticing how focused she was on protecting him from the pesky insects.
But then he saw how red her eyes were, clearly exhausted from a lack of sleep. He gestured to her, using hand signals to suggest that she should rest and that he would take over mosquito duty for now.
To his surprise, she understood his gestures almost immediately. Without a word, she lay down and fell asleep in seconds.
"Wow, the girls in this world are really something else. They are tough as nails but can pass out in an instant," he shaking his head in amusement.
Curious about the village, he decided to take a walk outside. He pushed aside the leaves covering the entrance of the hut and stepped out into the night.
The starlight illuminating the village was breathtakingly beautiful, casting a soft glow over the quiet surroundings. As he walked, he noticed that most of the women in the village were awake, keeping watch over their partners who were sleeping peacefully.
But then, his peaceful stroll was interrupted by a sound he had not expected to hear.
"Ahhh ahh ahhhh!"
It was the unmistakable sound of someone having sex. But what made him stop in his tracks was the realization that the voice was distinctly male.
"What the... bullshit is this?!" Myrul muttered, his face twisting in a mix of confusion and disbelief. "This world just keeps getting weirder and weirder."
He could not bear to watch the bizarre scene unfolding in the village. "I cannot handle this. It is making me lose my appetite," he muttered, turning away and walking toward a nearby waterfall.
The water was crystal clear, flowing down from the mountains. "This must be mineral water. I need a drink," he then cupping his hands to scoop up some water and taking a refreshing sip. "Ah, finally, something pure and clean."
But his stomach growled loudly, reminding him of how hungry he was. "I cannot eat what they eat here because it is all raw. My stomach is not used to that kind of food. I will probably get food poisoning," he sighing in frustration.
As he wandered further, he noticed a man sitting by the edge of a cliff. Unlike the other villagers, this man was dressed in finer clothing and looked relatively normal. He was casually dangling his feet over the edge, seemingly lost in thought.
"Maybe I can try communicating with him,"
Myrul try approaching the man cautiously.
"Err... hello?" Myrul greeted, using hand gestures since he still could not understand the local language.
The man smiled at him, as if he already knew Myrul could not understand him. He gestured for Myrul to sit down, and he obeyed, sitting across from him.
The man then placed his hand on the mouth of Myrul and began chanting something a spell, perhaps. A glowing circle appeared on his hand, radiating magical energy. The circle slowly floated toward the head of Myrul and disappeared into his brain, sending a spark through his mind.
For a moment, Myrul froze, feeling a strange sensation.
"Hello, now you can talk and understand our language, right?" the magician asked, his voice clear and understandable.
The eyes of Myrul sparkled with excitement. "Finally! I can understand you! Thank you!" he grabbing the hands of the magician in gratitude.
The magician smiled warmly and patted the hands of Myrul. "Do not worry, baby," he said in a soft, almost flirtatious tone.
The face of Myrul immediately twisted in disgust. "Oh, right... I forgot. In this world, the men are... uh, softer. I am not used to this kind of talk," he said, pulling his hands away awkwardly.
The magician, seemingly unfazed, asked, "So, where do you come from?"
"Nah, I come from... really far away," Myrul said vaguely, not wanting to reveal that he was not from this world at all.
Fyr, the magician, raised an eyebrow but did not press further. "Is that so? It is something you cannot tell me, right? Anyway, my name is Fyr. I am not from this village either. I come from the Wisdia Continent," he explained.
Fyr went on to describe the geography of the world. The map, he said, was circular, with five continents arranged around a central jungle known as The Great Jungle. This jungle acted as a natural barrier, separating the five continents from one another.
The five continents are:
1. Wisdia Mostly inhabited by magicians and humans.
2. Kurtfea Home to swordsmen and aura users, also humans.
3. Resurea The land of the Beastfolk.
4. Terdceq A realm of Elves and Ice Elves.
5. Huerd The domain of Demons.
"And here we are, in The Great Jungle, the heart of it all, connecting these five continents," Fyr concluded, gesturing dramatically as if presenting a grand map in the air.
"But why are you here, Fyr? Should you not be in Wisdia right now?" Myrul asked, curious about the presence of the magician in such a remote and dangerous place.
Fyr sighed, his expression turning serious. "That is a good question. I am one of the rebels fighting against the kingdom in my own continent. Anyone who is exiled or cast out from their continent ends up here in this jungle. Most do not survive because the monsters here are incredibly powerful."
He paused, his gaze distant, as if recalling painful memories. "Luckily, I was saved by the leader of the rebellion here in the jungle. He had been leading us for a long time, but... he was killed by a commander from his own country. Now, our group is growing weaker. We do not have a leader strong enough to unite everyone in the jungle. So, for now, our only task is to protect the village from the dangerous monsters roaming this place."