Aidan, Kalukaga, Siraye, and Sofiel climbed the mountain.
Aidan was at the very back, sweating, and breathing terribly. Sofiel had an easy time as Kalukaga gave her a piggyback.
The hagur turned his lion-like face. "Me carry you?"
Aidan shook his head. "No thanks. I can climb a mountain on my own."
There was no way he would let the chance for increasing his endurance go away. After he returned to school, he would definitely work out and become stronger. Aidan couldn't help but smiled.
Also, it seemed like Aidan and the rest had to hurry up. No one knew if the fourth-level shaman will show up or not, but it was best to prepare for the worst.
But, just how strong a fourth-level shaman was?
"Hey," Aidan called out. "I heard Feval said something about the fourth-level shaman. How strong is that exactly?"
Sofiel nodded. "I want to know too."
Kalukaga kept on walking as he replied: "Fourth-level very strong. Cannot fight."
Sofiel chuckled. "You talk funny, Kalukaga."
Aidan sighed. "Yes, yes, very funny. But that still doesn't answer my question."
He turned his sight to Siraye. She just stayed silent and went with her business; looking down and kept on climbing.
"Siraye you want to answer my question?" Aidan asked.
"No," she said.
"Oh come on. Just tell me."
"Yes," Sofiel said. "Please tell us."
Siraye sighed. "A fourth-level shaman is not something we can fight. Even if Feval, Ledrind, and the others fight the shaman, we wouldn't survive."
"Really?" Aidan asked. Feval and Ledrind was strong. He'd seen them fight against those cultists and they destroyed the enemies without much effort. In fact, Aidan felt that both of them could defeat the cultists on their own.
If both of them couldn't defeat the shaman, then everyone was screwed.
"So that means… if the shaman found us, we'd all be dead?" Aidan said.
"Yes, now stop bothering me," Siraye said.
Aidan raised an eyebrow. "Are you on your period or something? Wait, does a farune have a period like humans?"
Sofiel nodded again. "Tell us that too."
Siraye rolled her eyes. "Yes, we do have periods."
Sofiel chuckled. "Then we are the same, Siraye."
Aidan glanced at her back. She was supposed to have wings. But she had lost it. What could be the cause?
He shook his head. No. It was her business. Siraye didn't like it when someone mention her wings. Recalling the kick a while before, she could be vicious at times.
Even Gomon who had lost his hand didn't receive any mercy.
It seemed like all of her sympathy, morals, and even logic disappears when the topic involves her wings. Raw emotion. That was the only thing that controlled her when her wings were mentioned.
Aidan could imagine what would happen if any other farune asked her about her wings.
Maninsov told him that the farune picked up fruits on tall trees in the Era of Diversity. All the races had their own specialty products so they lived in peace. Even weapons didn't exist as the hagur could hunt for the meat and trade it with the farune or human.
The wings symbolized their specialty and history back in ancient times. Maybe that was why Siraye felt so sensitive about the loss of her wings.
It was sad, but Aidan couldn't do anything about it.
Unless he could regrow it back.
If that was possible, Aidan would be glad to help.
"Look!" Sofiel pointed atop a small hill, legs wrapped around Kalukaga's waist. "There's a lake."
Finally!
Aidan ran atop the hill and the sight welcomed him with amazement.
Colorful birds, beautiful flowers, and even diverse animals. All were there around the lake.
It reminded him the nature back on earth. Natural landscape was only 7% of the earth's surface currently as technology advanced but some political parties wanted the earth to at least have a little bit of green on it.
This was why they created an entire continent for this sole purpose. Numerous scientists created all kinds of bizarre animals and they went wild.
Anyone that would like to visit the continent must be accompanied by a guide and they had to stay in a heavily protected vehicle.
This was because the animals there would put dinosaurs to shame.
That was back on earth, in Inworld there was no such thing as dangerous beasts…
No, He took that back. Doomhound, basilisk, recpepedatly, and even demon worshiping cultists.
All of them were trying to eat him, sacrificed him, and kill him.
It was better if they just throw him in the wildlife continents instead.
Aidan still believed that the billionaire put him in this world. Humans were too scattered across the galaxy. It was hard to detect, locate, and enforce laws if the distance between planets was light-years away.
And it was especially so if there was a supernova nearby or the star was just a bit broken. These broken stars emitted weird electromagnetic waves that disrupt the star node.
It was said that criminals tend to operate in these places.
Why would the billionaire kidnap him and put him here? Well sure most of them are weird and tend to do unthinkable stuff because of their age, but why dedicate an entire planet, ecosystem, and even magic for this?
"Billionaires tend to live around five thousand years. The older they get, the weirder they become."
"Are you saying something, Aidan?" Sofiel asked.
Aidan shook his head. "I think the lake is very beautiful."
Sofiel's eyes lit up. "I know right. It makes me want to undress and take a bath right now."
She jumped off Kalukaga's back and ran towards the lake. "I am going first!"
As she ran, she pulled out her clothes one by one and threw them to the ground without a care. Then with very minimal clothing left, she jumped and dived inside the lake.
"Woohoo!"
Aidan blushed as he looked away. Wait, why am I blushing. I am a proud twenty-three years old college student.
Girls can't make me blush. I shall not be embarrassed.
He peeked at Sofiel as she splashed around in the lake.
Blush.
Then he looked away again. He noticed Kalukaga looking away too, specks of red on his cheek.
Why are you embarrassed?! You're a lion! Well, you're a hagur, but still a lion!
"Guys! Come and join me!" Sofiel shouted as she splashed about.
Siraye approached the lake, took off her clothes, and went in slowly. She nodded. "It's warm."
"I know right." Sofiel approached her.
Aidan looked around at the sky, boulders, animals, and trees. He didn't know where to put his eyes while two beautiful girls were half-naked in the lake near him
Get yourself together, Aidan! You're a college man. Remember your dreams of bringing girls into your dorm?
Remember that?
Aidan took a deep breath. Girls are simply flesh and skin. Inside, every creature were only bones and muscles. There was nothing to be shy about. Nothing. That's right. Nothing.
Aidan breathed out. "ALRIGHT!" He punched the air and then sprinted towards the lake.
Taking a bath with a girl for the first time! How exciting!
Then something pulled him to stop.
"Kalukaga? What do you need?" Aidan asked. The hagur grabbed his right arm so strongly that he couldn't budge at all.
Kalukaga shook his head. "Water for others."
Aidan knocked himself in the head. How could he forget such a thing? Their friends were currently in need of water. This was not the time to have fun.
"Guys!" Aidan asked, sternly. He stared at their slender, beautiful, milky, busty, curved, soft, hot bodies…
No, no, no. Aidan looked them in the eye. "Guys! We can have fun after we return to school. Now, we need to bring some water back for our friends."
"Oh no," Sofiel said. "I forgot about that. Sorry, Aidan. I just can't help it because my skin feels so itchy and slimy."
Aidan nodded. "We all make mistakes."
Sofiel and Siraye came out of the lake slowly. Water flowed from their hair. Fell. And then it slid down through their brea—
SLAP!
Aidan slapped himself. THIS WAS NOT THE TIME.
"What's wrong, Aidan?" Sofiel approached him.
He looked away, cheeks hot. His heart raced. Calm down, heart!
And Brain! Please control your cannot-be-mentioned desires!
"It's just mosquitoes," Aidan said. "Come on. Let's get the water and return. The others must have waited for a while now.
Sofiel nodded. Siraye didn't say anything as she was about to take her clothes.
"Wait, Siraye. Let me dry you first." Sofiel chanted something under her breath, and moved her finger here and there. Then wind suddenly shot from below, throwing all the water on their skin into the air.
The water then simply disappeared after that.
Magic was interesting. Very interesting.
Sadly, Aidan couldn't do that. Because he took the internal pathway. Well, at least he could heal people. That was such a neat ability, though it did consume quite an amount of energy.
Both girls wore their clothes and grabbed a few water sacs from their pockets. Ledrind had given them that.
He and Kalukaga also got a few of it too. They filled the sac with water.
As he do so, Aidan noticed that the water was crystal clear. He saw a fish in the lake. It looked amazing with its diamond-like scales that glittered with light.
He had never seen that kind of fish before.
The fish seemed to notice him. It turned towards him and shot his face with water.
"Hey," Aidan said. "What was that about."
Sofiel chuckled. "Are you okay?"
Aidan smiled too. He liked Sofiel. She was always laughing, easy to talk to, and energetic. Aidan felt like whenever she went, she would bring joy even to the grimmest place.
"I'm fine, Sofiel." Aidan finished filling all the sacs and stood up. "Are you all finished?"
They nodded.
"Then we should return."
The group made their way down the mountain. Climbing it from below might be tiring, but going down was very dangerous. If they fell, then they would roll away until they arrived at the ground.
Aidan had a strong body now, so it should be nothing. Probably.
A moment later, all of them returned to Feval and gave everyone some water to drink.
Aidan sighed when he look at their skinny body. It was frightening. Their bones looked like they were about to come out of the skin.
Aidan could imagine the horror these people have gone through. That was because he had also experienced it before on earth.
He shook his head and approached Feval. "What should we do now?"
"We must return as quickly as we can. The shaman might be on our trail right now."
"What about food?" Aidan asked. "They wouldn't last long with a stable supply of waters and food."
Feval laughed. "Don't worry about that. The scouts told me that there was a lake ahead. So we don't have to go to the mountain anymore."
"You haven't said anything about food?"
Feval smiled. "Food? Look behind you."
Aidan did and he saw the Chosen dragging pigs, deer, and rabbits with a smile. He even saw the man who he had a debate with earlier.
"Food problem solved," Feval said.
Aidan turned back and looked at him. "How did you do that? How did you convince them to help the Unchosen?"
"That's a trade secret." Feval winked and walked away.