(A/N: I have finished taking care of most of the stuff I needed to follow my father's funeral. I can't promise daily chapters just yet, but I will work to increase the number of releases over time, hopefully to two per day.)
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As his adrenaline gradually wore down and his clarity of mind returned, Will applied one of his backup Talisman of Cicada Skin Shed to his body, donned a spare outfit, and took stock of his surroundings.
"I'm pretty sure that mountain range in the distance is the natural border between the territory of the Royal Family and Deisceart..." muttered Will, shifting his gaze from the aforementioned mountains to what he believed to be East. He had a Magic Compass and a map, but navigation in worlds suffused with Manacules wasn't as straightforward as his first incarnation. Mana, Magic, Magic Crystals, Dungeons, and even powerful entities could influence magnetic fields, so unless you were in a position to wait hours to weeks for a Magic Compass to attune to its environment, most people got around by looking for two or more familiar landmarks and figuring out their approximate location based on their knowledge of the area.
Pulling out his map of the region, Will quickly determined he was in an area known as the Fairsinge Grasslands. Fortunately, based on the fact there was what looked like a rainforest treeline to the East, he appeared to be along the perimeter. The grasslands were an A-Rank Resource Area that covered an expanse of nearly two million square kilometers, so trying to cut your way through without following an established route was easier said than done.
*swfsh*swfsh*swfsh*swfsh*swfsh*
"Hmmm...?"
Caching the unicorn-like horn of the thing that leaped out of the grass and attempted to skewer him, a faint smile developed across Will's face when he saw it was a kind of horned rabbit with pink eyes, grass-green fur, and a white undercoat. It struggled violently within his grasp, causing a surge of wind to burst forth from its body, but it quickly settled when he said, "Calm yourself," in a resonating tone.
Though it probably didn't appreciate being held by its horn, the monster, which Will recognized as a Horned Oryc, calmed down and stared at him with its bright pink eyes and nose twitching.
Holding the Oryc up so that he was eye-level with it, Will's voice seemed to vibrate the surrounding air and grass as he asked, "Do you know where others like me can be found? Curl your body if you do or wiggle from side to side if you don't."
Seeing the Oryc curl into a kind of fetal position, Will gave a curt nod and said, "I will release you now. Show me which direction I need to head and then leave. And from now on, don't attack anyone that looks similar to me or is much bigger than you..."
Contracting its body several more times to reinforce that it understood, the Oryc resisted the urge to run when Will released it and instead began hopping away from the rainforest. Will lost sight of it several times due to the tall grass, but thanks to his extrasensory perception, he could sense it and the many other creatures lurking nearby, concealing their presence in the grass or underground dens...
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After nearly an hour of travel, Will was surprised when the Oryc led him to the edge of an invisible barrier. From outside, all he saw was a large grass mound that was more or less indistinguishable from others populating the grassland, but when he extended his hand toward it, the tips of his fingers disappeared, causing a slight, rippling distortion.
'Magic is so cool...' thought Will, stepping through the barrier with little hesitation. What awaited him on the opposite side were several dwellings built into the hill, which was separated into three distinct terraces, a small herd of sheep-like creatures, and, most notably, a group of six pint-sized humanoids with pale, somewhat bushy hair, tanned bodies, wheat-brown eyes, and large, dark, cat-like ears and feline tails that matched the color of their hair but were tipped with darker fur and adorned with metal rings, beads, and feathers. They had scant, tribalistic attire, mainly consisting of brightly colored loincloths for the four males and an additional chest wrap for the two girls, and despite their small stature, they wielded spears with oversized, axe-like heads or ornate tomahawks that, at a glance, weighed at least several times more than their lean, athletic bodies.
"Anadrav kha...!" shouted the man leading the group, his pale, somewhat pink-tinted hair fixed into a bushy ponytail with several braids. Intricate animal-themed tattoos covered much of his exposed body, and while his base outfit was the same as the other males present, it was more ornate and adorned with various beads and monster parts. His cat-like tail, which was nearly two-thirds as long as he was tall, had six metal rings around it, and as he currently had his spear, comprised of monster parts, leveled at Will's throat, it was fairly obvious he and his compatriots weren't there to welcome him.
"I don't speak whatever language you're speaking," responded Will, his expression and tone relaxed as he slowly raised his hands to indicate he wasn't a threat. In response, the leader half-turned his head and spoke to one of the girls, who, if the number of rings on her tail and the tattoos on her body were anything to go by, was likely their youngest member with three rings, a half sleeve, and a chest tattoo.
Nodding in response to the man's words, the girl linked her twin axes behind her back, the curves in the reverse side of the blade forming a ring around her tail as she cautiously stepped forward, holding Will's gaze with her cat-like eyes as she deftly removed his sword belt and dagger.
Once Will was disarmed, the spear-wielding man asked, "Who are you? And why have you come here...?" in fluent but heavily accented Astralian Common.
"My name is Aiden Ward," responded Will, keeping his hands raised as he explained, "I was teleported to this area after stepping on a teleportation trap in a Dungeon. My only goal is to return to Tempahsta and reunite with my comrades. I am not a threat to your people."
"You do not appear to be from Deisceart..." remarked the man, referring to Will's comparably fair skin and proper accent, tell-tale signs he was either from the Royal Capital or, at the very least, well-educated.
"I came to Deisceart by way of Axial, but I am originally from a land much farther away..." responded Will, calmly meeting the gazes of each hunter or warrior. He wasn't sure of their specific tribe, but he recognized them as members of a species known as Sendala Sidhe, lesser Zoans native to the grassy plains and highlands of Deisceart. The term lesser, somewhat ironically, indicated that their animalistic traits presented more than their human traits. This was why their tallest member wasn't even 120cm, why the exposed parts of their forearms and calves were covered in fur, and why they had tiny paw pads on the insides of their hands and presumably their feet.
Ostensibly believing Will's story, the leading Sidhe planted the butt of his spear into the ground, causing his companions to lower their weapons as he explained, "I am Tahir, son of Angr and Kinoa. Tempahsta is a sixth of a moon's journey(six days) from here. I will now take you to my father. If he allows it, you may stay with us until you have recovered and collected the necessary provisions..."
"You have my gratitude, son of Angr and Kinoa," responded Will, lowering his hands. Many tribes within Deisceart would have attempted to rob and murder him on the spot, but since lesser Zoans had even better instincts than their more human counterparts, Tahir and his people could probably sense that, if he intended to harm them, Will could blow through them like a storm. The strongest among them was at the pinnacle of a Third-Grade Practitioner, but despite Tahir allowing his Aura to seep out, Will hadn't so much as flinched, making it fairly obvious he didn't view them as a serious threat...
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With Tahir leading the way and his companions following behind, Will was led into the closest entrance of their warren-like dwelling. The interior had been reinforced with wood and was surprisingly tidy, but the ceilings were low, and the air was thick with the fragrances of smoked wood and animal pheromones. Even with Will's experience with Gryphons, he had to repeat to himself it didn't bother him, or else he might have vomited all over Tahir and his companions.
After a very short journey down a somewhat cylindrical tunnel with a flat floor, Will found himself in what he presumed to be the largest room in the warren. This wasn't saying much, as it only had a hemispherical clearance of around ten meters, but it was large enough to accommodate a throne-like chair formed from monster bones and a total of thirty-nine additional Sidhe, resembling a class of cosplaying elementary and preschoolers with makeshift weapons, gathered around an elderly figure who looked to be a hundred years old but was probably closer to forty as the lifespan of most lesser Zoans didn't exceed thirty to forty years.
Gazing at Will with amber eyes that appeared sunken into his skull, the elderly Sidhe asked, "Strong one...for what reason have you come to us?"
With Tahir taking the initiative to answer on his behalf, the elderly Sidhe, known as Angr Za, gave a curt nod and stated, "You are welcome to stay for as long as you need. But when you leave, we request that you do not reveal the location of our dwelling to your companions or any others..."
"You have my word," affirmed Will, nodding. He had no reason to expose the location of the Sidhe's home, so even if Angr hadn't asked him to keep it a secret, he wouldn't have shared it arbitrarily. He just needed a place to stay until Ohta tracked him down, and since it was a good opportunity, he decided to observe how the exceptionally communal Sidhe lived...
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'Mmm...this might have been a mistake...' thought Will, lying with his hands folded across his stomach, surrounded by sleeping Sidhe. The warren had limited space, so all the males, excluding Angr, slept in the same hemispherical chamber. Angr shared a room with his seven wives, while most of the girls and adolescents of the tribe slept in a closed-off section of the warren for their protection.
Unsurprisingly, most of the Sidhe in the warren were Angr's children, the principal exception being most of his wives. Once they were ready, males would venture out to create warrens of their own while the females, more often than not, would travel to existing warrens to become the spouses of established males. Very few ventured outside of the Fairsinge Grasslands, not because they lacked curiosity but because many viewed lesser Zoans as easy marks or semi-intelligent monsters. As such, they were one of the most trafficked and exploited races in all of Deisceart...
Just as Will was thinking of getting up and heading outside for some fresh air, his back became noticeably cooler as a wiggling tendril emerged from his shadow, snaking its way into his right ear as the ethereal voice of Ohta pointedly remarked, "I spent half the day searching for you in a panic, and what were you doing? Having an orgy with a bunch of cat boys? You smell like ass..."
"We'll talk in the morning..." responded Will, his voice low but causing the cat-like ears of nearly every Sidhe present to twitch. Ohta didn't appear to have any intention of waiting, however, as he promptly pulled Will into his shadow, momentarily enveloping him in a sensation akin to an ice-cold bath before he was summarily deposited onto a familiar bed, the one he had leased back in Tempahsta.
"Well, that wasn't very..." started Will, but he stopped himself when he sat up and saw Ohta sitting before him in a w-sitting posture, eyes puffy and an enraged, pouty expression adorning his face. Far more notably, though it took Will a few seconds to notice, his left arm was missing, replaced by a shadowy appendage...
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