A person lay unconscious on the damp forest floor. And a faint occasional rustle of leaves above was the only sound that broke through the still silence.
Suddenly, a voice pierced through the silent stillness.
"Are you dead? Hmmm… He's still breathing… Brother? I know you can wake up now…"
The voice was insistent, with its growing louder with each call.
Slowly, the person's eyes fluttered open.
The first thing he saw was the canopy of ancient trees above, with their leaves filtering the sunlight into dappled patterns on the ground. Immediately, he shifted his gaze, and his heart skipped a beat.
Three towering figures stood over him.
They were orc-like creatures with green, leathery skin and sharp ears that tapered into points. And their large fangs protruded from their lower jaws, giving them more fearsome appearance.
One of them, the tallest and broadest of the trio, noticed Volk's awakening.
"Lok'tar Ogar!" he shouted, with his loud voice echoing through the trees.
The person even felt a massive vibration spread through his entire being.
Immediately, the other two orcs joined in the chant.
"Lok'tar Ogar! Lok'tar Ogar!"
The first orc, evidently acting their leader, stepped closer and bent down. "He's fine, we can leave him here," he announced. "Let's go further and hunt more earth moles to win the witch's favor and get ourselves a wife!"
"Lok'tar Ogar! Let's go get ourselves a wife!" one of the orcs echoed, he was even pumping his fist in the air.
"Lok'tar Ogar! Let's hunt these Earth moles to get our maidens!!" the other joined in.
The leader nodded, his expression serious.
"Yes, the Poisonous Earth Moles were just released. There should be enough time for us to get more earth moles and find ourselves better wives. Those Poisonous Earth Moles shouldn't have reached this area yet, because if they had, the brother over there should have been torn to pieces already."
With that, the three orcs turned and trotted off into the forest, with their voices fading into the distance.
However, the person still lay there for a moment, with his mind racing.
What had just happened? His last clear memory was being in the street, using his wheelchair. Then, he was seized and taken to a strange place.
People in familiar long gown like doctor uniforms had surrounded him, as if holding syringes and other torture tools.
Immediately, the memory of the excruciating pain as something was injected into his body made him groan.
"Urrghhh!!"
Volk recalled one of them saying, "Too much radiation input, the experiment subject wouldn't make it, we need more…"
That was the last thing he remembered.
Now, he's here.
Not long, his head throbbed with pain, but he forced himself to move. He attempted to stand, but his legs buckled beneath him.
Volk fell, thud!
Fortunately, his arm caught him just before his face slammed into the grassy ground.
As he steadied himself, he noticed a small pool of water nearby. Crawling towards it, he peered into its clear surface.
Staring back at him was a reflection that was both familiar and alien.
His face was now similar to the three he had just seen.
Long, pointed ears jutted out from his head, and his skin was a deep, mottled green. His eyes, though, were still his own, filled with the same determination and fire.
"What is this?" he muttered, trying to comprehend his transformation.
Suddenly, memories that were not his own flooded Volk's mind.
He saw a world ruled by Red Elves, Warlocks, and Dark Elves, Witches, locked in an endless war.
He understood that he was now a young Hornless Orc, subservient to the Elven Rejects or Elven Witches, who were hated by other Elven races, because they were believed to be incapable of siring offspring with other Elven races, which was seen as a curse and a bad omen for the entire Elven kind.
However, both rulers of war had an interest in the Elven Witches and the horde of Hornless Orcs.
The Dark Witches wanted Elven Witches as material to extend their lives and the horde of Hornless Orcs as their physical slaves, while the Red Elven Warlocks desired the Elven Witches for their mana control and the horde of Hornless Orcs for their transformation abilities.
Due to desperation to escape from the clutches of both realm rulers, the group of hornless orcs that came from nowhere who have no home, and a rejected elven race that cannot repopulate and discriminated by their own people, decided to come together to survive and discovered they could repopulate each other.
If a male was born, they would turn into a hornless orc, and if a female was born, they would turn into a forest elf.
Not just that, the horde of the hornless orcs who were not sensitive to Mana would become sensitive to Mana once they form a bond to these Elven Witches, and they could get strengthened too because of them.
As long as they help the Elven Witches to improve their ranks as Mana manipulators, they would get stronger too.
Volk clenched his fists.
"No! No! No! No! I don't want to be reincarnated! I don't want to be reincarnated! I don't want to be reincarnated!"
But then, after being convinced for a very long time that he had been reincarnated here, he managed to clear his head.
"Do I really hate being reincarnated?" he mumbled.
The person looked at his hands - they were normal, not overly muscular, and no longer resembling a stick.
Although they appeared green, it was fine. His feet were okay, and he could walk using them, unlike when he was on Earth.
"Hahahaha! I am reincarnated!?"
He laughed out loud, an energy of madness came to him knowing the fact that he had reincarnated, where other reincarnators in the novels he read were worried, but he isn't!
On Earth, he was often assisted, and although he was grateful, he was tired of it all and would often leave or hide sometimes just so he could be alone!
Now that he's dead, at least he won't be a burden! He hoped that they had moved on, but now, what's important is that he's here!
He's not a disabled person anymore!
Then, Volk remembered something important from the tribe ritual ceremony of the tribe of Orcs memory - that as if he was overcome with emotion and despair, it would be too late!
He would experience something that he experienced in his past life.
"So right now, I need to hunt as many earth moles as I can. Success in these hunts would earn me a Forest Elf wife, who could help me rise in rank as a warrior. And depending on how many hunts I make, would make me a more talented partner that could help me rank up as a warrior faster than others!
"I am sure, since I have read some novels, that I know I am an Orc. Since I am an Orc, this should be a magical world. A magical world means there are spells, and regarding those spells, I am sure I can definitely find something here that can make me stronger!!"
Soon, his head finally clear, Volk pushed himself to his feet.
The dizziness had subsided, and a fierce resolve had taken its place. He needed to find his way in this situation before he could think of what he should do in this world.
Just as he began to orient himself, a sudden noise caught his attention. He froze, and then he turned his head.
"Huh?"
Volk barely had time to react before he saw the trio of orcs he had encountered earlier, they were now sprinting back toward his direction in a frenzy state. And their faces were contorted with fear, and he could hear their voices rang out in a cacophony of panic.
"You idiot! We should have let the orc warriors handle these poisonous earth moles!" one of them shouted, Volk could see his eyes were wide in terror.
"We're fools! Now we're running for our lives!" another yelled back, his eyes seemed to lose their hope and his breath was ragged.
"We're lucky to be alive! Why did we think we could handle this and come back here!?" the third added.
As they approached Volk, the leader thrust a crude knife into his hand.
The knife had a bone handle wrapped in animal hide, like its blade rough-hewn and stained with use. "Here, protect yourself," he panted. "They are coming!"
Volk took the knife, his grip immediately tightened around the handle. He looked around at the forest, trying to get his bearings.
The trees were ancient, and he could see their thick trunks covered in moss.
Sunlight barely pierced the dense canopy above, as if casting eerie shadows on the forest floor but he still couldn't see the danger they were looking out for.
"Prepare to engage in combat!" the leader barked, trying to steady his voice despite the fear in his eyes. "And avoid their bite—they are venomous! Lok'tar Ogar! Fight or die!"
In that split second after the warning, Volk felt the ground rumble beneath his feet.
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!
He glanced at the forest floor, with his heart unconsciously pounding from the fear of the unknown.
Suddenly, ten spots around them erupted, and massive black mole creatures burst from the earth.
These creatures were hideous to look at as their bodies were covered in coarse black fur.
Their eyes were small and beady, glowing with a malevolent red light.
However, the most terrifying thing about them is that they had enormous claws, perfect for burrowing, and their jaws were lined with sharp purple color, like they are an obvious sign of their venomous nature.
Volk steeled himself, his mind was trying to think of actions he must do.
He readied his weapon, prepared to fight for his life. But as soon as the creatures landed on them, the creatures moved with frightening speed.
One of the moles lunged at Volk, with its claws locking around him with a vice-like grip. And he felt a sharp pain as the creature bit into his neck, like its venom already searing through his veins like fire.
His mind tried to fight back, but his body refused to move.
The venom paralyzed his body completely, leaving him helpless.
Soon, a thought entered his head, 'Is this it? Am I going to die here? If there's gonna be a savior in this situation. If there's no one, what will happen? Clearly, this is venom. Maybe the orcs have some kind of resistance to it, right?'
He tried to glance at the other orcs. But they were in the same state as him, with their eyes slowly losing the spark of life.
Panic began to spread through Volk's entire body as he realized there's no such thing as orc resistance to venom.
"No! No! No! I cannot die here! Just when I got a new body, I cannot die here!" he screamed, with a sound filled with frustration, and fear.
He screamed and screamed and screamed but his screams seemed to even draw more attention from the other earth moles.
In a split second, they all lunged at him alone and ignored the other three, until their furry bodies covered him completely.
Inside, as soon as his vision slowly darkened, Volk felt their hot breath against his skin, their weight pressing down on him. His eyelids started to feel heavy, but then something extraordinary happened.
His brown eyes began to glow green.
Outside, the mountain of mole exploded. And the venomous earth moles were blasted away from each other, with their forms hurtling in all directions.
The three orcs were not spared and were also thrown back, landing hard in different directions of the forest floor.
In the center of the explosion, a massive and wide titan emerged, transformed.
It was a bit similar to the orcs earlier but this body had grown to an immense size, his muscles bulging.
His stomach and every limb were now four times the size of a normal Hornless Orc. His skin seemed like a vibrant green, and his eyes glowed with an intense, otherworldly light.
His face, though still recognizable and somewhat familiar, was more terrifying and filled with muscles.
The titan looked around in anger with a growl, 'Grrrrrr', like his voice in this new form was radiating some kind of destructive power.
Immediately, without a warning, he let out a thunderous roar, "ROOOARRRR!!!"