Mother of God! Something from the stress is preventing my brain from working normally... Or they're too happy about the possibility of controlling the legs. After all, that little guy might bring backup. And judging by the fact that they were going to kill me, these guys are not the simplest. Especially for a level one noob like me.
"How far are the rest of your people?"
"W-what people..."
The jokes are over, and I stepped forward, pressing the tip of the sword against her stomach.
"How far to the rest of your people, bitch!"
"A-about seven kilometers, sir!"
"How many of them?"
"Together with Fish — three!"
Well, I definitely have about twenty more minutes. If she's not lying, of course...
"Everything from the inventory on the ground!"
"W-what?"
"All the things that are on you and in your inventory, on the ground, right here!" I pointed with one hand to the grass, and with the other pressed harder on the sword.
"But I'll be naked!"
"I'm counting to three! One!.."
To be sure, I quickly went into the menu and changed my appearance to faceless.
"Oh..."
The girl turned pale and in a moment was naked, and next to her appeared a pile of junk. Among other things, there were two long knives, white bread, a bottle with pink liquid, a crumpled piece of cloth with schematic images (apparently, a map of the area) and a small bag. So, out of fear, she really took out everything.
To avoid accidentally piercing the girl's stomach, I slightly eased the pressure on the sword and, not giving her time to recover, touched the nearest item.
[Simple dagger.]
[Put in inventory?]
Yes!
The inventory accommodated items by weight, so everything fit. There was even still free space for five kilograms.
I even took her top and shorts: if there's a chase, the pursuers will have to first deal with her nakedness.
After finishing, I turned back into a human. By the way! I raised my eyes and looked at the girl. Really nice body: beautiful breasts with erect nipples, tummy, waist and...
My gaze slid lower and lower, and I felt a strange sensation I'd never known before. I jumped up and pulled the elastic of my pants!
Yes! Yes, fuck! It works!
"I'll do anything you want, sir, just don't kill me!"
The girl looked approximately where I had, and something flashed in her gaze. And this time it wasn't fear...
I took out the map and showed it to her.
"Where are we?"
"Right here, sir."
"So this thing," I pointed with my hand, "is in that direction, and this one is in that direction?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good! Stand up!" I took two steps back, but didn't put away the weapon. Damn, it's so hard to look her in the eyes. Ah, if we had time and she hadn't tried to kill me... "Go to your friends and tell them: if I see them, I'll kill them all to hell!"
The girl, covering her chest with her hand, tried to stand up, but fell again: her leg hadn't fully recovered. All the better, her companions will have more trouble with her.
"Crawl! Quickly!"
She got on all fours and crawled briskly. And to make sure she was moving in the right direction, I watched her for another minute. Yes, yes, exactly for that reason, and not at all because I couldn't take my eyes off her wiggling naked butt...
Ah... Gathering my will into a fist, I turned away and started walking along the river, and when the girl disappeared from view, I crossed it and, speeding up, went in a different direction.
I tried to walk as fast as possible. To my joy, the steps were becoming firmer and more confident. I didn't give my hands rest either and tried to practice sword strikes and shield blocks on the go. At the same time, I had a strange feeling as if I wasn't holding them for the first time. Muscle memory? Not impossible.
So, while no one is trying to kill me, I still need to at least roughly figure out what's going on.
First. If this isn't an extremely realistic dream or hallucination, then I died. Or rather, almost died, and the system threw me or my consciousness, or my brain — it doesn't matter — here. Why me? Something stuck in my head about outstanding achievements. Apparently, they meant those tens of millions of copies of my books sold... By the way, I wrote mainly fantasy. Let it be so, it warms the ego.
What is the system? Roughly speaking, it's some kind of general development structure. What, why and how — for now it's not important.
What's important is that it broke.
Born with a spinal defect, during the operation the hand of one of the coolest surgeons on Earth trembled, and during the transfer here the system broke. So far everything is logical.
Am I upset?
No! I'm happy!
Even if the operation had been successful, I would hardly ever have been able to become a truly normal person. At most — walk poorly. After all, being bedridden for twenty-eight years is no joke. About the appearance of male power, the doctors thoughtfully mumbled "maybe" and averted their eyes. And here...
With a mental command, the sword and shield were transferred to the inventory, and I sped up. I ran ten meters and jumped.
Fucking awesome!
Back to our sheep...
The system broke and now I'm working in autonomous mode. Whether my functionality is limited because of this is still unclear. In some ways, possibly yes. But I got a cheat ability to change appearance. And there's also this soul-warming phrase:
[Outsider's blessing — activated!]
This is probably my main cheat bonus as a transmigrator! It's a pity I can't see what it is before the second level.
Okay, I'll deal with that later, for now I need to figure out the races.
Looking around, I noticed a small grove fifty meters away and headed there. Of course, I was holding the sword and shield again, because the redhead talked about monsters. And people here, apparently, take a simpler view of killing than on Earth.
What interesting trees. I've never seen such before! And the foliage is so lush. It seems to be late spring now.
So!
[Menu — character selection — hobbit.]
Holy shit!
Pulling up the sagging pants, I saw large feet and hairy legs. Just like in Tolkien's canon!
It's a pity there's no mirror or river to assess the changes in my face. But the body is clear: it's hairier than human, shorter, legs thicker... And here what?
I looked into my pants.
Well. I'll definitely communicate with girls in human form!
It's also bad that clothes of different sizes are needed...
So, what about characteristics? How do they differ between races and why aren't stats displayed anywhere? Need to test...
I took a few steps and took out the shield and sword.
Something's not right... What if I run? What if I wave? Damn!
The sword that slipped out of my hands plunged into the ground, barely missing my foot.
Okay... How about with a knife? Oh, that's better!
That's clear. It's easier to walk as a hobbit. Not faster, but easier. At the same time, humans have more strength in their arms.
And most importantly — the hobbit I turned into has definitely never held a sword. Or his race hasn't.
Turning into a faceless, I realized that it's worse than all in all parameters. But damn scary, which can play its role.
I turned back into a human and continued on my way.
Well. All this is strange, but perhaps good. Of course, if the autonomous mode of the system doesn't imply growth in levels, then I'm screwed anyway, but I won't think about the bad.
But thanks to the ability to instantly change races, I definitely have a wider range of tactics than the locals. It will be especially cool if new cells open up, but for this to happen I need to meet representatives of other races.
What else interesting do we have?..
At least the map, money and a vial with pink liquid.
I looked around for a secluded place and only thanks to this noticed... God knows what coming towards me about thirty meters away. As if a pig learned to walk on its hind legs, which also lengthened.
Is it aggressive or intelligent?
When the creature came closer, all questions disappeared by themselves. Long claws on the paws, a drooling mouth full of teeth. Well, there's no need to mention the guttural growl. Fucking creepy, in short. Thankfully, its big belly prevents it from moving fast.
I turned into a hobbit. By the way, it was getting better with each time. I just immediately swiped away the system's pop-up error messages.
Daggers in hands and the first one flies into the pig. Hit. With the handle. It worked out much better during training in the basement of my country house. Attempt number two. Throw! Got it! The blade plunged into the thick belly.
With a deafening squeal, the boar suddenly dropped to all fours and rushed at me. At the same time, its speed increased noticeably.
I was already transforming into a human as I ran.