2 Another World

There was a boy walking in the wilderness, struggling to get past the thick vegetation as even the grass was as tall as him. He wasn't tall, just around 140 cm, so it was almost impossible to see him inside the sea of green. He was heading towards a small hill where he could see the perimeter. Otherwise, it wouldn't be a surprise if he lost his way.

Once he finally reached out to the opening beneath the hill, he could now finally see the sun.

'From its position, it is possible for it to be just after sunrise.' He thought to himself and continued climbing until he reached the top.

From there he could see the broad view of his surroundings. In the distance, there was some kind of settlement surrounded by stone walls. This could be the answer to some of the questions he had. Another thing that got his attention was the river that was close to the town, flowing in the direction of the forest before running through it.

'Assuming, this planet also rotates towards eastwards, the town is on the west side of the hill. The river in the south flowing towards the eastward direction and the forest on the east side.' He gathered the information he required. At least he wasn't stranded in the middle of nowhere or else it might have been a disaster.

'Well, now I have a direction of where I wanna go. But, what am I to do when I arrive at the gates? I don't really have anything on my person that could worth something to exchange for money. I mean, will they even ask for a toll just to enter the town or identification? In the end, even if they don't ask for me to pay a toll, I would at least need to pay for a room to sleep at night.' He deliberated while looking for a solution.

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Half an hour earlier,

He was really at a loss for what to do. While waiting to die, he closed his eyes to welcome the end. But, the waited end never arrived. After a while, he opened his eyes to find himself in some kind of weird forest. Weird because even though he wasn't an expert when it comes to plants and trees, he could tell when there is something out of place with the setup. There was this tree that was out of portion with its trunk bulging and its branches twisting around each other until separating, in the end, to form a flat surface with its leaves that have a diameter close to 2 meters. It reminded him of the solar panels, since they were all facing the sun. He wondered if they were rotating throughout the day to face the sun. But he didn't have the time to wait and see, he needed some answers to the unexpected situation he was in.

Another thing that astonished him was the changes he experienced with his body. It was just too small. But he never felt this good in a long time.

"There is no more pain!" unconsciously shouted in his excitement. The pain that bothered him daily or the feeling that his body could collapse any moment was no more. His body was brimming with energy. There were already tears sliding on his cheeks, they fell on to the thing he was wearing. Once he lowered his view towards his lower body, he was surprised at the sight. He was wearing something like a tunic. Its length was just above his knees and it was fastened with a rope to his waist. Normally he would never wear something this dirty and ugly. It was probably something that not even a person who's at the bottom of the social hierarchy would wear. But he had nothing else to wear at the moment, so nothing he could do.

What surprised him actually wasn't the clothing he was wearing, but instead, it was the necklace he had around his neck. It was the only thing remained familiar in this weird place. It was something he found when he was just a kid and ever since then it was always with him. The necklace only consisted of a stone attached to a cord. Its stone couldn't be called pretty at all. It was roughly in the shape of a water drop with its pointy end attached to the cord. Its surface was unrefined and rough. On it, there was a stain like spots that made it look dirty. But when he found it, at that time it felt like they were alike, they were both unwanted and abandoned at one point.

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Back to the present,

'Well, what should I do now? I can head towards the town, but there is the issue of money. Maybe I can find something to exchange for.' Dean looked around him one more time, until his gaze fixed on the forest.

'I can probably forage something there first.' Dean thought just before he remembered all the weird looking trees and plants. 'No, not a good plan at all. I don't have any knowledge about the plants here.' He started frowning. 'Wait, isn't there supposed to be monsters in this type of world, assuming I am in another world.' He stiffened at once just to feel the shiver run down his spine. He didn't see anything while he was on his way to the hill, but it didn't mean there wasn't any deeper in the forest.

'If I want to explore the forest, I will need some sort of weapon for protection. Even if there are no monsters around, there should be wildlife to be wary of. The bad part is that I don't have experience with any kind of weapon. Hmm... What I know from the history of the middle ages, the spear is the easiest weapon to handle as a beginner. Take a stance, grip the spear tightly and thrust. That's it, right? Well, if I wanna make some sort of spear, I would need a stone or preferably flint to shape it to serve as a spearhead. There should be some near the river. It seems like I should make my way there first.' With that, he started walking towards the river. It was closer than the town and will probably take him little less than an hour for him to arrive at the river.

Walking for around 45 minutes, he finally arrived on the river bed. Where he quenched his thirst with the cold water of the river. When he saw his face at the surface of the water, he was amazed at how handsome he was. He had short blond hair and beautiful light blue eyes with a face that looked like it was just made to look perfect. If he had longer hair, he might even pass as a beautiful little girl.

...

'Wait!' He panicked immediately and searched between his legs. Once he found the thing he was looking for, he was relieved. ' I'm glad it's still there. I almost had a heart attack by the fright it gave me.'

With that out of the way, he started searching for suitable stones and flint around. After a considerable amount of effort, he found 3 stones to work around. First one was a stone as big as a hand, one side of it was thinner so he could sharpen it. This one will be used as a hand axe to chop the wood he will be using as a handle. The second one was a small stone that will be used as a hammerstone, with it he will be able the chip away the stone layers of his stones to have a sharper edge on his tools. As for the last one, it was a flint roughly in the shape of a spearhead. This was the most difficult to find, since it needed to be in the shape as close as to the finished product to reduce the needed work. With them gathered he started working on them.

Once he was finished, it was already noon. 'Who would of thought it will be this hard' He was out of breath. With the sun scorching him at the top and the unfamiliar work caused him to lose all the energy he had. Also, he was really hungry at this moment. When he entered the outer parts of the forest to find wood for the handle and some vine to be used as a binding rope, he did come across some fruits but he wasn't sure if they were edible. So, he could only endure the hunger he was feeling.

Currently in his hands was a handmade spear that he's been working on. The handle was roughly as tall as him. As for the spearhead, it was embedded into the end point of the handle by splitting the wood by few centimeters. Then it was bound together with the vines he found. It wasn't the best handicraft, but should be enough. At least, he hoped it will not break apart after just one thrust.

With the spear in hand, he walked deeper into the forest, hoping he could find something that will make his efforts worthwhile.