dognovel Chapter 13 The Mysterious Orc World, Here I Come!
Chapter 13 The Mysterious Orc World, Here I Come!
Linni found an open space by the pool and, while asking Ye, drew a map: According to Ye, the people here call this continent the Beastman Continent, which is protected by the Beast God.
In the center of the orc continent was the first active volcano she had seen. It erupted periodically, but never caused a major fire; it only emitted a foul odor. The forest surrounding the volcano was called the Central Forest. The Central Forest was exceptionally dense, a habitat for various wild beasts, and rarely visited by orcs.
To the east of the Beastman Continent lies a rainforest and marshland, the ancestral home of the Night's Father Beast, a favorite habitat for snake-beastmen, crocodile-beastmen, lizard-beastmen, and other similar creatures. To the south of the continent are the towering cliffs, where flying beastmen like eagle-beastmen and falcon-beastmen reside. Below these cliffs live peacock-beastmen, pheasants, and other flightless birds (Linni now understands why the beastmen there dislike snake-beastmen; birds avoid snakes like the plague, so it's no wonder they don't like them). To the west are towering mountains, the very same continuous range Linni saw from Bai Shu's cave, inhabited by various beastmen transformed from ferocious beasts. To the north lies the vast Northern Sea, home to many aquatic beastmen. The great waterfall they are currently at is located at the boundary between the towering cliffs and the towering mountains.
Of course, the four places mentioned above are just the gathering places of most of these orcs. Night himself is a good example: although most pythons live in rainforests and swamps, it doesn't mean they don't exist in other places. Male orcs may leave their tribes for various reasons, and if they see a female they like, they will mate with her and then stay and live in her tribe. Therefore, most tribes have many different kinds of orcs living together.
In the world of the Beastman Continent, newborn children are all in beast form. Most beastmen can transform into human form upon reaching adulthood, regardless of gender. If they cannot transform into human form, their maximum strength is only level three—for example, Night's Words and White Rank are level three, and they likely have no chance of becoming human. Such beast-form beastmen, if left in the tribe, would only be relegated to guarding the outskirts and ridiculed by other beastmen who grew up at the same age. Therefore, most of them leave the tribe to seek opportunities to become human. Those males and females who successfully transform into human form are the true members of the tribe. Beastmen who can cultivate to the highest level, level nine, are the strongest in the tribe and the entire Beastman Continent, tasked with protecting the tribe. Females are only divided into beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels, unlike males who have such detailed classifications.
Linni felt most fortunate that the females in this world could also cultivate; they were not appendages of male beasts, nor were they their reproductive tools. As for the females' cultivation methods, Ye naturally knew nothing of them.
It's okay if you don't know. You can just join a tribe later and ask around.
Through Ye's narration, Linni finally gained a basic understanding of this world and wanted to shout to it: "Mysterious world of beastmen, I, Linni, have arrived! Let me record your secrets with my camera!" Of course, this was just a thought; she couldn't actually do something so childish.
Lin Ni had Ye carry her to the other side of the large pool. With the waterfall and cave as a backdrop, she took a group photo with Ye in both human and animal forms. She then realized that her phone only had one bar of battery left, so she immediately turned it off. The power bank still had enough power to charge her phone twice, which would last her a long time if she used it sparingly.
Ye was very curious about her phone and kept wanting to see himself in the small frame, but Lin Ni wouldn't waste the battery just to satisfy his curiosity, so she let him play with the flashlight.
Lin Ni used the animal skin brought by the white tiger to make a comfortable bed and fell asleep peacefully. Then, in the middle of the night, Ye crawled into her bed. Lin Ni was a little hot with the animal skin on, but a little cold without it, so she gladly accepted the cool pillow that was offered to her.
But that night, he took it a step further. Seeing the soft, sweet little woman nestled obediently in his arms, he lowered his head and showered her with passionate kisses. Lin Ni was pretending to be asleep for the sake of his cool embrace (she couldn't sleep peacefully in the arms of a strange man without pretending), and after letting him kiss her for a while without letting go, she couldn't keep up the act any longer. She opened her eyes and forcefully pushed him away: "Don't do this, I don't like it!"
He looked at her tenderly at night and said, "But I like you so much!"
Such a passionate and straightforward confession made Lin Ni's face involuntarily turn red: "You, you promised to give me time."
Night kissed her lips again: "I'm just kissing you. I'll wait for your consent before we mate."
Mating, what a niche word! Should I say it or not? No wonder we're called "beasts"! Linni said somewhat shyly, "Even kissing requires my permission!"
Ye stared at her lips for a while before saying with a hint of disappointment, "Okay, I'll just hold you. Go to sleep."
Seeing that he was quite obedient despite his reluctance, Lin Ni settled into a comfortable position in his arms and quickly fell asleep again. Two white tigers in a corner of the cave had been watching them talk, and only lowered their heads to sleep again when they remained silent for a long time.
Linni embarked on another adventure into the area surrounding the waterfall. After having a fresh river breakfast each day, she and Ye, accompanied by Atractylodes macrocephala and Bletilla striata, would travel around, exploring unknown areas and searching for plants that could serve as their staple food.
She discovered that the meat of large wild animals was relatively tough, while the meat of some small animals was softer, so she had some small animals caught at night to eat. Tired of eating large amounts of meat and fruit every day, she craved rice, noodles, rice vermicelli, and steamed buns, preferably with a large spoonful of chili oil and stir-fried sauce.
She had no idea what seasonings existed in this world, and she was very frugal with the salt and condiments she brought, only adding a tiny bit to her food—it was too bland! But perseverance paid off; Linni actually dug up a kind of stem-like plant, somewhat like a potato but about the size of a taro. Linni boiled it, roasted it, or let it simmer in the soil until it matured. Finally, she was eating a starchy food, and she was quite satisfied. As for making noodles or similar dishes from potatoes, she didn't know how.
Linni also found mung beans, about the size of a thumb, but because it was inconvenient for her to cook them, she only collected half a bag, dried them, and stored them in the cave.
One morning, she saw Ye handling the seashells, taking out something white and throwing it into the water. Linni noticed the luster and realized it didn't look like the seashell's internal organs, so she couldn't help but ask, "Ye, what did you just take out of the seashells?"