The Orc lowered his gaze at its bleeding chest. There was an X-shaped slash wound in the middle of his chest, and green blood was oozing out of it. Its monstrous face showed surprise.
‘Oh, it didn’t die.’ Ambrose spun the swords around like a whirlwind and hopped around like a boxer. ‘Its endurance is fascinating. I wish I could see its health bar, but for some reason it is not showing.’
“Human…” The Orc suddenly spoke. Its voice was deep and raspy, as if there was something stuck in its throat. “Why… have you… summoned me?”
“You can speak, huh.” Ambrose wasn’t surprised, as creatures with higher levels also had higher intelligence. The Orc clearly wasn’t common fodder. “I summoned you to kill you.”
“Hah…” The Orc grinned, revealing disgusting yellowish teeth. “I appreciate… the honesty. You may be stronger… than the rest of the trash. However… not that… strong.”
“Your wound says otherwise.” Ambrose moved his swords into a forward fighting stance. The stance maximized the efficiency of the front attack, and it was purely styled for a relentless barrage attack.
“Your… death is guaranteed.” The Orc smashed its wooden mace against its open palm. It walked casually towards Ambrose, not afraid of his attacks in the slightest.
Ambrose narrowed his eyes and took a quick step forward to close the distance enough to deliver a quick downward slash.
However, at that moment, the Orc stopped moving as its body began to dissipate into a green mist. It released a deep, menacing growl.
“A… summon ended quicker… than expected.” The Orc scoffed and turned to the black-haired young man. “When… you are stronger… you can summon me for longer durations of time.”
“Huh.” Ambrose stepped backward as the green mist enveloped the Orc. 𝑜𝗏xt.𝗇t
The Orc coughed out the green mist out of its mouth and turned its eerie, menacing red eyes towards Ambrose while half of its face was covered in the mist.
“My name is Yughragh from the Green Beast Tribe. What is yours… human?”
Ambrose sheathed the swords and spoke softly. “Ambrose…”
“Human, you smell bad.” Yughragh laughed loud enough to fracture someone’s eardrums. Then, it disappeared into a green mist. The green mist was then blown away by the wind.
“I smell bad?” Ambrose scoffed. “Your stench is still here, smelling like a corpse that has been rotting under the sun for a month.”
He shuddered and had to walk outside to get away from the smell. He then sat on the steps of the dojo and looked at the setting sun.
“The stench won’t be going away for quite some time. Whoever buys this will be in for a surprise.” Ambrose wryly smiled. “Anyway. The whistle’s description clearly said that the summoned creature would attack the summoner, aka me.
“However, the Orc clearly had great intelligence. At first, it seemed like a mindless beast, but it became smarter as time passed.
“How very strange…
“Also, Green Beast Tribe. Is that a real tribe? I thought the orc would just be a summon trapped in the whistle.
“Could it be that ain’t true?”
…
A flash of silvery lightning flashed across the dark sky, splitting the gray clouds in half. A deafening rumble followed, which shook the earth and sent a shockwave through the air.
A thunderclap echoed throughout the valley, and a bolt of lightning struck down from above, striking a nearby tree and sending it crashing to the ground with an ear-splitting crash.
The tree rolled down the hill, eventually crashing at the gates of the fenced village. The village was situated in a dark valley, with some buildings built on the hillsides and others on the valley floor. It was a large village with hundreds of wooden buildings.
Street roads, made of stone, led from the gates to the center of the village, where dirt roads continued to hillside buildings.
At the highest point of the hills, the largest and most prominent building was built a long time ago. The foundation was made from black-colored rocks, looking far more durable than anything else in the village.
In the biggest room on the prominent building, a muscular, green-skinned creature opened its menacing red eyes.
Yughragh sat up to the edge of the bed, cracking his knuckles with a powerful squeeze.
“So… that was the Light Continent.”
“Lord Husband?”
A voice came behind him.
Yughragh looked over his right shoulder at the female orc. She had similarly scary features, with a muscular body and masculine features, but there were also signs of feminine beauty, such as two mounds on her chest that were larger than any human female could wish to have.
Her hair was orange, cascading down her broad shoulders all the way to her prominent buttocks.
“What is it, Mursha?”
“I tried waking you up, but you were in a very deep slumber.” Mursha, his wife, gently sat behind him and started massaging his muscular, broad shoulders. She squeezed on the shoulders with strength, which could tear trees in half.
“I was dreaming… about land far, far away.” Yughragh said while enjoying the powerful massage.
“Does the land have a name?” Mursha asked curiously.
“Yes, I think so. I just don’t know what it is yet.” Yughragh chuckled. “Doesn’t matter. I am sure I will be “dreaming” about that place soon again.”
…
After logging out of Martial Online, Jesse hopped onto the wheelchair and went straight to the kitchen to have a late-night snack. His stomach was rumbling as if there were thunderstorms inside him.
Once he had finished filling his stomach with some yogurt, cereal, and iced coffee, he visited the bathroom to brush his teeth and empty his bladder.
Before he returned to his bedroom, he pulled up his shirt and checked his body one more time. He felt like it was surreal when he traced his hand back and forth on his abs. They felt rock solid, like they were made of steel.
“I suppose I need to keep exercising to keep up this body…” Jesse thought aloud and then remembered something. He facepalmed. “Ah right, I had to check whether anyone else has made posts about having their body suddenly change overnight!”
He rushed back to his bedroom, pushed the wheelchair to the corner of the room, and took a comfortable lying position on his bed. He didn’t bother turning the lights on as he pulled out his phone and went straight to the forums.
However, to his disappointment, there didn’t seem to be anything about it. He even went to the search bar and typed things with keywords such as “body change”, “transformation”, and “improved appearance”, but nothing came up.
“If there are people like me, would they write about it on forums? I am not having any thoughts of doing that. People would just call me a liar and try to get me banned from forums. I also have to use my in-game name in the forums.
“I don’t really want to ruin my reputation.”
Jesse sighed and placed the phone on the bedside table without caring to close it. His eyelids turned heavy, as if they suddenly weighed a ton. He let out a long yawn, snuggled under the blanket, and shut his eyes to sleep.
Moments later, several dings echoed from his phone. The screen showed notifications coming from his auction post.
[Rach: 1,250 crowns bid!]
[Tennessee: 1,300 crowns bid!]
[Rach: 1350 crowns bid!]
Notification after notification appeared on the phone.
Without Jesse even noticing it, his post had finally gained enough traction for the bidding war to start!