2 Chapter – 2 - Braving The New World

(Certain words in the book have been purposely misspelled. Especially when Characters are talking or thinking. This is to create the sound effect/dramatic effect of the words as they are coming out of their mouth/mind, rather than focusing on the word itself.)

"Ufff.....Huuuh! This body is really useless!"

Grabbing to the sides of the ledge, Rihanna pulled herself atop the stone platform, and then fell flat on her face, refusing to budge.

It had already been a week – a week of wandering and exploring this new world she had transmigrated into.

Yup – Transmigrated.

If someone had said this before, she would have showed the person the way to the psychiatrist, even provided them with the relevant address and numbers.

But – yup, she had transmigrated. The world was big, and there were many things which science still could not explain.

For instance – How did she transmigrate?....Why was she stuck in the body of a 10-11 year old child?.....And where was her real body?...Was she dead in her own world?...Was there a way for her to return?

Wasn't this a common trope in Wuxia novels? But those protagonists would always end up with a Golden Finger – either a space, or a treasure, or a system.....So where was hers?! Or was she just not the protagonist type? If she wasn't an atheist she would either be cursing God or praying fervently. Unfortunately she didn't even have that option!

Since sitting around cursing her bad luck wasn't her style, and since she was a student of science, she decided to do the next best thing – explore the area around her.

The fact that she was extremely hungry was also an important decision maker.

So she started with her daily rounds of exploring, observing, analyzing and deducing. Her deductions told her to stay clear of all walking, crawling, slithering creatures.....they could spit toxic saliva, exploding spit, poisoned hair......it was questionable whether she would be their hunter....or turn into their prey!

The only other option was.....well, naturally....plants! In her hunger she had tried out almost every fruit, vegetable, flower, leaf and roots she had come across.

Which resulted in -

Almost being poisoned; Semi-paralysis; Temporary loss of senses; Loss of body control; Sudden high spike in internal body heat; Freezing to the point of crystallized ice forming all over her body; Sudden increase in speed till her weak body couldn't bear it; Increase in sensory perception manifold times – she almost had nightmares from the all the things she could suddenly hear and see!

The worst however was the strange crystallized fruit which entirely changed her physique. Not to mention the painful morphing process, as an end result she turned into a fat, paunchy old man, with pus filled infected blisters all over her face, and ape like hair growing from her arms, chest and legs. Even the sight of this strange creation in the pool water had left her scarred for life!

The only sane point in all of this was that most of these effects didn't last too long. Most lasted for a few hours. The physique changing effect was the worst and had lasted for more than three whole days. But she had no options as hunger was a very relevant problem, and the animals here didn't really look like they lay within her ability to conquer!

However, with all of her efforts, she finally managed to collect and categorize a vast number of edible and non-edible plant products. She had even piled them into tiny little groups and displayed them on the inner part of the ledge - like a mini-exhibition! Who knew when these weird things might come in handy.

This world was weird....and there were too many things she didn't understand.

There were two suns in the sky – reminded her of Kepler 47. One was as bright as the sun in the solar system of her previous life, while the other one was barely brighter than a full moon. However the two suns rose and went down at different times, the dimmer following the brighter. So whereas sunrise was bright and quick, sunset was comparatively dim and slow. It also had three moons – one white, one gray, and one red.

And probably because of this, the climatic condition around this place was bizarre.

Sporadic rains would come and go randomly, at any time of day or night. However, when it was not raining, the sun was blindingly bright. This caused the outskirts of the forest to be dry and arid, due to which vegetation was more sparse and desert-like.

But beyond the tree lines, as one went into the forest, the huge canopy like foliage stopped the sunlight from entering fully, and this caused the ground to be progressively soggier. She could deduce that the interior of the forest was probably more similar to a swamp.

There were a few random pools of water around the area. Strangely they were either too hot, or too chilled.

She wasn't yet sure what was the effect of the three moons, but days were very hot and suffocating with high humidity, whereas nights were very cold and windy.

And of course the vegetation was a strange and random mixture of everything from her old planet.

Begrudgingly, she pulled herself up. All this running around made her very thirsty, so she popped something that looked like a small melon into her mouth. It was cool, juicy, refreshing, and one of the few fruits which one could actually eat without any side-effect.

"Aish! This body is terribly weak. Running around all day to escape all these weird animals in this place is so taxing! And every night the muscles start cramping. At this rate I'll get caught if even one of these creatures is a little bit more faster....sheesh! I can't die again! What if I don't return back to my body?!"

In her past life she had zealously pursued all different types of martial arts, yoga and modern dance. Being a Jack-of-all-trades, at least she could proudly flaunt her agility, stamina and flexibility. In fact it was a variety of tricks of different trades which had kept her alive till now. But this body was seriously bad!

"However....I have age on my side. I just need to fix a proper physical activity regimen for myself and build in some stamina and agility. But I can't keep escaping from these animals all the time. This is keeping me stuck in one place. I have to find a way to leave this forest....hmmmm.....what to do...."

She popped in a few more of those melons, relishing the juicy freshness as she pondered on this problem. The only way out was through the forest. The animals around her were weird and fierce, but they were not really that strong. At least with some training and some weapons she could win over them. But who knew what lay in the forest interiors....

"Hmmm....can only take this one at a time. Along with physical training I should start making some basic weapons...."

Even the amount of edible fruits were limited. Meat was an option, but then she needed to hunt. But that led to a big problem.....she had never killed anything in her life before!

Could she really do it...especially if she had to save her own life?