Back in the study, I sat at the desk and went through the maps. There was a magic crystal lamp in the study as well, but I didn’t bother with it. The light from the window provided enough light for my purposes. Unfortunately, there were no maps showing the layout of the city. I did find one of the kingdom or country or whatever it was. It showed the capital city, also named Mortix, was indeed past the jungle to the north and there was another large city further north along the coast named East Port. It seemed the country’s naming sense wasn’t very good. There were various smaller towns scattered around but only the three large cities.

There was supposedly a road through the jungle that ran to the capital but considering the shape of everything else and what I now knew about the beasts inhabiting the jungle, I didn’t like that idea. There was a road shown between East Port and South Port, but I couldn’t tell how far it was between the two cities from the crude map. I didn’t know how to sail a boat and could barely swim so the road would probably be my best bet.

That was assuming East Port wasn’t as abandoned as South Port. If it was deserted, then it would be better to just stay here. I preferred to think positively and decided that getting to East Port would be my long term goal. It was important to have a goal to strive toward and keep my mind off the isolation. The other maps seemed to be surveys of the jungle. I didn’t intend to go into the jungle, so they did me little good.

Next, I turned my attention to the books. I casually flipped through the magic book, but it would take some serious studying to learn anything. Sighing, I decided I’d better do some more work outside while it was still light out and save the books for later. There were some nails in the shed so it would be a good idea to put some planks over the downstairs window openings instead of the improvised furniture barricade.

I tore apart the shed to use as donor wood and got to work. I kept one eye out since the pounding was making a lot more noise than I would like. I had secured the sword to my belt so felt a little safer with an actual weapon at hand. If I was fighting wolves or dogs though, it would be better to have a spear. I would add it to the list of things I needed. Shadow had finished her meal and was watching me work from on top of one of the crumbling walls surrounding the estate.

I was just finishing the last window when Shadow started growling and hissing. I looked over and her fur was poofed out and she was staring at something on the other side of the wall. I dropped my tools and unsheathed the sword, my heart beating rapidly. I was on the side of the mansion and thought about making a dash for the front door, but something jumped over the wall first. It made a horrible growling noise and looked around wildly until settling on me.

It reminded me of a monkey or gorilla but had green fur, only one large eye, and four arms. It only came up to my waist but had bulging muscles with sharp looking nails on its hands. It’s mouth also showed razor sharp teeth. It glanced at Shadow briefly then back at me as I backed away with the sword pointed at the creature. It growled again and pounded its chest with its upper set of arms while thumping the ground with its lower set. It then kicked off the ground and charged at me.

I tried to stay calm and sidestepped it while swinging awkwardly with the sword as the creature passed me. For some reason the creature seemed to be moving slowly or maybe it was me that was moving faster than I realized. My wild swing managed to slice off one of its arms at the elbow. I expected to feel some resistance, but it felt like I was cutting through butter. The creature howled in pain and turned around for another attack. I was faster and swiped down through its head and out the side of its chest. Again, I felt hardly any resistance. I didn’t know if it was the quality of the sword or if I was just that strong.

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The creature dropped to the ground in a heap of blood and guts. I was splattered with blood and was in shock at what had just happened. Shadow meowed from the wall and seemed to congratulate me. I took a few deep breaths to calm down and inspected my blood soaked clothing dejectedly. It wasn’t like I had a new pair of clothes. I sighed and decided to just be glad I had survived my first encounter with a dangerous beast.

I didn’t want to eat the weird looking creature so decided to bury it in the yard so the body wouldn’t attract more monsters. The shed had a rusty shovel, so I got to work. In no time I was done and ready to start cleaning up. Sighing again, I stripped down by the well. A bath had been on my list of things to do anyway but I didn’t want to manually fill the bathtub. Instead, I was just going to wash myself by the well and hope no other creatures attacked while I was naked. I managed to find a towel that wasn’t moldy in the master bathroom and there was even a bar of soap.

There was an old fashioned clothes washing tub in one of the closets so I grabbed it as well. After washing my body and clothes I hung the clothes out to dry while I wrapped the towel around my lower half. Strangely I couldn’t find any clothes left in the mansion. I managed to get some of the dirt and grime out of my clothes, but they were still stained by the blood. I also used an old sheet to carefully clean the sword before I put it back into its sheath. I went back inside to eat a lunch of bread and some more of the fruit. I really needed to find something else to eat. I kind of wanted to try fishing if I could make it safely to the ocean.

After eating, I grabbed the magic book and monster guide to study while I waited for my clothes to dry. In this humidity I wasn’t sure they would dry at all. First, I tried looking up the four armed gorilla in the field guide. According to the book it was simply called a Jungle Ape. You usually only encountered one at a time and they were fiercely territorial. The book warned of their tremendous strength and to not let yourself get caught in their grip.

After perusing the guide, it was time for the main attraction. The magic book described something called mana which all living things contained. It was apparently all around like oxygen. It reminded me of fantasy role playing games. For beginners, it described the method to sense the mana within yourself and to control it. I couldn’t sense anything at the moment so was worried I wouldn’t be able to since I was from another planet. I guess I would just need to practice the stuff in the book and cross my fingers that it would eventually work. To be in a fantasy world with magic and not be able to use magic would be too pitiful.

The techniques seemed to be similar to meditation, but it also mentioned that it would be easier if someone helped by stirring up the mana in your body while you paid close attention. Unfortunately, there was no one to help so I was on my own. I had no idea what mana was or what it felt like so after some fruitless meditation I gave up for now and idly flipped through it before checking on the clothes. They were still damp, but I was tired of wearing a towel so put them on anyway. I decided to go back up to the tower and see if I could figure out the best way to get to the beach. I grabbed a piece of parchment and a bit of charcoal to draw a crude map. I also found a ladder that was relatively intact leaning up against the mansion so brought it along. I wanted to see what was on the roof of the tower plus it would give me an even better view of my surroundings.

Shadow trailed me as I walked up the path to the summoning tower. With my increased strength, carrying the ladder was child’s play. Without that, carrying the ladder up the stairs to the top of the tower would have been a real pain. I kept an eye out for any more monsters but so far so good. The tower was just like I had left it. I really needed to fix the door somehow. It would be a great fall back position if worst came to worst. I mentally added it to the list of things to do which was getting pretty long.