The crystal water reflected the harsh sunlight above. Mat held a spear close to his right, a gleam of sweat dripping down his forehead as he stood still- unmoving. He then pulled the spear back like a spring before thrusting hard into the water below.

"Finally!"

He pulled back the spear to see his catch. It was a fish, caught speared at the tip. It struggled and thrashed like a worm until it eventually stopped moving.

"What type of fish is this?" Mat turned to the light floating beside him.

Ratfish (G) [Beast]

Freshwater fish with a rat-like snout. When pregnant with eggs, the fish grows twice its own size.

It was now a habit of Mat to check each new animal he encounters, with something about them piquing his childlike curiosity. It felt like he was a kid again discovering new things for the first time.

Green smoke then seeped out from the wound of the fish, rising up and coalescing into a small green orb floating in the air.

It was a soul, the same as before with Mat's first encounter with Amigo. He held out his hand towards the orb, prompting green tendrils of light to seep out from it. The tendrils then flowed to his palm like a river.

Mat stared at his now glowing green hand. He had two choices: either absorb the soul to strengthen himself or materialize it into a summoned creature. He chose the former. The fish didn't look particularly useful.

He brought his hand onto his chest. The light then faded from it, absorbed now by his body. He felt a cool breeze swirling inside him like he just drank a cold can of soda.

Mat then got out of the river, grabbing his clothes by the bank before putting them on over his underwear. He dropped the fish he caught into a wooden bucket. "Ruan won't mind I only caught one right?"

. . .

"One fish." Ruan rolled her eyes. She looked like a disappointed cat staring at the bucket.

"Yeah, sorry."

Ruan let out a defeated sigh. Mat did try his best to catch as many fish as he could, but he gave up quickly after the first one. Spearfishing really wasn't for him.

"Come with me for a sec." Nian appeared out of nowhere, grabbing Mat's hand with hers.

"I'm tired. Can't I take a break?"

"Nope. Come on."

Leaving Ruan with the cooking, the two went into the thicket of the woods. Passing by shrubs and bushes then leaves and branches, they came into the open prairie where Mat first came into this world. Now, without the dull gray clouds and grim weather, he could finally appreciate the beauty of the grass and flowers swaying along with the cool breeze passing by.

Nian led the way, moving through the field of flowers and growing closer to the area where Mat found the dead and disembodied bodies from before.

"What are we doing here?" Mat said, his voice hesitant.

"You scared?"

"If I have to be, yeah."

Nian let out a gremlin laugh. "Just stay there then, I'll be done in a second."

Mat was fine with that. He never was fond of getting out of his comfort zone unless it was something serious or his own life was at stake, so he ended up staying behind while Nian was out in the distance looking over the bodies.

After a while of waiting, Nian came back with a bunch of small square pieces in between her hands. They looked like name tags.

"I'm taking these back with me to the next city." Nian picked up a piece, flipping it over her hand. "The office there will take care of bringing these back to the families."

Mat developed a slight admiration for Nian. She was in many ways childish and playful, but she's smart and warmhearted when she needs to be. Maybe she didn't want to see the corpses just like him, but she did it anyway to recover the name tags.

Mat took a piece. Now that he took a closer look, he couldn't understand anything written on it.

"Uhm, what does this read?" Mat threw the piece back to Nian.

"Robin." Nian took a quick look before putting it back with the rest. "You can't read Sunadiea?"

"What's that?"

A grin then crept on Nian's face. "Rusa siganae amo riea kaitiea?"

"What are you saying?"

Nian burst out laughing. "You understand English, but you don't understand the common tongue of Suna?"

"Nope." Nian always did this whenever she realized Mat wasn't in the know-how of something, whether that would be about an animal, a place, a concept- Nian made sure to poke fun at him for not knowing even the most basic of things.

On a positive note though, Mat learned a lot from it. If what Nian said was true the last couple of days, this fantasy world he found himself in, Suna, was only a small part of a much larger community of roughly a thousand other worlds, each containing their own unique ecosystem and biosphere and whatnot.

The first time Mat heard that, he jumped out of his nonexistent chair. Imagine thousands of other worlds, each as unique as this one. He didn't even have the time nor money to travel the world back on Earth, and now he was pushed into this fantasy world connected to thousands of other fantasy worlds.

He found himself staring at the horizon from time to time as his mind wandered. If there really were hundreds upon hundreds of other worlds out there, then one of them might as well be Earth. The thought was comforting yet unsettling. What would he do then when he does find a way back home?

"The world really is vast." Mat paused, shoving the thought aside again. He tried to find other things to busy his mind with, and it just so happened that his gaze fell to Nian. Now that he took a closer look, her messy ponytail really framed her face to a painting. Coupled with her playful vibe and her impish smile, she was the perfect personification of a pretty tomboy. Mat was all for that.

"What?" Nian met his gaze.

Mat blinked. "Nothing."

Nian rolled her eyes before shouting out words in foreign language, ranting about something Mat might as well have understood given her tone.

"You know I can't understand you."

"That's the point."