Since he was near the bustling street, countless giggles were heard amongst the masses right after he face planted; but neither of these people intervened to help him in any noticeable way.

Apart from that, one whisper stood out from all the others as it was a bit more foul. However, it also managed to completely shatter the idea of this place being an illusion.

The whisperer had lightly mumbled, "Look at that drunkard, what a shame..."

Such a statement had helped him confirm that everything here was real.

Because if these truly were the last minutes before actual death, then the illusions were supposed to be directly linked to his thoughts; and necessarily, life experiences.

But being a drunkard was something that he never experienced, so this scene could not be all in his head. The whisperer amongst the crowd sounded quite real and characteristic as well, so this could not have been imagined.

A small wave of clarity had struck his mind thanks to this confirmation, and it even gave him enough motivation to try and stand up again.

This time he was a bit more successful in terms of grasping stability, but only because there was an external factor to it.

In other words, he felt a couple of firm grasps against his elbows - and they didn't seem quite respectful either.

The grips were almost strong enough to break an arm, so he instantly figured out that these helpers weren't any frogs that he could consider as friends.

Especially since they were pushing Steve towards an alleyway, which was located a bit further away from the crowds.

Throughout the short seconds of being dragged, he managed to notice quite a few frog heads. It was fair to say that he ended up being quite amazed.

Especially since this strange species of frogs, carried a row of big and pointy teeth ~ but the rest of their features resembled that of a human's...

However, there were specific details that could not be ignored whatsoever: frogs weren't supposed to be around six feet tall, and they definitely weren't supposed to walk like humans!

It was quite a shocking sight, but before these facts could have been pondered thoroughly, his face met with the hard ground again!

By now, it was fair to say that these couple of frogs who had accompanied the good man all the way here, lacked any mercy to be spoken of.

They had tossed him against the stone road that covered most of these streets. The architectural work around here was bumpy, and carried a few shattered odds and ends, so the landing was anything but comfortable.

And worse yet, before he could slightly recover from that pain, another wave of discomfort had stricken his upper back; and it burned more than a pot of boiling water!

It made Steve think that this was indeed hell! Such a guess was the best he could come up with, through those couple of seconds ~ because heaven wasn't supposed to hurt!

Even a fool could understand that this situation was not developing to Steve's favour. But one thing that stood as baffling, was the reason behind such shocking pain, and the questions that surrounded it. Obviously one of these newcomers had attacked, but why?

Finally, one of these hostile frogs decided to speak out. "This was just a warning, asshole!"

Steve turned around and faced these menaces, and the first thing he noticed were the slightly curled swords on their hands; one of these fine steel weapons was covered with blood!

It took little thinking to realise that one of these bulky frogs had sliced him across the back, but the prime question remained firm as he hustled through the pain; why did they attack him?

After he locked eyes with them, the good man tried to ask a question that surrounded this specific topic. But the pain on his back was strong enough to muffle any logical thoughts.

So he couldn't exactly form a sentence, and the frog who had a blood-coated sword, chose impatience once more.

This same opposer had simply lunged forward, and kicked Steve right across the face! Such damage had hurt a bit less in comparison to the previous wound, but at this point he was close to passing out thanks to all the pain!

Yet thankfully these hostile frogs decided to stop their attacks after that point, and they began walking away slowly.

But before they had gone away to disappear in the masses; one of them weighed in a few words, that helped this vicious beating make a bit of sense.

And it wasn't exactly whispered either, "Ten-thousand gold coins! You know where to bring them, bastard!"

Well at least now this beating was just a hunch more understandable. From the looks of it, he owed gold to some random folk.

He would definitely love to have figured that fact out without experiencing such pain, that was for sure. But nothing could have been a better tool to embrace reality, than a cut of this magnitude; so it felt worthwhile at least to the slightest.

Yet the overall confusion that he was experiencing, still managed to strike strong. Ultimately meaning that he couldn't quite figure out who exactly he owed money to.

Steve had no clue where to bring the gold, even if he could ever acquire such large quantities. The good man wasn't even sure what he was supposed to remember.

However. The hostile frogs were gone by now, and the voice in his head picked a good time to come along, with a bunch of new information.

[I suppose you could use a bit more knowledge on practically anything at the moment,]

[You are now the new owner of this frogezoid body, and the past owner had died due to a heart attack]

[The memories of this past body owner will slowly appear in your head. So that's something less to worry about]

[As you noticed just a moment ago, this place isn't so kind to any man or woman]

[There are quite a few barbaric countries in this continent, but Firestone is the worst amongst them]

[And congratulations, you're currently in that particular country]

Well these bits have helped understand the surroundings just a tad bit more. But it also helped make the slightest sense regarding this quantity of gold, that he apparently owned to someone.

The past body owner likely had gotten into some financial problems, or had some bad spending habits; the mentioned heart attack could be directly linked to such existential stress.

Regardless of all that, he understood that those couple of frogs will come back - and next time they won't be as friendly. So necessarily, that was another problem he had to worry about, apart from trying to adjust to this wretched world.

However. Right now he was more focused on the unbearable pain that coated both his back and face too.

He figured that the best option now would be to stand up, because the ability to walk was necessary when it came to finding a solution to any problems.

And as he tried to do so, it didn't take much time to crash against the ground again. However this time, he managed to soften the fall by using his arms, even though he was injured again.

His elbows didn't bend in the opposite way, so it was far easier to adjust with them: that was the best thing about this world so far, sad to say.

The system came along to share another bit of her thoughts, and this time she was a bit more useful.

[You need to find a healing potion. Such an item can help tame your wound]

[Considering that you likely won't be able to get an expensive potion, be aware that your wound won't be entirely healed]

[Right now, you better hope that blood will stop dripping off your back]