Richard jolted up, wide-eyed and terrified. If there had been anything in his stomach, he would be using it to paint the local flora. Hurtling through the cosmos at an infinite speed only to come to a screeching halt on top of a hill and manifesting a new body wasn't something the human mind was meant to deal with. He had thought that the encounter with that god, or whatever it was, was bad enough. Countless Universes, swirling around, rubbing up against invisible barriers that bounced them back into the one on its other side. He felt dizzy again just thinking about it.

Closing his eyes, he lay back down until his stomach stopped spinning, and he thought he could move without falling flat on his face. Standing on legs that were still more unsteady than he would like, he took in his surroundings. Large leafy trees made up a forest that stretched as far as he could see in either direction. Where the forest ended, a wide-open plain sat undisturbed save for the occasional patches of brush. Blue sky. One yellow sun just starting its journey across the sky. So far, not too fantastical. On the other side of the plain was a small mountain range. The tallest peak of the mountain was hidden amongst clouds. A small range. But definitely not a short one.

Around the base of the mountain, he could see a large town. Roads sliced great lines between buildings with movement weaving between them. The largest road was a fair distance off to his left and looked very busy. To his right, and much closer to him, was a road that had much less traffic. He saw only a couple wagons and less than a handful of travelers afoot. He knew he should use the more heavily traveled road, but he was excited to get his journey started and headed quickly for the closer road.

While crossing the broad expanse of the plain he took the time to inventory what he had been reincarnated with. He had a light linen shirt that laced up the front. There was also a set of long underwear made of the same material under new leather pants held up by a leather belt. Last were stockings that came up over his knees, and a pair of sturdy traveling boots laced up just under his calf. It was some decent starting gear. Though he didn't seem to have any items or weapons. He would just have to work on getting those things on his own.

Next, he started trying to pull up his stats. He thought and called out every variation of menu or information he could think of. He tried tapping various parts of his chest, moving his hand around in front of him like he was trying to move windows on a tablet or phone, snapping his fingers, whistling. All to no avail. He would just have to wait till he got to the town and could find someone to ask.

*****************************************************************************************

Richard had misjudged the distance to the mountain. It had been a couple hours since he had left the hilltop, and he was only just getting to the road. He wasn't exactly out of shape, but he hadn't realized just how intensive a cross-country hike could be. The sun was just reaching overhead, and his nice new shirt was clinging to his sweat-damp skin. The long underwear was much worse off being enclosed in leather pants. He hoped he could find somewhere to pick up a pair of just linen pants for daily use and save the leather ones for adventuring.

It had taken so much longer to reach the road than he had anticipated that the few travelers that had been present earlier were all gone. Thankfully a well-worn, hard-packed road sped him up quite a bit, and within no time he found himself approaching the walls of the town.

It was here that he got his first real taste of a fantasy world. A Dwarf was standing guard at the wall, an honest to god Dwarf! Leaning up against the gate, the Dwarf barely came up past Richards waist. It had a great big bushy beard that was braided down his chest. And a large axe slung across his back. Richard was excited to meet his first fantasy race and was just about to introduce himself when the Dwarf beat him to it.

"Ayolaat, kinnee shpa'a coyne fuhr'cuppayl?"

This brought Richard to a dead stop. 'Crap! He had never asked to make sure he could understand this worlds language! That's Isekai 101 stuff!'

"Shama-a wi-yuu? Kinnee chutal?" The Dwarf hadn't moved from his place against the wall and was now idly scratching his beard.

"Uh..." Richard wasn't sure what to say. He had tried to learn several languages back on Earth but had never been able to get anything to stick. "I'm sorry, I don't quite understand what you're saying." He said stupidly. It wasn't like the Dwarf was going to understand him either. The Dwarf did, however, start to get visibly upset. He leaned towards Richard, and Richard could see that the Dwarfs face was a deep shade of red, and his eyes were narrowed. He seemed ready to burst into action at any second.

"Wa yamee kin'nershtan?!" The Dwarf left the wall and started towards Richard.

Richard backed up defensively but only made it a couple of steps as the Dwarf immediately fell flat on his face. Richard stared dumbstruck at the motionless Dwarf. Just as his brain reconnected to the rest of him, a human guard came rushing around the corner and spotted his collapsed partner. Looking back up at Richard, the guard lowered his spear. 'Double crap.' His adventure was about to end before it even began.