Chapter 4
Through her conversations with Wayne, Euphoria began to piece together the reality of this strange new world.
It was a land inhabited by diverse tribes of beastmen where a severe gender imbalance dictated the social order. Females were treated like rare, precious pandas—pampered, protected, and legally entitled to have multiple husbands.
In this society, strength was the only true currency. Wayne explained that he was a Level 1 beastman. While that sounded low, he was considered a prodigy for reaching that rank so soon after hitting adulthood; many males spent their entire lives without ever ranking at all.
A beastman's power was visible in their eyes:
Unranked: Black eyes.
Level 1: Brown eyes.
Level 2: Yellow eyes.
Level 3: Red eyes.
Level 4: Dark purple eyes (an incredibly rare tier of power).
But luxury for females came with a dark side: the Ghost Beasts. These weren't a species, but a category of outcasts and rogues. They were the lawless nomads of the world—males who refused tribal life or were exiled for violent crimes. They lived only for their own whims, kidnapping females and discarding or killing them when they grew bored. They were the reason every tribe lived behind high walls.
Then there was the inter-tribal warfare. The tigers Euphoria had seen attacking Wayne were from a powerful, predatory tribe that survived by bullying and absorbing smaller groups. In this world, a tribe could be wiped off the map in a single night.
Wayne, for his part, was baffled by Euphoria. He wondered if she had been raised in complete isolation deep in the mountains, given how little she knew of basic survival.
As the sun rose higher, more beastmen gathered by the river, and Euphoria finally got her first look at the local women. A group of five females arrived to wash, shadowed by a protective detail of males.
Euphoria noticed a startling trend: while the male orcs were universally handsome and well-built, the females were plain, even homely by her standards.
She leaned toward Wayne and whispered, "Are all the females here... like that?"
Wayne followed her gaze and nodded. "Yes. See the one in the center? She's considered the most beautiful woman in our entire tribe."
Despite his words, Wayne didn't spare the "beauty" a second glance; his eyes remained fixed on Euphoria with unmistakable adoration.
Euphoria scrutinized the five women again. The "most beautiful" one was tolerable at best, which made the average standard for "horror" in this world truly staggering.
"To me, though, you are the most beautiful," Wayne added, his face dusting with a shy pink.
Euphoria felt a wave of goosebumps at his sappiness and quickly looked away.
"Hey, you! The new female!"
The "beauty" by the river had spotted her and was calling out. Euphoria stayed silent, unsure of how to navigate the local etiquette.
Seeing they were being ignored, the group approached. The lead female—the one Wayne had praised—looked indignant. "Why are you ignoring us?"
Euphoria remained seated, indifferent. She didn't consider herself a "female" in their sense, nor was she a newcomer to their social games. Her silence, however, was taken as a direct insult. The lead female's eyes narrowed; she felt Euphoria's calm demeanor was a mockery of her status.
"Did you just call us ugly?" the woman demanded, jutting her chin out arrogantly.
Euphoria took in the woman's broad, heavy shoulders, thick waist, tiny eyes, and protruding lips. To hear such a person boast of her beauty was too much; Euphoria couldn't suppress a dry chuckle.
The female turned scarlet with rage. As the daughter of the Great Chief and the tribe's reigning beauty, she had never been treated with anything less than total subservience.
"Look at you!" the woman shrieked, pointing a shaking finger at Euphoria. "How dare you laugh! You are the hideous one! You're the ugliest female I've ever laid eyes on!"
Euphoria blinked, momentarily stunned. Not by the anger, but by being called "the ugliest." While she wasn't a supermodel, she knew she was attractive back home. Are the aesthetics here reversed? she wondered.
She leaned over to look at her reflection in the river and suddenly burst into a genuine fit of laughter. She had forgotten that her green camouflage paint was waterproof and sweat-resistant; without proper solvent, she looked less like a woman and more like a swamp monster.
Her laughter only fueled the other woman's fury. "What is so funny!"
Euphoria looked up, her eyes dancing. "I'm laughing at an idiot."
The female gasped, the insult finally landing. "Mia!" she screamed.
A low growl erupted from Wayne as he stood up, baring his teeth at the males guarding the women. One male, Mia, stepped forward to shield his partner, responding with a guttural snarl of his own.
Euphoria's eyes locked onto Mia. His eyes were Red. A Level 3.
Despite the massive gap in power levels, Wayne didn't flinch. The ferocity in his brown eyes matched the Level 3's glare beat for beat.
Euphoria stood up and tapped Wayne's shoulder, signaling him to stand down. She looked at the arrogant female. "Why call for backup? If you have a problem, fight me yourself."
The woman's small eyes went wide. "Fight? That is a task for males!"
Euphoria scoffed. "So you're just a coward. All talk and no spine." She turned to Wayne. "Come on, let's go back. This is a waste of time."
Humiliated, the chief's daughter stomped her foot. A spiteful thought crossed her mind. "Since you're so brave, do you dare to fight Mia?"
Wayne let out a dangerous, vibrating roar. His body began to shift—lion ears sprouted through his blond hair and a tufted tail whipped behind him.
Mia looked uneasy. He was a warrior, and the idea of fighting a small female was beneath him, yet he was bound to fulfill his partner's whims.
Euphoria looked Mia up and down, a confident smirk playing on her lips. "Fine. I'll fight him. On one condition: he stays in human form. No shifting."
"Awooo!" Wayne cried out, panicked. He stepped in front of her. "Absolutely not! No female fights! I will take him on!"
The lead female laughed, eyeing Wayne. "Are you her mate?"
"Of course I am!" Wayne barked without hesitation.
The woman's smirk turned into a sneer. "Really? You don't smell like her at all. You haven't claimed her. You're nothing to her."
Wayne didn't back down. "Not yet. But I will be."
Before the argument could escalate, a massive shadow swept over the riverbank. The females looked up, their faces pale with terror. "Luce!" the leader screamed.
Euphoria looked into the sky. A gargantuan bird with a wingspan of nearly four meters was spiraling toward the earth. Clutched in its massive talons was a thick white python.
At first, it looked like the bird was hunting the snake, but as they got closer, Euphoria saw the truth. The python's jaws were locked onto the bird's throat. The bird wasn't flying; it was falling.
The bird flapped weakly a few more times before plummeting. "Watch out!" Euphoria yelled, grabbing Wayne and diving to the side.
CRASH!
The bird and the snake slammed into the shallow water with the force of a small explosion. A massive wall of river water surged upward, drenching the group of females and their guards.
The males had tried to jump in front of their partners, but they weren't fast enough. The "beauties," who had spent the morning meticulously washing, were now soaked to the bone and covered in river silt.
Euphoria and Wayne stood on the dry bank, watching the bedraggled orcs. They looked at each other and lost it, roaring with laughter.
The drenched females snapped out of their shock, glaring at the pair with pure hatred. But the lead female ignored the mockery. She shoved Mia aside and ran to the edge of the churning water, her voice trembling with genuine fear.
"Luce!" she cried, staring at the spot where the bird had disappeared.