Chapter 48: Chapter 48-[Volume 2 Chapter 20] The Noxious Jungle

Mika narrowed her eyes at Joralf’s unexpected words, but she couldn’t suppress the excitement in her heart.

‘It’s been a long time since I’ve seen my parents. They’re probably worried sick right now. If Chief Joralf can tell me which direction to walk in, or better yet, tell my parents where I am, I can finally leave this stinky jungle and learn magic!’ 

However, although Mika missed her parents, getting stronger, or at least understanding her path to get stronger, is her primary goal. Leaving the jungle was secondary, and going home was secondary.

Though, she would love to know the way out just so she didn’t have to continue blindly searching for the exit.

While she acknowledges the fact that Cain and Elizabeth gave birth to her and raised her for a year and a half, she spent most of that time eating and sleeping. It’s impossible for her to form an unbreakable connection with her parents like she had in her previous life.

She’s an adult woman mentally, after all. 

“How do you know my parents?” Mika asked sternly, but it just came out cute, “The guards I met outside the village had never heard of the surname Zoller. They even said they’d never heard of the Elysium Kingdom.”

Joralf chortled, feeling amused by this situation. 

“Hohoho! It seems you’re underestimating the connections between us Elves, especially me,” He said. Mika wanted to ask what he meant, but Joralf continued before she could, “The destruction of a City like Avalon is big news. Most Kingdoms around the world should at least know of this information. The same goes for the Elves.” 

Then he muttered, “Well, your parents are also making a mess out of things, doing everything in their power to search for you. It’d be weird if I didn’t know who you were after you introduced yourself. However, I doubt many people would have this information unless they know your parents personally.”

Mika leaned in, listening intently to what he was saying, and after he finished speaking, she jumped up on her chair, her eyes shining with expectation, “Then, does that mean you have a way to contact my family?!”

However, Joralf shook his head apologetically, “I’m sorry, young Mika, but I do not have the status or capability to report such a thing. I only happened to receive news about the invasion of Avalon because of the significance of that particular event and that if I were to see any nasty-looking black creatures that were impervious to magic, I should send a message to the Elven Kingdom immediately.”

A deep frown formed on Mika’s face, not understanding why he could send a message about the Voildlingss but not about her.

Joralf could see through her thoughts and answered before she could say anything, “Listen, young Mika, I do not have the status necessary for the higher-ups of my race to take me seriously if I were to inform them that you, Mika Zoller, were in my village. Plus, I don’t think it’d be wise to notify the Elves you are in one of our villages.”

Mika tilted her head, “Why? So far, every Elf I’ve met has been nothing but nice to me?”

Joralf showed a bitter smile and said in a complex tone, “Ah. Not every Elf is as… relaxed as the ones in this village are. We Elves and you Humans don’t exactly have the best of relationships. At best, the Elven higher-ups would use you to extort your parents or Kingdom.”

Mika understood that things were more complicated than they seemed on the surface, but she wasn’t a naive little girl and could connect the dots. She didn’t know much about Elves, but she was plenty aware of how greedy humans could be. 

Hell, she is a greedy human herself! If there’s a chance for her to benefit, even if it means sabotaging or ruining someone else’s life, she wouldn’t hesitate to do it as long as it didn’t go against her morals! And that would make her one of the more honorable humans because at least she has morals!

Many humans will do anything, literally anything, for the right price. Humans are jealous, deceitful, and vengeful creatures who will do anything for their own benefit or to satisfy their urges. 

With the Elves' beauty, she could easily imagine them being caught and sold into slavery, and she doubted that’s the only reason why the two races have a bad relationship. 

Thinking up to here, Mika couldn’t help but release a sigh of relief, ‘It seems I’m quite lucky to have ended up in this village, where they don’t care about my identity or race.’

Still, she had a few more questions, “So, if I can’t inform my parents of my location, do you at least know in which direction the Elysium Kingdom is?”

“Hmmm…” Joralf pondered for a few moments before smiling, “Nope.”

A vein popped in Mika’s head, ‘This damn old man is messing with me!’

“But even if I did, it wouldn’t matter. The Elysium Kingdom is at least tens of thousands of kilometers away from here. Probably more than that.”

“...” Mika blinked, staring blankly at Joralf, doubting her ears.

After a few moments, Mika opened her mouth and spoke in a quivering voice, “I-I’m sorry. I don’t think I heard you correctly. How far away did you say the Elysium Kingdom was?”

“Tens of thousands of kilometers at the very least.”

Hearing it again caused Mika to slump down in her chair powerlessly. 

“...Home is so far away, huh?”

Joralf gave her a look of pity as not only had Mika lived in the jungle alone for over a year, but now she’s come to learn that she was not even close to home. How could he not find that pitiful?

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But surprisingly, Mika regained her composure after a few seconds, “Then, do you at least know the quickest way out of the jungle?”

‘She has some impressive mental resilience for a child.’ Joralf thought and then nodded.

He then explained a bit about the jungle, how close the village was to the edge, and the kingdoms outside the jungle.

The area of The Noxious Jungle is around 10 million kilometers squared and around 4,000 kilometers long and 2,500 kilometers wide. It’s home mostly to normal animals and Black Core Realm Magical Beasts. Though, a few Red Core Realm Magical Beasts are also roaming around. 

The Noxious Jungle is classified as an [F++] or [E--] Rank Danger Zone, as there are generally no beasts stronger above the Black Core Realm. Mika didn’t know what ranks or Danger Zones were, so Joralf decided to inform her. 

Letter Rank Classifications are separated into nine known Ranks, starting from F all the way up to SSS. Each Rank is further split into five categories: [Letter--], [Letter-], [Letter], [Letter+], [Letter++], and this goes for every Rank. Each Rank correlates to a Cultivation Realm. For example, the [F] Rank refers to the Black Core Realm, the [E] Rank refers to the Red Core Realm, and so on. 

The five categories in each rank refer to stages in each Cultivation Realm. For example, Stages 1 and 2 of the Black Core Realm or the Initial-Stage of the Bronze Realm(1st Realm of the traditional Body Cultivation System) refers to Rank [F--]. For the [F-] Rank, it’s the 3rd and 4th Stages of the Black Core Realm or the Early-Stage of the Bronze Realm. For the [F] Rank, it’s the 5th and 6th Stages of the Black Core Realm or the Middle-Stage of the Bronze Realm. This pattern continues up to the [SSS] Rank. 

However, Letter Ranks don’t only classify Danger Zones as they can also classify items, weapons, food, resources, and sometimes even spells, but that’s generally not the case. However, surprisingly, Mana Stones and Cultivation Techniques don’t fall under the Letter Ranking System. With Mana Stones, each stage is meant solely for an entire Cultivation Realm. For example, Initial-Stage Mana Stones are meant only for those in the Black Core Realm, while Early-Stage Mana Stones are meant for those in the Red Core Realm. 

The Rankings for Cultivation Techniques are different, though, as they are based on potential, but Mika will learn more about that later. 

Danger Zones, on the other hand, are essentially areas that are, well, dangerous. Jungles, Deserts, Ancient Ruins, Oceans, Grasslands, and Mountains are just a few examples. Any place, as long as it was dangerous, could be classified as a Danger Zone, hence the name.

Therefore, The Noxious Jungle Danger Zone is a fairly weak place in the grand scheme of things. Mika was very lucky to have teleported here instead of an [E] Rank Danger Zone or higher. 

Though on the flip side, her luck wasn’t that great as she had actually appeared close to the outskirts of the jungle and picked the wrong direction to walk in, thus ending up where she is now, in Parf Edhellen Village, the jungle’s center.

To the North of The Noxious Jungle stood a Mountain Range called the ThunderFire Mountain Range. Along the East and Southern borders was the Barlton Kingdom, a human Kingdom known for trading. 

Joralf advised Mika to head there if she wanted to find the quickest way back home. A trading Kingdom should have plenty of information about other human nations. With enough money, she could even buy her way back to Elysium!

Lastly, nothing borders the Western side; it’s just more jungle, which continues for thousands of kilometers. However, the jungle environment slowly changes into a forest with shorter trees and a less humid climate. 

“If you keep going West, you’ll end up running into the outskirts of the Elven Kingdom, Eldamar, home to the World Tree, the Elves’ Progenitor and Creator, Yggdrasil.” Joralf finished explaining.

“World Tree? What’s that?” Mika asked, curious about this being. 

Joralf smiled, “If you’d like to know more about Elven History, I can bring you to my library later.”

Mika’s eyes shone like stars. She jumped up on her chair, grabbed Joralf’s hands, and couldn’t help but ask, “Really?! Can I also take a look at your Cultivation Techniques and any books you have on magic?! I have a few Mana Stones with me and am more than willing to compensate-”

Joralf interrupted Mika and said with a gentle smile, “There’s no need for you to pay, young Mika. Just seeing a young and vigorous youth like you wanting to learn and improve is more than enough payment for me. Though I have to warn you that I only have Basic Cultivation Techniques meant for Elves with horrible potential. However, I do have plenty of books on the basics of magic. Feel free to read them to your heart's content.”

Mika blushed in shame as she didn’t mean to blurt that out, but she couldn’t stop herself. How could she miss this chance to finish her Mana Cultivation Technique? 

When she heard Joralf agree to her selfish request, a large smile formed on her face

“Thank you very much, Chief Joralf!” 

“Hohoho! Don’t worry about it, young Mika. I only hope you can use the knowledge you obtain to inspire our Elven youths. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but they are quite lazy and reluctant to train.” He chortled while stroking his nonexistent beard. 

Mika’s expression turned serious, and she said, “Don’t worry, Chief Joralf! I’ll be sure the Elven youths will feel very inspired when I’m done with them!”

“Is that so? Hohohoho!”

“Hehehehe!”

The two chuckled like a couple of perverts, and Aerin, who was watching from the side, felt a chill run down her spine as she dashed away like a little rabbit. 

‘I need to get as far away from them as possible!’

With that said, Joralf and Mika finished their conversation and made their way to the Chief’s house, where Mika would consume all his knowledge on Mana and Mana Cultivation Techniques.

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