Chapter 4: Human Society
The two of them spent nearly a month together in the forest. During this time, Big Head had accompanied Han Ming in searching the grasslands for anything resembling a massive vortex, a portal, or a spatial rift. Unfortunately, they found nothing. Han Ming eventually gave up on his aimless search.
He had asked Big Head and learned that this world did indeed have human societies, and the human population was quite large. However, the term "human" here didn’t just refer to people like Han Ming. Creatures like Big Head, which could be loosely classified as beings, were also considered part of the human category in this world because they could speak, communicate, and most importantly, possessed intelligence. However, they were generally referred to as the "Beast Clan."
What surprised Han Ming was that Big Head had visited human society multiple times, often to inquire about the miracle flower. Unsurprisingly, it had never found any valuable information. This didn’t come as a shock to Han Ming. Although this was a different world, he understood that something capable of completely transforming a person’s physique—whether a plant or a drug—was unlikely to exist. Even if it did, it would be extremely rare and difficult for ordinary people to obtain.
Regardless, Big Head hadn’t given up on searching for the miracle flower and expressed a willingness to accompany Han Ming to human society. Han Ming thought that someone there might know about the massive vortex. It would be better to ask around than to continue his aimless search. Moreover, he was very curious to see what human society in this world was like and how it differed from the human world he knew. After all, he was still young and had a strong desire to explore new things.
After discussing their plans, the two set off. Big Head explained that this area was called the **Wilderness Jungle**, a very primitive place. Long ago, it was home to many rare beasts and was a famous hunting ground. Many hunters from human society would come here to hunt beasts for their fur or capture smaller, more exotic animals to trade. However, the most sought-after were the large, ferocious beasts. Many wealthy humans were fond of such creatures and would hire hunters to capture them.
This led to something quite interesting: **Beast Arenas**. The nearest city, **Wilderness City**, had a massive beast arena. Wealthy nobles often brought their captured and tamed ferocious beasts to compete, making it a very popular sport. Some beasts that performed well even achieved a status akin to celebrities in the human world. Each competition attracted large crowds from all over, making Wilderness City the most bustling city in the region. This also led to the emergence of mercenaries who specialized in capturing beasts to sell to the wealthy.
The two prepared some water and the small beasts they had managed to hunt as food before setting off on their journey.
Wilderness City was located in the **Wilderness Grasslands**, the same grasslands where Han Ming had first appeared. Everything in this region was named after the Wilderness Jungle, such as Wilderness City and Wilderness Grasslands. The two were currently at the edge of the Wilderness Jungle, an area with fewer beasts, so they didn’t waste much time crossing half of the grasslands to reach Wilderness City.
The city was a massive structure built from giant stones. From a distance, the city walls were at least a hundred meters high, something Han Ming hadn’t anticipated. Standing at the city gate and looking up at such towering walls was an indescribable experience. What surprised Han Ming even more was the sight of two enormous bats perched on the top of the city walls. These were the same giant flying bats he had seen when he first arrived in this world, and the memory was still fresh in his mind.
Big Head explained to Han Ming that these flying beasts didn’t have a specific name. For many years, they had been used to guard cities, so people called them **City Guardians**. Their attack power wasn’t exceptional, but their ability to fly gave them a significant advantage. Many other flying creatures didn’t have their sharp teeth or claws. Their greatest strength as City Guardians was their ability to detect threats from great distances. They could easily spot the movement of a small animal on the ground from a distance where humans and other creatures would see nothing. The most fascinating thing was that they were almost half-blind and relied primarily on echolocation to detect objects.
Hearing this, Han Ming chuckled to himself. In his world, it was common knowledge that bats used echolocation to hunt. However, bats of this size were unheard of. If he had to compare the size of these City Guardians to something, the only thing that came to mind was a blue whale. Only a blue whale could rival the size of these City Guardians. But then he thought of the massive flying dragon he had seen and was left speechless…
Han Ming observed the city gate curiously for a while and noticed that humans like himself were in the majority. Creatures like Big Head were relatively rare, with only the occasional one passing by. These beings came in all shapes and sizes—some resembled insects, others beasts, and the rarest were those resembling birds. The comparison was a bit amusing, but Han Ming couldn’t think of a better way to describe them. According to Big Head, humans like Han Ming generally couldn’t surpass the Beast Clan in terms of strength and speed. (Han Ming noticed something interesting: there was no term for "insects" here. Almost everything that wasn’t a pure human like himself was referred to as a beast, including birds, which were called flying beasts. He also finally understood why Big Head had mistaken him for being expelled from his tribe. From Big Head’s perspective, Han Ming must have been abandoned by his family. Compared to the humans coming and going at the city gate, Han Ming was indeed quite small. Even among humans, his height of about 1.8 meters was dwarfed by the towering figures of 2 meters or more, some even reaching 3 meters. Their muscular builds made Han Ming feel like a dwarf, with their arms thicker than his waist.)
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In the broader human category, pure humans were the most powerful because their intelligence generally surpassed that of the Beast Clan. Additionally, one crucial point was that the Beast Clan could never produce mages, with the exception of the **Elven Clan** and the **Dragon Clan**.
Mention of mages and these two races piqued Han Ming’s curiosity, and he eagerly asked Big Head for more information. Big Head patiently explained that mages held a very high status in this world, but he wasn’t entirely sure how they were classified. His life had mostly been spent in the Wilderness Jungle, and his own tribe didn’t live in human society. In fact, most Beast Clan members didn’t live in human society due to a very practical issue: money. Surviving in human society required money, and most Beast Clan members weren’t good at earning it, with only a few exceptions.
He only knew that mages were divided into **Fire Mages**, **Earth Mages**, **Wood Mages**, **Water Mages**, and **Wind Mages**. Among them, Fire Mages were the most powerful, while Water Mages were the weakest. Generally, a small city might have one mage, and many small cities didn’t have any at all. He didn’t know about medium-sized cities, but large cities like Wilderness City usually had a few mages. Their status was so high that even the city lord treated them with respect. In contrast to mages were warriors. Since warriors were more common, Big Head knew a bit about them. Not everyone could be called a warrior; those with strong combat abilities were merely fighters. Only those who possessed **battle aura** could be called warriors. Warriors were ranked by tiers: first-tier, second-tier, third-tier, up to seventh-tier. Higher-level warriors were called **fighters**, also ranked by tiers. There might be even higher ranks, but they hadn’t appeared here, and Big Head hadn’t looked into it.
As for the Elven Clan and the Dragon Clan, they were well-known throughout the world. These were the two most powerful races, and they didn’t belong to the human category. Very few people had ever seen them. Apart from humans, these two races were the only ones capable of producing mages. The Elven Clan was known for their agility, while the Dragon Clan was renowned for their physical strength. However, both races had mages, and the likelihood of a mage appearing among them was much higher than among humans. Their mages were also far more powerful in combat. However, they rarely interacted with humans, so very few people had ever seen them. Big Head, for instance, had never heard of anyone who had personally encountered these two races.
After hearing this, Han Ming wondered if the flying dragon he had seen belonged to the Dragon Clan. What about the giant woman? Could she be from the Elven Clan?
While standing at the city gate, Han Ming noticed groups of people returning from the grasslands. Two warriors guarded the gate, and a small table was set up behind them, where an old man sat. Big Head explained that this old man was the **Gate Official**. His main duties were to report incidents, such as large-scale beast invasions or attacks by other forces, to the city lord. When nothing was happening, he would sit and chat with people entering the city, answering questions from important figures, such as when large auctions or beast arena events would be held. Those entering or leaving the city were rarely inspected.
Just as the two were about to enter the city, a small incident occurred. A group of about a dozen burly men came running from the direction of the Wilderness Jungle. Judging by their attire, they were likely the mercenaries Big Head had mentioned. However, "fleeing" would be a more accurate description, as a massive beast was chasing them. From time to time, one of the slower men would be swallowed whole by the beast. As they neared the city gate, Han Ming was terrified and wanted to urge Big Head to run to avoid being caught up in the chaos. However, he noticed that the people around him were calm and unbothered. Some even commented, "These unlucky guys, they don’t have the strength to deal with a medium-sized beast. They’re just asking for trouble."
Han Ming soon realized why no one was panicking. When the group, now reduced from over a dozen to about seven or eight, reached the city gate, one of the guarding warriors sprang into action.
Han Ming estimated that the beast was about four meters tall and was charging toward them at an incredible speed, causing the ground to tremble.
The warrior fearlessly charged at the beast, colliding with it head-on in a brutal clash. The massive beast was sent flying by the impact. The warrior then drew his sword, chased after the beast, and with a single slash, severed its head mid-air. Blood sprayed everywhere as the beast’s body fell, but the warrior had already returned to the city gate, calmly flicking the blood off his sword as if nothing had happened. He wasn’t even out of breath.
The fleeing mercenaries, seeing the threat eliminated, rushed forward and began hacking at the beast’s corpse with their swords. One of them stood guard, shouting at the crowd, "This is ours! Don’t anyone dare come near, or I won’t be polite!" This only drew jeers from the onlookers.
"Battle aura. The warrior emitted battle aura when he collided with the beast," Big Head said, his eyes sparkling with envy.
Han Ming stood there, mouth agape, unable to speak for a long time.