Chapter 5 - A New Life
"Woah Woah, what do you mean run to the inner city? Is there no protection for people in the outer areas? What are they going to do if some monster just wanders in?" asked Maaz with a serious face. This was no joke, their lives would be in danger 24/7 if they could be attacked at any point during the day.
Yu Yan had expected such a question, with her little smug face she said, "Of course there is protection. There is the local guard regiment for every district with outposts all over the areas and one main headquarters located in the middle of the district. There are several hundred soldiers stationed in, and around the headquarters and some private establishments like the local Hunter's Lodge also make a living by going on expeditions and killing wild beasts around the districts."
"Oh, that's great, Won't we be pretty safe then?" Maaz followed with another question.
"Not necessarily. You still don't understand how big each district is. Even though we are at the outer edge of Fortuna City, the inner city itself is 180,000 km², and each district is surrounding the city is about 15-20,000 km². So even though there are guard posts and local headquarters in every district, getting from one place to another still takes a lot of time.”
“On a normal carriage for example, it would take several days to reach the inner city. Most ordinary individuals don’t even leave the place they were born in because of that. That's why so many people try to cultivate to not only protect themselves but to try and get a better life for themselves out there. But even then the average lifespan of normal citizens is anywhere between 100 to 150 years with all the danger, and you do mature much faster than you would in smaller worlds," Yu Yan said proudly, with her head held high.
"You can't be serious, what the fuck is with this world, how is everything so big here? Every single time I think I've wrapped my head around it, even more information is dished out like it's no big deal," Hao Xuan thought to himself. And he was right.
One had to understand that the total area of Beijing was less than 17,000 km², and there are TWELVE districts that are either the same size or even bigger just in the outskirts of Fortuna city? No wonder they can't protect everyone with just a few hundred people. Even a few thousand wouldn't be enough.
They walked for 30mins or so and soon came to another area with a very tall structure in the middle. It said "Beast Hall" outside of it.
Yu Yan told the party to wait outside and went in. After a few mins, she came back on a carriage led by 4 horse-like creatures. They had tiny horns on the top of their heads with thick scaly skin and long tongues. The body shape was like that of a horse but about 1.5 times bigger, and instead of hooves they had claws. The faces looked like a mix between a horse and a lizard. It seemed like their tails were cut off on purpose.
This was Hao Xuan's and company's first interaction with a creature from the Beast world, and it was quite scary as one would expect. But seeing as how even a petite little girl like Yu Yan could control the beasts so easily, they felt a bit more relieved.
"Hop on, I have to return the carriage in a few hours. With this I can get you guys to your new home in no time," she said looking down at the crowd.
Maaz was the first one to get on, after making sure that the creatures didn't make a fuss, he made space for the rest. It was an open carriage so they could see the scenery around them as well.
With something like a horsewhip in her hand, she made a noise and the creatures started at a brisk pace. Not too fast nor too slow.
"What are these things called?" asked Sam looking at the creatures in front.
"Their 'scientific' name is Squamea Lacerti, which is quite a mouth full, so we just call em Squals. They are one of the more higher-end beasts. They aren't terribly powerful but are extremely fast and have high endurance. That's why only military commanders or people with a high status can afford them. They can't be found in the wild as they were specifically bred for this purpose," she replied.
"Really? They don't seem that fast. We had normal cars that were much faster than this in our old world," Sam said, slightly disappointed.
"Oh, you really think so? Let's first get out of the populated areas and then I'll show what they can really do," Yu Yan said in a slightly mocking manner like she was looking at country bumpkins.
They followed what seemed like the main road for a few mins. Other carriages were led by all kinds of beasts from straight-up huge lizards, ostrich-like birds, to some feline mounts, and there was even a huge spider with a single person it.
The people mostly looked the same as normal humans, just slightly taller, but some did have an extra eye or two, a couple more arms or legs etc.
"This really is a different world," Hao Xuan said, mumbling to himself. It actually looked like something out of a popular MMO back on earth. All different kinds of people on strange creatures going about their daily life like it were no big deal. Hao Xuan thought it would be really cool, looking at all these new things but it was too much to take in all at once. It had barely been a few hours since they were transported to this world and so much had happened already.
He thought about his family, his mother who he had never even called mom to her face. How was she? Where was she? Was she okay? For the first time in his life, he was actually worried about her.
"Once all this is done, I'll ask someone how to find other people from earth, I wanna see her again. We don't have to live like before here. We can be a family now, they can't stop us anymore," Hao Xuan said to himself.
Suddenly the scenery changed, a massive 100-meter tall gate came into view. It was at least 60 meters wide, completely open.
There were dozens of guards stationed there and on top of the wall which was even higher than the gate itself. Every single one of them was decked out in full armor and with different weapons on their sides or backs, they were standing there like Centurions from the movies he had seen. Filling the onlookers with amazement.
No one stopped them when they saw the carriage. It was common knowledge that a new race was sent to the Beast world and that the Mei kingdom had accepted many of them.
Following the main road for 15 more minutes, they took a right turn and got on a large dirt road. About 30 meters wide.
"Alright, I'll activate the support spells on the carriage, hold on to something and get ready to be amazed," Yu Yan said looking back at Sam with a huge grin. She tapped her foot on the carriage and suddenly a whitish bubble was formed around the carriage, covering the entire thing.
"What is that?" he asked pointing at the bubble.
"It's the protective screen. Since you guys are not cultivators we were allowed to bring out these carriages to make the whole settlement process much faster. Otherwise, it would take months to get everyone settled down. That screen acts as a barrier, protecting you from the air pressure and stabilizing the carriage. You would get blown away otherwise," she replied as a matter-of-factly.
She picked up the whip once again and swung it towards the squals as hard as she could.
With a loud growl, they broke into a full sprint.
Even with the barrier in place, Hao Xuan's body jerked back and he hit his head on the back of the carriage and then another little fluff was thrown into his arms. He opened his eyes and saw what had hit him, only to be met with big teary brown eyes and a cute little face.
It was Emilie, she was holding the teddy bear with all she had, not even looking around, shaking.
"Wuu~ that lady is so mean" she muttered with tears in her eyes.
Hao Xuan had never seen anything cuter in all his years.
He held her with one hand and grabbed a handle nearby for support. Only after a few seconds did the shaking stop.
Looking around almost everyone was in an awkward position. Sam fell headfirst into Maaz and actually hurt his own head.
"Jeez, how strong is this guy," Hao Xuan thought inwardly.
Hao Xuan looked outside the carriage and it seemed like he was looking at a video clip at 5 times the normal speed. They were going so fast that he couldn't even see the surroundings.
But the strange thing was, just like Yu Yan had said there actually wasn't any air pressure. So after a few seconds, he straightened himself up and asked, "How fast are we going?"
"About 350Km/h. We can go faster but for safety reasons, this is the recommended limit," she yelled from the front.
"How the fuck can living creatures run this fast? Are they using magic or something to speed it up? I'll ask her for details when we stop," Hao Xuan said to himself.