With caution, he avoided the maid's gaze and arrived at the door marked "Library". Sensing the room to be empty, he pushed the door open and walked in. This private library is substantial in size, housing countless books. It is circular in shape, roughly three to four stories high with spiral ladders snaking around, its ceiling made of transparent material, bathing the entire place in moonlight.
Mu Zhou scratched his head at the sight of these many books.
"I hope I can find something useful before those sisters return."
Taking a tour around the room, a recurring sight throughout the castle was a crest of two combined white flowers, perhaps their family's emblem. He gently ascended the spiral staircase, stopping in front of a bookshelf labeled "History·Humans".
Although the room was well-cleaned, the corners of the bookshelf and the pristine condition of the books indicated infrequent visits.
He randomly picked up a thick volume, the first page read, "From the recorded history of humans, it has been 1880 years...".
"Huh? The history is not that long." Mu Zhou gradually immersed in the unique world depicted in the book.
He found this world fascinating, super interesting, completely different, and even polar opposite to his previous world!
Nobody could give an exact size of this world because humans are not dominant here; in contrast, they are relatively weak race.
Elves, beastmen, and other races do exist in this world! There are even more powerful and mystical species; however, these races are much stronger than humans with minimal interaction.
In this world, there are vast unexplored realms occupied by 'monsters' - various types of strong 'monsters' with relatively low intelligence.
Mu Zhou discovered a familiar black creature in an illustrated volume, named 'Disaster,' habitually renamed as 'Disaster Beast' by people.
Among the numerous 'monsters,' 'Disaster Beast' is one of the most aggressive and invasive kinds and often appears within human territories, resulting in regular confrontations.
Back to humans, it's interesting that an individual's physical strength in this world could reach incredible heights.
A single 'Disaster Beast' could easily massacre hundreds of ordinary humans, whereas a genuine strong individual could fend off hundreds of 'Disaster Beasts'!
This paradigm resulted in a lack of 'law' established on monarchy; after all, a painstakingly built army might be easily overthrown by an individual.
However, being such an intelligent species, humans, with no 'law' restrictions, have engendered various 'rules' or 'traditions' in such unique circumstances.
In situations where life was threatened, it naturally led to a survival pattern where the strong shelter the weak, and the weak provide convenience for the strong. The cities formed on this basis are referred to as 'Domains,' where the commands of the strong supersede everything in the 'Domain'!
This is especially prominent in human frontier territories. Sometimes, when a single strong person is insufficient to protect the vast 'Domain,' multiple strong ones would jointly safeguard it.
Such joint protector dominated 'Domains' often embody a variety of folk customs due to different origins and protected tribes of the strong.
"Oh? If that's the case, this town is a 'Domain' under multiple protectors! No wonder the architectural style is so diverse."
Reading up to this point, Mu Zhou couldn't help but think of the sisters' strength, "They can't possibly be the protectors of this town..."
Mu Zhou continued reading.
People sheltered by the 'Domain' are not indiscriminate; they will only take in two types of people. The first, those approved by the strong, i.e., their family, friends, or tribesmen. The second, those useful to the 'Domain'.
Either they are skilled, or they can contribute to the protection of the Domain.
Every official resident of the Domain will receive a contribution card that records their contributions. This is their identification card.
Those who are not qualified to reside in the city will not receive this card. Once discovered, they would be considered ‘scattered ones’ and captured as slaves. Seeing this, Mu Zhou curled his lips... Don't think that becoming a slave would grant you protection. Male slaves would generally work as hard labor until they die. Those with some abilities would be used as cannon fodder, and as for female slaves, needless to say, their fate would be worse than that of male slaves.
Among the bottom level of The Domain, there are also different circles and rules. It is common to see those who violate the rules or make mistakes stripped of their records and become slaves.
"It's like reading a novel…"
Mu Zhou was deeply engrossed in what he was reading. He casually picked up the two books, "The Derivation of Battle System" and "The Inheritance of Power", which were next to him.
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At the very center of The Domain stood a majestic hall, surrounded by countless guards. They were swift and highly armed, but their every move was extremely careful, making as little noise as possible and keeping anyone from approaching too close.
The Youlan sisters walked side by side in the dim corridor. The rest of the maids were asked to wait outside the palace. From the creation of this palace until now, only four people were allowed to enter.
They pushed open a heavy door and slowly walked into a room. This room had no windows, so no light could get in, making it seem a bit gloomy.
"You are late, Youlan sisters," a deep male voice came from the room.
“Well, we got held up by some things.” Tianluo replied the voice, walking to a chair next to the long table in the room and sitting down with her sister.
Already in the room were two people. One was an old woman sitting next to them, her face full of wrinkles, hunched body, leaning on a cane made of vine. The other was a brawny, bald man standing in the corner, bare-chested. His ripped muscles and somber expression resembled a mountain range.
"Long time no see, Youlan sisters. Although I'd rather not meet with you here, let's get started,” said the old woman calmly.
The conference room was only used when something big had happened that concerned the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
"Alright, Ling Granny” Tianluo exchanged a glance with her sister, and nodded, “So first, Kaili Karu, what's happening in the south?”
The bald man named Kaili Karu lowered his arm which had been resting on his shoulder and turned his head. "They’ll probably arrive here within a week. The force mainly consists of 'disaster beasts’. We are still unsure about the exact number, but there will be no less than five hundred."
The Youlan sisters nodded solemnly and looked at Granny Ling, "We've already ordered them to start working. The construction of new defense facilities and the maintenance of old ones will take at least three days. The manufacturing of the defense team's equipment is also in progress day and night. However, the process of magical pattern attachment is slow and cannot be rushed.”
"On our side... we have confirmed the news about the strong one who previously appeared in the west from the corpses of just over a hundred 'disaster beasts'. They seem to be two people - one is a master of swordsmanship, and the other is a master of body techniques."
"Although we haven't seen them ourselves, we found some traces in the valley on our way here. It's very likely that these two strong ones are already in The Domain." Tianluo continued.
Granny Ling stroked her cane, "This is important, we must find them, and get their help at all costs. Let your subordinates try to find them, hopefully not to offend them."
The Youlan Sisters and Kaili Karu nodded in agreement.
