Baiyu walked into the market of the West District.
Here, a mix of people and creatures filled the place, large crowds surged through, and the Sub-human Race that was rarely seen in other districts would occasionally be encountered.
The market in the West District was the only one in Linjiang City open to the Sub-human Race.
What is called the Sub-human.
They are the Rabbit Race, Cat People, Tiger People, and other such races.
The Sub-human types are numerous, with strong survival and adaptation abilities, but unable to cultivate to become Martial Artists.
They are inherently insensitive to Spiritual Qi, and the East Prosperity Imperial expressly stipulated that Sub-humans may not cultivate.
Regarding the origin of the Sub-human Race, Baiyu had once searched for related information online.
The online explanation was simple.
They are the offspring of humans and animals.
He even found a saying that they were the offspring of humans and demons, which is why they have human characteristics.
After all, how could humans and animals get together? There is reproductive isolation.
The demons in this world, Baiyu had never seen them.
He firmly believed they existed.
Even gods, such exaggerated beings, had once walked the earth and left records of divine miracles; isn't the existence of demons equally normal?
Baiyu was unclear whether the demons here were animals that had become spirits.
The market was bustling.
In the storefronts, one could see Cat People and Rabbit People service staff at any time.
They could not cultivate to become Martial Artists, and since many jobs did not hire them.
They had a natural advantage in the service industry, so almost all Sub-humans living within the city walls worked in the service industry, with the female majority.
The status between Sub-humans and humans was vastly different.
High Tier human Martial Artists and Extraordinary protected the Imperial from the invasion of Exotic Beasts, cleansed evil Extraordinary and Martial Artists, maintaining a stable living environment.
Sub-humans, while enjoying this protection, also needed to make efforts, submit to the Imperial, and become a subordinate race.
It's a bit like the relationship between noble classes and slaves in the medieval ages.
However, the status of Sub-humans was better than slaves, at least having basic human rights.
Those Sub-humans who achieved military service feats on the battlefield could have legal status, leaving their kind and becoming an honored citizen of the East Prosperity Imperial.
As far as Baiyu knew.
On the surface, there were more than ten major Sub-human races dependent on the East Prosperity Imperial, such as the Snow Rabbit Race, Ancient Lizard Race, Cat People Race, and numerous smaller races.
The neighboring Free Federation had even more Sub-humans.
Baiyu strolled around the market several times.
Ensuring that there was no one following him, he entered a tavern and said to the cat girl bartender at the counter, "Is your boss here?"
"Lord Baiyu, didn't you contact the boss beforehand?"
The bartender raised her head, with a hint of delight in her eyes, instinctively tidying her collar to present her most attractive side.
"No, is he inside?" Baiyu asked.
"I'll take you there."
The cat girl emerged from behind the counter and led Baiyu into the tavern's basement.
The tavern was divided into five levels.
Three stories above ground and two below.
The first basement was a parking lot, and the second was an activity area set up by Baiyu's best friend, similar to the basement structure of Baiyu's apartment building.
The two had been close since childhood.
But their friendship turned into a life-and-death bond, with 100% mutual trust, about three years ago.
That was after Baiyu's parents had an accident.
This best friend's parents also went to that Simulation Realm and never returned.
The two families were old acquaintances.
The two friends comforted each other, taking care of one another, with help from their parents' old friends and elders, allowing them to protect their nearly luxurious inheritance.
They pushed open the door to the second basement level.
Before them unfolded a space filled with a mechanical sense, a ring surrounded by iron sheets.
There were people fighting on the ring.
The circular area around hummed with watchers of all ages, and the heated shout filled the whole space.
Baiyu followed the cat girl past the ring.
Amidst the sound of gears meshing, the heavy iron door at the end of the space gradually parted.
Inside was a young man of about Baiyu's age.
He wore a set of martial attire and was sparring with the newly developed V8 Mechanical Patrol, the constant clanging sound made Baiyu feel like he was at an iron forge.
"You're really diligent in your training, are you trying to turn yourself into a muscle monster like Lu Sheng?"
Baiyu sat down on a nearby leather sofa.
Qin Shou stopped his training, exhaled, and wiped the sweat from his muscles with a towel:
"Who's Lu Sheng, I don't like those cultural works.
Brother Yu, you don't understand the allure of muscle.
If I don't practice martial arts for a day, the fierce fire burning in my chest cannot be quenched.
Recently, I increasingly feel that I was born to practice martial arts!"
Baiyu tried to speak in a normal tone: "Too bad you don't lack food to replenish Blood Qi or the guidance of famous teachers. But if I'm correct, your Spirit-Seeking Technique should have only reached the third level, right?"
This best friend looked helpless, "Level three is level three; that method is too hard to practice.
Even if it's level three.
With my physical condition and sponsorship to Martial Arts School, I should easily get into Martial Arts School through special admission due to college entrance exams.
Though I don't know if I can get into Kyoto Magic University.
Recently, my Blood Qi broke 130 cards.
Last year's top Martial Arts student in Linjiang City only had about 160 cards of Blood Qi."
Blood Qi is the standard measurement of a Martial Artist's strength.
Martial Artists, Extraordinary, and Mechanical Armaments all ranged from Tier Nine to Tier One.
Tier Nine is the lowest, Tier One is the highest.
Blood Qi measures the strength of Martial Artists, and Energy Level measures the power of Mechanical Armaments.
Extraordinary have diverse abilities, bafflingly unpredictable talents, encompassing all fields.
The advancement of Extraordinary is somewhat akin to a job transfer system in a game.
For example, akin to Swordsman—Sword Spirit—Sword Saint—Sword God .
The more reasonable explanation would be sequences.
Going from Sequence Nine to Sequence One.
This setup he not only had seen, but also found familiar.
As for how many sequence routes there were, Baiyu had no idea.
Anyway, the abilities of Extraordinary were bizarre and many in number, there were certainly hundreds of professions recorded, who knows how many remained unrecorded.
From this grading system, you could see.
Extraordinary held certain advantages over Martial Artists and the mechanical armament forces.
Whether in strangeness or battle flexibility, Extraordinary far outperformed the other two kinds.
Within the same tier, too, it was basically the Extraordinary being most powerful.
Additionally, it's hard for Extraordinary to die.
Most Extraordinary professions have enhancement effect on the body, with very terrifying recovery abilities.
Their resistance to mystic forces was also extremely high.
"I heard this year Linjiang City has many monsters, even Quasi-Martial Artists with Blood Qi surpassing 160 cards.
College entrance exams could result in a bloody conflict; are you aiming for Martial Arts exam champion this year?"
Qin Shou laughed and asked.
"I'm just a gentle scholar wanting to read peacefully, fighting isn't suitable.
Martial Arts exam champion.
Depends on the benefits. If they're insubstantial, I won't bother with it."
Baiyu spread his hands.
Qin Shou scoffed with disdain: "Gentle scholar? Last time when the biker gang was causing trouble, if I hadn't stopped you, you'd almost beat that gang of punks to death."
Baiyu lightly coughed: "That was mere self-defense. Hey, there are others here, there's no point in us ragging on each other."
Qin Shou chuckled and dismissed the cat girl bartender.
Since entering the room, this cat girl neither dared to speak nor could move freely, she just bowed her head and feigned stillness, feeling extremely uncomfortable.
She took wide strides and walked out as if escaping.
The metal door closed again.
Qin Shou gradually collected his smile and spoke seriously, "You came so hastily, did something happen?"