I Arrived At Wizard World While Cultivating Immortality Chapter 637: Intelligence

Moments later, Jie Ming withdrew his hand. The man crumpled to the ground. The other two men and the woman also succumbed, falling one after another under the effect of the Soul Search spell. Their breathing ceased in unison, their pupils losing focus, their vital signs extinguished like snuffed candle flames.

Jie Ming crouched down and searched the four bodies. Weapons held no significance for him, but the currency of this world was a necessity. He discovered a leather pouch containing metal coins of copper and silver, along with several paper bills adorned with intricate designs, portraits, and text. Though the amount wasn't substantial, it was sufficient to sustain him for a period in this unfamiliar city.

He stowed the money pouch within his inner world. Glancing back one last time at the abandoned settlement, he turned and vanished into the night. The energy orb in his grasp radiated a steady, soft white luminescence, brightly illuminating more than ten meters around him. The lingering sensations of being watched from the darkness retreated far into the shadows, deterred by the light.

As Jie Ming proceeded, he began to sort through the flood of information filling his mind. These four individuals were a peculiar breed of bandit, indigenous to this untamed wilderness. They had once been part of a sizable gang, but a recent crackdown by official forces had scattered them, leaving only these four to eke out an escape. Within this person's memories, the most prominent details naturally pertained to the Stranges.

The inhabitants of this world had coexisted with Stranges since antiquity, developing a rather defined classification system. Authorities categorized Stranges into five tiers based on their maximum potential destructive capacity: Hazard Grade, Threat Grade, Disaster Grade, Catastrophe Grade, and Destruction Grade. The most prevalent were Hazard Grade, to which both the Salty Finger and the Fear Serpent belonged. These represented the lowest echelon of Stranges, capable of causing death but possessing limited range and straightforward methods.

Graffiti Stranges were classified as Threat Grade, a level higher, exhibiting a broader killing potential, more unconventional tactics, and often a degree of sentience. And then there was the Night Strange… Jie Ming's pace faltered slightly. It was Destruction Grade.

Of course, given that Stranges were intrinsically linked to the world's laws, causing harm to the external environment necessitated adherence to various protocols. In principle, understanding a Strange's modus operandi and devising a corresponding countermeasure could allow for survival even against the most formidable Stranges. Consequently, despite its high ranking, the Night Strange, due to its clearly analyzed killing rules, was not an overwhelming threat to conventional society. Naturally, even with clearly defined rules, the Strange was far from benign. Furthermore, many Stranges lacked an inherent "survival path" within their operational parameters. Even those with explicit rules could inflict immense devastation when exploited deliberately by malicious actors. Such calamities were recounted in the memories gleaned from the man.

A terrorist organization had once plunged an entire city into darkness by severing all power. During the night, the city succumbed to absolute blackness. The Night Strange "awakened" within its confines. By dawn, the city had transformed into a desolate wasteland. Apart from a handful of exceptionally fortunate survivors, over a million souls in the city had vanished, leaving behind only pets with insufficient intelligence and vacant, uninhabited structures. This was the sheer destructive force of a Destruction Grade Strange – capable of effortlessly annihilating an entire civilization if the conditions aligned.

Beyond the Strange classification system, the technological landscape of this plane also became clear in his awareness. It aligned broadly with Jie Ming's prior conjectures: the general technological level mirrored the late 20th century of his original world. However, "roughly equivalent" did not imply identicality. Certain fields had diverged onto entirely different developmental trajectories. The most striking divergence was in aviation technology. Events confirmed Jie Ming's earlier apprehension: high-speed flight was a significant taboo on this plane. When an object breached the sound barrier, the resultant sonic boom generated substantial "ripples" within the realm of Stranges, attracting entities sensitive to sound and vibration. Similarly, flying at extreme altitudes posed a risk, as unique Stranges were known to lurk above the clouds. Consequently, this plane lacked supersonic fighter jets and high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, resulting in a lag in overall aviation technology.

Maritime technology, conversely, presented a starkly different picture. Colossal ocean-going cargo vessels plied the seas, and immense fishing nets hauled tons of bounty from the ocean depths. One could assert that the ocean served as the very lifeblood of human civilization on this plane.

The reason behind this was the past taming of a marine Strange, which then served as a base for gradually subduing more of them.

These marine Stranges possessed diverse capabilities; some could quell tempests, others could ward off menacing creatures, and a select few could confer enhanced speed and stability upon vessels.

Nevertheless, the abyssal depths of the ocean remained a hostile, uncharted domain for humanity.

Within the minds of the bandits, accounts of the deep sea were tinged with a reverence akin to religious fervor.

Whispers spoke of colossal entities lurking in the deep—beings so mysterious that none who ventured there had ever returned to tell the tale.

Regarding armaments, the weaponry employed by individual soldiers on this world had advanced significantly beyond those of Earth during equivalent historical periods.

This progress was largely attributed to specific "gene drugs."

These were pharmaceutical enhancements for the body, engineered using the distinct traits of Stranges, capable of dramatically augmenting physical strength, agility, and reaction times.

However, the adverse effects were notoriously severe. With the exception of a few prohibitively expensive formulations, the success rate for the majority of common gene drugs plummeted to below ten percent.

Beyond gene drugs, an even more perilous path existed: the transformation into a "Spirit Medium."

This involved imbuing oneself with a Strange's essence, thereby gaining access to its power.

The individual who recently hosted the Fear Serpent was precisely such a practitioner.

While the ultimate potential of Spirit Mediums far surpassed that of those relying on gene drugs, the risk of a Strange's uncontrolled surge of power was ever-present, and their lifespans were typically quite brief.

Notwithstanding these dangers, the majority of the populace on this plane remained ordinary humans, their survival contingent upon conventional projectile weaponry.

From the bandits' collected recollections, Jie Ming also discerned that beyond the commonly recognized Stranges, each city harbored its own distinct variants, shaped by unique local environmental factors.

The intended destination for these individuals was a city known as "Mist Capital."

Situated along the eastern seaboard of this continent, Mist Capital was a bustling metropolis, a heavily industrialized border city perpetually subjected to relentless rainfall.

It lay under a constant veil of somber fog and the acrid smoke belching from countless factory stacks. The atmosphere was a noxious blend of coal fumes, oceanic spray, and industrial effluvium. The city sprawled, a place of immense size and disarray, where the reach of official authority was insufficient to police every sector.

Numerous disused manufacturing plants, desolate shantytowns, and subterranean networks provided clandestine havens for illicit Spirit Mediums, illicit traders, and fugitives from the law. For those seeking anonymity, it represented an ideal sanctuary.

These four had initially intended to seek refuge in Mist Capital to evade unwelcome attention, planning to return to their illicit pursuits in the hinterlands after a suitable interval.

Jie Ming tilted his head upward, casting his gaze towards the northern expanse of the night sky.

In that direction, approximately a day's travel distant, lay the urban sprawl of Mist Capital.

His immediate objective was unambiguous: to locate an unobtrusive niche within the city's confines to establish himself, remain inconspicuous, and conduct his investigations.

He intended to unravel the genesis of Stranges within this world, to comprehend their entanglement with universal laws, and to acquire the requisite understanding.

Ideally, he would also endeavor to capture various Stranges of different ranks, thereby amassing crucial research data to facilitate his forthcoming advancement into the Dao Integration Realm.