The village chief, an elderly man, laughed heartily and slapped my shoulder in a bold manner, just about to greet me. But under the impact of this tremendous force, I immediately fell flat on my back, arms and legs in the air. The robust old man’s hearty laughter stopped at once, his rosy face turning extremely dark, and he no longer had any intention of speaking to me.

“Xingxing, did you gain anything from your trip this time?”

Seeing how quickly the old man’s face turned black, I sensibly stepped aside, not disturbing the conversation between the grandfather and granddaughter.

Grace Walker said, rather annoyed, “I was tracking a saber-toothed tiger and was just about to catch it, but this person blew it to pieces with a magic gun. I only managed to get some bone fragments. Although they can still be used for medicine, they won’t fetch a good price.”

Hearing this, the village chief looked even more displeased. Seeing his face darken even further, my heart skipped a beat and I thought to myself, “Don’t tell me the next thing he’ll say is, ‘Then bring this useless guy back and use his bones for medicine…’”

I had left the bomb worker bees outside the village. Grace Walker had been knocked out by the explosion at the time and hadn’t noticed these little creatures. To protect my privacy, I didn’t let anyone know of their existence, having the bomb worker bees follow me from a kilometer behind all the way.

I secretly regretted deploying my main fighting force so far away—such a rookie mistake. I quickly used mental waves to contact the main group of bomb worker bees, telling these level-two bio-beasts to hurry and regroup with me.

“Don’t be so discouraged, Little Xingxing. You’ve hunted three saber-toothed tigers this year, which is enough to exchange for next year’s expenses in town. I know you want to save up for a weapon. If not this year, there’s always next year!”

Grace Walker replied, “Yes!” Then she said to the village chief, “This person says he got lost in the Sea of Immortality. Has Harris uncle come back yet? Let Harris uncle take him to town!”

Hearing this, I finally breathed a sigh of relief. Since there was no danger of being used for medicine, I quickly canceled the order to the bomb worker bees. Only then did I remember a basic fact: “On Earth, I’ve only heard of tiger bones being used in medicine, never human bones. I really worried for nothing.”

The village chief didn’t even look at me and said flatly, “Your Harris uncle has already gone to town and won’t be back for three to five days. Just let him stay with me. You’ve been out for days and must be tired—go home and get some rest.”

Grace Walker gave the village chief a deep bow, then ran off cheerfully.

I was handed over by the beauty to a seasoned strongman, which left me rather unhappy. But glancing at the massive wheel-sized axe on the ground, I still wisely used the most common etiquette on this planet to salute the village chief, then said, “I can’t offer any payment for now, but I will bring you enough gratitude as soon as possible!”

The village chief glanced at me and finally couldn’t help but lecture, “Even the kids in Riverdale Village can withstand a slap from me, and yet you, a noble lord, dare to come hunting in the Sea of Immortality forest? Truly reckless!”

I was left speechless, and for the first time, I gained a clear understanding of the physical prowess of intelligent humans on this planet.

The standard for a level-five civilization is the ability to evolve independently. The Hyperpower Civilization is a fairly common type among level-five civilizations. Through genetic engineering, they constantly adjust the structure of life so that the body can contain high-level energy, thereby extending lifespan and increasing physical strength. These changes can even be passed down through genetic fragments.

However, the downside of the Hyperpower Civilization is that individuals can become too powerful, beyond the control of society, which can lead to the collapse of the civilization’s structure.

I never really understood what the collapse of a civilization’s structure meant, but seeing how the village chief revered personal strength, I started to get an idea. “Could it be that the technology on this planet has started to decline, and everyone now worships primitive methods of using tools? They still mainly use cold weapons. The data in Escape Pod No. 15 is from five or six hundred years ago, but it didn’t seem this extreme back then.”

My homebody tendencies kicked in, and I immediately fell into deep thought. The village chief, seeing my apparent look of sudden enlightenment, seemed to think I was a prodigal son turning over a new leaf, and casually said, “Before Harris takes you away, stay here in Riverdale Village and train hard! Strive to become a true man.”

Chapter 11: Blade Warrior

In the blink of an eye, I had stayed in Riverdale Village for nearly ten days, and during this time, I hadn’t seen Grace Walker at all.

Living in the village chief’s house, I truly witnessed what it meant to be mighty. This old man could casually eat twenty pounds of meat in one meal, and the wheel-sized axe in his hand was said to have been used to single-handedly defeat six of the fiercest wild bear-men in the Sea of Immortality, achieving a complete victory.

The village chief had an enthusiasm for education that I could hardly imagine. On my second day living in his house, he began personally instructing me, taking on the glorious role of a military training instructor.

These ten days were a living hell for me, but hard work always pays off. I gradually discovered some secrets about my own body. With the wisdom of someone from a level-four civilization, I certainly couldn’t understand what kind of research the creators of the level-twenty-five civilization, the Mother Queen, had done on me, but I could feel the changes in my body.