After a few minutes, the residential buildings in front of them ended and a big space opened right after that. In front of them was a large green area with many trees and walkways.

Jacob looked left and right. He could see the boundary of this green area but still, according to his perspective, it was still very large.

"Father, what is this place?" This was the first time Jacob was seeing such a green area in the middle of a city.

"It is a park, the City Park to be exact. It is the largest park in this city so it has a name. There are many other similar parks in the city. But they are all very small as compared to it."

"What is its purpose?"

"A park is a piece of open land for recreational use in an urban area. People use to come here for recreation and rest from their daily busy lives. It is very soothing to the soul. Come on. Follow me." The elder replied while motioning him to follow him.

Jacob followed him and entered the park. He found it very beautiful. There were a lot of flower beds along the walkway. There were also a lot of artificial ponds with small bridges over them.

Fishes could be seen jumping around in them. There were also signs near them saying that fishing was not allowed.

The environment here was really comfortable and soothing to his nerves. It was as if he had come back to the forest. That place was a true place to take refuge from the busy and hasty life of the city.

He could see many people there, sitting on the benches or the grass, relaxing or talking to each other. Along the way, he could also see many stalls, selling a variety of things to the people including food, drinks etc. Jacob also bought a juice to drink.

They wandered in the park for about half an hour. After that, the elder took Jacob away to their second destination. It was a zoo. The entrance fee was not that much, just a few bronze coins per head.

There was a large variety of animals in the zoo. Jacob had seen many types of animals in the forest but he was still impressed by the variety of wild animals in the zoo. Many of them could not be found locally.

According to his father, they were imported from foreign countries. The one which impressed him the most was a mixture of a tiger and a wolf. It was a very strange animal. According to the plaque outside its cage, it was called a Rhek, a rare variant subspecies of the tiger species.

After that, they moved toward their next destination. For Jacob, the tour was going very well. He was enjoying it very much. He was also happy. He did not ask his father about their destination this time.

He just knew that they were moving towards the centre of the city. He knew that the next place they would visit would also be very exciting.

After they took a random turn, Jacob immediately stopped and became dumbfounded. He could see a tall wall at some distance in front of him. Right now, he was standing on a wide straight street.

There was no building in front of him to obstruct his view this time. So, he could clearly see a wall in front of him. What is a wall doing in the middle of the city? These were his thoughts as he contemplated the presence of a wall in the middle of the city.

"Father, what is a wall doing right in the middle of the city?" Jacob raised his hand, pointed towards the wall in front of him and asked his father standing right beside him. His father had also stopped when he stopped previously.

"Oh that. It is the first wall of the city. It is also called the inner wall." The elder replied while looking at his son. Jacob's expression remained that of not understanding anything so his father continued,

"The cities of this world are built in a ringed pattern. This is in order to defend from the beast attacks. When the population of a town reaches a certain threshold, it is upgraded into a new city. A wall is built surrounding the town along with some unoccupied areas around it. New towns are always formed around a castle, most of the time."

The elder paused after that. He waited for his son to digest the information. After a few seconds, he continued,

"When all the area that is being surrounded by the wall is occupied by people's houses and other types of buildings, the people start building things outside of the wall. When the occupied area outside of the wall reaches a certain threshold, another wall is built that will surround the entire city again.

That wall will be called the second wall. Similarly, the wall that was built first will be called the first wall or inner wall. This is the ringed pattern under which cities are built."

Jacob digested his father's words and showed an expression of understanding. He now knew what a wall was doing in the middle of the city.

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"But father, why don't people demolish the inner wall? Isn't it occupying precious space?"

"The walls act as the line of defence. If the outer wall falls, the inner wall will act as the second line of defence.

Another thing, the inner walls will always be much sturdier and taller than the outer walls most of the time. The reason for this is that the people living in the city will keep strengthening their inner defences as the city expands outside. Understand?"

"Yes, father. I understand." Jacob replied with a serious expression.

"Very well, follow me then." The elder said and started walking towards the wall.

Jacob started following his lead. They soon reached the wall. Jacob saw that the wall was indeed much taller and thicker than the outer wall. The wall surrounding the Worlen could not even be compared to it.

This time, the number of guards standing at the entrance was lesser than that of the outer wall's entrance. They passed through the entrance easily. Nobody stopped them this time.

Jacob noticed that there was some difference between the inner city and the outer city. For example, the buildings here were much higher quality and majestic than the ones outside. It showed the richness of the residents living in the inner part of the city.

Similarly, the articles being sold in the shops also far surpassed the ones being sold in the outer markets. Jacob realized that by seeing the showcased items of the various shops he came across.

All of them were priced heavily without any exception. And according to his father, they were just the basic merchandise of the shops. The main items were inside on higher floors. Jacob could also see some shops which specialized in cultivator items only.

Soon, they arrived in front of a large building. It had a wide entrance. The plaque over the wide entrance showed that it was also a zoo. But it was different from the zoo they visited previously.

It was different in this way that it did not hold wild animals in it but beasts. The building was presenting a picture of gloom as if it held horrible things. The tickets were also expensive. They had to pay one silver coin each to enter it. The people belonging to that zoo were also wearing specialized zoo uniforms.

The insides of the beast zoo were also different from the previous zoo they visited. They entered a small hall. In front of them was a reception and located at its sides were two doors, one on their right and another on their left. There were also signs near them.

The right one was the entrance and the left one was an exit. The exit door was flanked by two guards as if to prevent people from entering.

Hmm? Why does it matter whether we enter from left or right? It is not as if there is a crowd here or something like that. Silly rules. Jacob thought inwardly as he pondered about the presence of such a strange rule.

They entered the right door and stepped into a small hallway. There were various doors along the way that led to many rooms.

There were also small plaques on the walls near the doors. The plaques were only describing species of the beasts along with their cultivation stages.

"Pocked Two horned Rhinoceros

Second Stage First Level"

This was what the plaque of the first door that Jacob saw wrote. It was a simple introduction but it included almost all the basic information about the beast inside of the room. They soon entered it.

What welcomed them was a few people standing at some distance from a large cage. The cage was far larger than any Jacob had seen before. There was a large ugly rhinoceros-like beast in the cage. It was producing some strange growling sounds from its throat.

As soon as Jacob entered the room, he stood rooted on the spot and his face turned white. He faintly felt that there was some kind of pressure in the room and it became slightly difficult to breathe.

Moreover, when he looked over at the beast, he felt a slight instinctive fear. The beast was exuding an aura of bloodthirstiness.

Soon, he felt a hand on his shoulders and looked back. It was his father. Seeing him, all his fear disappeared. He could also breathe normally. His father nudged him to move forward and he did so. They both came to stand with the small crowd of people.

The people there had nervous expressions. They were normal people and none of them was a cultivator. A young man was standing in front of them in a zoo uniform.

He had a confident expression on his face unlike other people and had a slight smile on his face. Seeing new people coming into the room, he motioned towards the cage and started talking.

"This is a rhinoceros-type beast. It has the characteristics of a rhinoceros but that is not its only aspect. It also has the features of a pocked toad. As you can see, there are pocks on its entire body."

Jacob looked toward the beast in the cage. It really had ugly pocks. Some were bulging and some were lax. Now that he looked at the beast closely, he realized that it was a bit larger than the normal rhinoceros he had seen in the previous zoo. It also had two horns on its head. It had blood-read eyes.

"The pocks contain a non-toxic fluid. But it does not mean that the fluid is not dangerous. It is very dangerous. If you come into contact with it for even one second, you will get sick and then die in a couple of days. Its treatment is very difficult and expensive."

Jacob could see yellowish spots near the feet of the beast. He thought that it must be due to the fluid that came out of the bursting pocks.

"Its strength equivalent is a stage two cultivator. It means that only a stage two cultivator can confront it and retreat if needed. Moreover, it is smarter than it looks. It took three stage three cultivators to capture it alive. It was terrorising a village nearby. It will be sent to the coliseum later when a new stage two is captured. The last one we had...."

Roar

Bang

The beast roared and interrupted the young man. It then ran forward and its head collided with the cage shortly after with a loud bang. The big cage started trembling violently.

Almost all of the people present there flinched back at this, including Jacob. The only people standing unfazed were the young man and the elder.

The young man looked toward the elder with a praising expression and said,

"Don't worry. The cage is very sturdy. This beast will never be able to break out of it. Its irritation is also normal. It is always irritated in front of people. So, calm down."

The young man tried to assure the scared audience with his words. Jacob also became relaxed after hearing it. The cage is very sturdy. What am I scared of. Jacob thought inwardly as he tried to soothe his rapidly beating heart.

After observing the beast for a few minutes, Jacob along with his father got out of the room and went to the next room. It was a green spotted leopard this time.

Its size was not much different than normal leopards but its muscles were much more developed and stronger than their normal counterpart. It was not that irritated due to the presence of people in front of it and eyed them coldly with the eyes of a hunter. It was a stage three beast.

They also visited other rooms along the hallway. The cultivation of the beasts increased the deeper they went in the hallway. Jacob never felt any kind of pressure or fear since the first room.

He knew that it was due to his father. He did not know how his father did that. And he would never ask. Because he knew that all he would get would be silence in return. He attributed this to one of his father's peculiarities.

The stage nine beast had a great visual impact on Jacob. It did not belong to any known species. It was like a mixture of species. It had the head of a lion and the legs of a crocodile. Moreover, it had no tail.

Jacob also found that this room contained the greatest audience compared to the rooms they had visited previously.

After that room, the hallway turned to the left. As soon as they turned left, they were blocked by the guards.

"The rooms further are for cultivators only. If any of you are, then please proceed. If not, then kindly turn back." One of the guards told them when they came to stop in front of them.

Jacob and his father looked at each other and turned back. They traced their way back to the door from which they had entered previously and exited.

"Father. Why did they stop us from going further?" Jacob asked as they traced their way back.

"The rooms further are bigger and they contain second-level beasts. Normal people cannot stand in their presence comfortably. Only cultivators can." The elder replied without looking at him.

"Oh." Jacob showed an understanding expression. He now knew the reason behind the presence of the signs next to the doors.

He realized that that rule was present in order to stop people from stepping into the wrong room. Hence, it was for the safety of those people coming to visit this beast zoo. But he still felt a sense of loss at that.