Chapter 4

His Name 

Standing at the city gate, he rarely felt distracted, letting the stream of people flow past him into the city. He looked up at the enormous city in front of him, momentarily dazed. 

What he saw was beyond anything he had ever imagined. 

There were no walls surrounding the city. Instead, countless shimmering light screens rose from the ground, towering higher than any city walls he had ever seen. These light screens encircled the city’s buildings and residents like protective walls. 

Because of this, he immediately recognized the place as a city. 

He gazed cautiously at the glowing barriers, observing the scrolling text and images projected on them. 

The text was incomprehensible to him, but the images were not. Yet nothing in the images was familiar—until he saw something recognizable: 

The animal that had followed him the most—the small beast that was part cat, part leopard, and the first creature to attack him—appeared in one of the images. 

The next image showed the beast’s filthy pelt, its teeth, and, finally, those beautiful green stones.

He seemed to understand what the images were about. 

So, he kept staring at the display for a while. After seeing a few more beasts he had encountered—and the stones inside them—his gaze shifted to the city beyond the glowing screens. 

It looked like lights, but unlike any lights he had ever seen—every color imaginable: yellow, purple, red, pink… Lights of all kinds were scattered among the towering buildings inside. Now, seeing these intact structures, he finally understood what the tall, ruined buildings he had passed along the way must have once looked like. 

They were incredibly tall… His eyes followed the height of the tallest building in the city. 

And beautiful. 

Each floor of the tallest building was encircled by rings of yellow lights. Whatever material the structure was made from, it gleamed like a diamond in the distance. The slightly shorter buildings nearby were just as dazzling, sparkling like polished gems. 

It was overwhelming. 

Feeling slightly dizzy, he looked toward what he guessed was the city gate and began walking in that direction. 

Even though this was his first time encountering such a city, he could still figure out where the gate was: 

The place where people were entering and leaving would naturally be the city gate. 

After all, he had learned this lesson the hard way. The first time he entered a human city—by climbing over the wall—he was chased through the streets by every soldier in town, wielding every weapon imaginable. 

This place was no different. 

Except that the soldiers here looked a bit strange. 

They were women. 

He didn’t have any prejudice against women fighting. In fact, in his experience with dragons, female dragons were often stronger than males. But in human cities, soldiers were typically male. 

Maybe women found the role too boring or the armor too ugly to bother with—that was his personal guess. 

The armor here was also unlike anything he had seen before. 

It was completely black, soft and form-fitting, covering the soldiers from head to toe. It didn’t look like armor at all—except for a few straps across the chest, which gave it a vague resemblance to armor. 

His gaze lingered on the chest of one female soldier for a moment too long. 

The next second, she glared at him and shouted: 

“Hey, you over there! Keep your eyes where they belong!” 

He could roughly understand what she was saying. 

Dragons had a natural ability to comprehend languages, just as talented mages could instinctively wield magic. It wasn’t something he needed to learn—it was an instinctual understanding of meaning. However, this ability wasn’t perfect; some words could still escape his grasp. 

Fortunately, he understood most of what she said. 

After glancing at the female soldier who had spoken, he shifted his gaze to the chest of the man standing nearby. 

The male soldier was also wearing a similar leather-like “armor.” 

The female soldier: … 

But he didn’t stare for long. The male soldier finished his inspection and entered the city, and it was now his turn. 

The weapons these soldiers carried were odd as well. They weren’t anything he had seen before. Instead of traditional weapons, they used small, round, black devices. 

With each person entering the city, the soldiers scanned a black band on the left wrist, and the device emitted different colored lights. After a beeping sound, the person was allowed to enter. 

He noticed that not everyone had these black bands. Those without them were directed to a side door and taken to another room. 

There were no windows on that side, so he couldn’t see what was happening there, nor did he get the chance to find out. 

The body he had taken possession of did have a black band. 

When the soldier scanned his wrist, the device emitted a blue light. After the beep, the female soldier said: 

“485345, this thing’s called a ‘wrist guard.’ You can buy them at the gear shop, so stop staring at everyone else’s, or you’re going to get yourself punched.” 

She had noticed that he was looking at the wrist guard, not her chest. 

Then, the young man in front of her did something strange. He lifted his head and, for the first time, their eyes met. 

It was an ordinary young man’s face, with ordinary blue eyes. But the moment their gazes locked, she felt as though she were drowning in those eyes, as if they held an unfathomable depth. 

Her heart skipped a beat. 

And then she heard him say: 

“My name is Juan.” 

With that, he disappeared into the crowd, blending in with the other people entering the city. 

“What’s the matter? Did he charm you or something?” her partner teased after noticing her dazed expression. 

She coughed awkwardly, trying to regain her composure. “What are you talking about? Of course not.” 

“Next! Step forward!” she called, shifting her focus to the next person in line. 

As her partner busied herself with the inspections, the female soldier took the opportunity to collect her thoughts. 

It wasn’t love—it was fear. 

For a fleeting moment, when those eyes locked onto hers, she had felt an overwhelming sense of dread, as if she needed to run away immediately. 

It was… inexplicable. 

Shaking her head again, she decided that a warm meal would help her clear her thoughts.