High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 798: Chapter 146 The World of the Mouse Clan

A common saying captures it well: height determines your horizon, and your level determines the scenery within that horizon.

This saying fits perfectly in the Wizard World.

Just like at First University, standing at different heights results in vastly different vistas. For example, from the perspective of a Big Wizard, one sees the brilliant, boundless starry sky above, while a Trickster gazing from their position can only spot whether fierce beasts are roaming the edges of the Silent Forest a hundred meters away. Likewise, standing on the surface, one can look up to see the sun and the moon, down to a soft lawn, in the distance the Silent Forest, and nearby the bustling marketplace; whereas below the surface, one can only encounter a dark and gloomy world.

This dark and gloomy world is built amidst a maze of crisscrossing sewers and secret caverns eroded by Earth Dragons. And the masters of this world belong to a group of clothed mice.

Of course, these mice were not the original masters of this dark world—before them, it belonged to certain slimy reptiles, eight-legged insects, mutated goblins, and some filthy undead. But since the arrival of the first clothed mouse sixty years ago, all those once-dominant species have one by one gone quiet, to be replaced by an ever-increasing number of clothed mice between the sewers and caverns.

These clothed mice are unlike the emaciated, patchy-furred creatures that used to scrounge for a living in the sewers. They possess a self-contained civilization and social organization. They’ve established schools in this dark world, organized marketplaces, set up handicraft industries, created a financial system, and repaired broken pipes and severely weathered caverns—if you ignore the appearance of these mice and the darkness of this world, it isn’t significantly different from the human society above or other civilizations in outer space. At most, it is just slightly behind in terms of civilization.

Compared to these mice, the civilization of the original inhabitants of the Underground World is clearly more primitive: the reptiles prefer solitude and don’t enjoy talking; eight-legged insects are too savage to be liked; the mutated goblins, although organized and able to communicate, have such a greedy nature that they can destroy any economic system; as for the undead, they have no interest in the societies of the living, caring more about when they can capture a few stray creatures and draw some vitality to relish.

As the saying goes, to lag behind is to be beaten, and this is an unshakeable truth of nature.

The clothed mice, with their powerful organizational ability and advanced social structures, quickly swept through the entire Underground World with an overwhelming force. Reptiles either fled or became pets of the clothed mice; the eight-legged insects, found delicious by the mice due to their thin skins and juicy innards, were domesticated and turned into snacks;

the undead were eradicated; only some strong, mutated goblins remained, becoming the preferred labor force for the clothed mice. They were sent to the deepest layers of the Underground World to mine for the mice and repair sewers, cleaning the filth that dripped down from above.

Such miserable circumstances have led many of the original inhabitants of the Underground World to long for the Wizards above to come and deal with these lawless mice, even if it means perishing alongside them. As the saying goes, ’when the days of disaster come, I will perish with you.’”

As the true masters of Buji Island, First University naturally could not turn a blind eye to the nascent society developing right under its feet. From the very inception of the first night school for mice, First University had dispatched an observation group composed of professors and researchers to take residence in the Underground World, to observe every move of this emerging society.

However, contrary to the expectations of the Underground World’s original inhabitants, after a period of observation and research, those ”surface dwellers” only slightly adjusted the protective array of the school, redrawing many Guardian formations, then ignored this dusky world as if they had never discovered anything unusual— and the inhabitants of this dusky world didn’t even become a keyword in the wizards’ observation reports.

Thus, the clothed mice truly became the new masters of this world. And in the official documents exchanged with First University, they were given a formal name—the Mouse Clan.

Compared to the mature societal structure of humans on the surface, the social structure of the Mouse Clan was still very rough and primitive. Their society exhibited a rigid Pyramid shape: at the very top of the entire race, was the first mouse that came to the Underground World, whom the entire Mouse Clan called ”Elderly Ancestor”; below this Elderly Ancestor were the first batch of clothed mice he had cultivated—these mice were now mostly in their sixties or seventies, which theoretically should have exceeded the life expectancy of the average Mouse Clan member, yet for some reason, they were still alive—these mice, around twenty or thirty in number, were referred to as ”Elders” by the Mouse Clan.

Below the Elders were successive generations of new, clothed mice. These newer generations, according to differences in age, work, and status, wore vests of different colors. For instance, young mice under the age of one were only allowed to wear yellow vests and not permitted to leave the Underground World; their jobs were mostly light tasks like taking care of insects and attending school on time; slightly older mice could don green vests and go on external duties—this was the job most mice aspired to.

Because going on external duty meant that they could leave this dusky world and head to that place where, reportedly, one could see the red sun and the yellow moon, as well as the starry sky.

However, to wear a green vest, these mice had to participate in a knowledge test once a month, covering subjects like language, mathematics, surface world commonsense, and hole-making skills. Only those in green vests who achieved an average grade of ”Good” or above were allowed to work in the surface world.

After returning from their duties, these green-vested mice were required to complete their own work reports, submitting them in a one-on-one presentation to the Mouse Clan Elders. If the content of certain reports exceeded expectations, they even had the privilege of meeting with the Elderly Ancestor, who long abstained from worldly affairs.

Such was the case with Ding Dang and Dangdang, two mice in green vests.

One had encountered a black cat that could speak human language, while the other had not only encountered a talking black cat but had also made a deal with it. This matter went beyond the jurisdiction of the Mouse Clan Elders.

And now, these two green-vested mice waited outside the Elders’ office, awaiting some available Mouse Clan Elder to escort them to that sacred place, to behold their Elderly Ancestor.