I Built a Divine Zoo in Another World

He thought about his parents in this life, Clavor and Aurora, his family. He imagined them living in that era, suffering, struggling to survive. It was an image that hurt.

He took a deep breath, forcing himself to continue. The history was there, waiting to be read. He could not ignore it.

”When all hope seemed lost, when humanity stood on the brink of extinction, five extraordinary humans emerged.”

Beneath the sentence were five ancient illustrations. The drawings were simple, made only with black ink on yellowed paper, yet each figure conveyed an astonishing presence that transcended the simplicity of the strokes.

”Lagon, the Visionary. It was said that he could see the future, that his prophecies guided the revolution. His eyes were described as stars, capable of seeing through time and space.”

”Rubro, the Berserker. His strength was legendary, his fury unmatched. It was said that he alone could defeat entire armies, that his rage burned as fiercely as fire.”

”Astin, the Prophet. He spoke with spirits, with the ancient gods, with the forces of nature. His words inspired, his visions guided. He was the voice of the revolution.”

”Larium, the Hunter. He tracked enemies wherever they hid, knowing the forests and mountains better than the very creatures that inhabited them. His precision was absolute.”

”Thark, the Survivor. He had escaped slavery countless times, knowing the secrets of his oppressors better than anyone else. His endurance was legendary.”

Lukas carefully studied each illustration, trying to absorb every possible detail. Five people. Five humans who had changed the fate of their species.

”For different reasons, they united. Each of them had their own motivations, their own pain, and their own visions. But they all shared a single goal. To free humanity from slavery.”

”Together, they began an uprising. What started as a small rebellion in a distant mine spread like wildfire across the continent.”

”The uprising became a war. The humans, once considered weak and worthless, proved capable of fighting with a ferocity that astonished every other race.”

”The war became conquest. Battle after battle, humanity advanced, driving out its oppressors, freeing its brothers and sisters, and building a new world upon the ruins of the old one.”

”In just thirty years, the ancient races were defeated or driven out of Hyndor. Some fled to distant lands, others were annihilated, while still others submitted to human rule.”

”The Five Heroes ascended beyond human comprehension. Their powers, already extraordinary, grew to levels that bordered on the divine. They became semi-legendary figures, compared by many to demigods themselves.”

”At the end of the war, they proclaimed a new era. The continent was no longer called Kharadun, the name that bore the stigma of slavery. It became known as Hyndor.”

”’Hynd’ meant Human in the ancient language of the Free Peoples. ’Or’ meant Land or New Era. Thus was born the Land of Humans, a continent where humanity would become the master of its own destiny.”

Lukas remained motionless, his eyes fixed on the words before him. The impact of the story was overwhelming, a revelation that completely reshaped his understanding of the world.

It was hard to believe. Conquering an entire continent in only thirty years, defeating races that had existed for millennia, driving out entire empires—it all seemed impossible, too legendary to be true.

He knew Count Hark’s strength. He knew Clavor’s strength. He knew how extraordinary both of them were, capable of feats that most people would consider impossible. Even so, neither of them seemed even remotely close to someone capable of defeating entire empires.

”Just how powerful were they...?”

He murmured to himself, his voice barely more than a whisper in the silence of the library.

His imagination simply could not reach that level. He tried to picture it, tried to understand it, but the magnitude of those historical figures was beyond his comprehension. They were like living legends, like gods among men.

He continued turning the pages, his eyes scanning the text with renewed interest.

”After the war, the five heroes divided Hyndor into five enormous regions. Each became an Empire, ruled by one of the heroes or their direct descendants.”

”Each Empire remained under the direct descendants, or recognized successors, of one of the Primordial Heroes. The line of succession was established, dynasties were founded, and borders were drawn.”

”Three thousand years had passed since the Great Liberation. Even so, the five empires still existed. The dynasties had changed, the borders had been redrawn, but the fundamental structure remained.”

”They ruled nearly the entire Human Continent. The empires were the highest authority, the source of power that governed everything and everyone.”

”Beneath the empires existed dozens, no, hundreds, of kingdoms. Some were direct vassals, ruled by nobles who swore loyalty to the emperor. Others were allies who maintained their independence while recognizing imperial supremacy. Others possessed relative independence, governing themselves, yet all acknowledged imperial authority and paid tribute.”

Lukas slowly let his eyes travel across the enormous map that covered two full pages. The map was detailed, with different colors marking each region, the names of the continent’s major cities and rivers, and carefully drawn borders.

It was gigantic. Far larger than he had imagined. The scale was completely different from what he had expected, the distances vastly greater.

There was the Kingdom of Rhyne, almost lost on the map. Small. Just one among countless other kingdoms, a mere patch of color across an immense continent.

According to the book, it belonged to the region controlled by the Empire of Lagon. The very empire was founded by the first of the Five Heroes, the Visionary who had guided the revolution with his prophecies.

Lukas smiled faintly, feeling a strange sense of satisfaction upon discovering that. In a way, he lived in lands that had been liberated by that legendary hero. It was a connection to the past, an invisible thread linking the present to that distant age.

The rest of the book described each region only superficially. Its purpose was not to provide a detailed guide but rather an overview, a broad picture of the continent and its history.