Chapter 84 - Man, King of Ten Thousand Beasts!

The battle of attrition was underway.The Werewolf that the Mysterious Wizard had transformed into was pursuing Richard from behind, without using any Support Magic, yet merely its physical superiority allowed it to sustain bursts of speed far exceeding that of a normal human for long periods. Instead of catching up and attacking Richard directly, it seemed intent on wearing him down in this manner, aiming to exhaust Richard to death, miring him in despair before killing him.

Richard kept running ahead, just running, his body enveloped in multiple layers of “Wind Light Spirit,” enabling him to perform movements that defied common sense, crossing barriers like a nimble spirit, managing to put a little more distance between himself and the Werewolf each time.

After maintaining this frantic pace for a while, Richard started to take deep breaths, sweat pouring out, but his speed did not change.

At this point, Richard harbored little fear in his heart; barring any unforeseen events, he felt confident in sustaining his pace indefinitely. If the Mysterious Wizard dared not revert to human form, Richard was convinced that the Werewolf would collapse before him in this endurance battle, perhaps even dropping dead from exhaustion.

The reason was simple… humans are the best long-distance runners on Earth.

Short toes, elongated legs, elastic tendons, well-developed gluteus muscles, a lithe and supple frame, the ability to twist at the waist, arms swinging to offset the center of gravity with each stride, sturdy neck ligaments to stabilize the head during a run, and a high body fat content to provide a continuous energy supply—all of these combined to form the strongest, most endurance-suited body structure.

Moreover, cooling and breathing, as two golden advantages, make humans superior in endurance to any other creature on Earth, humans included!

Firstly, cooling. Cooling is the primary barrier to long-distance running and it includes both body and brain cooling.

In terms of body cooling, humans can sweat at 500 grams per square meter per hour, doubling the rate of a camel and quintupling that of a horse, aided by well-developed sweat glands that rapidly lower body temperature;

For brain cooling, the human cranial venous system is advanced, with numerous tiny holes in the skull allowing blood to flow out of the brain and under the skin, cooling the brain swiftly.

Other animals, when it comes to body cooling, mostly have sweat glands incomparable to those of humans; they do not rely primarily on sweating to dissipate heat, resulting in slow temperature reduction. For example, dogs pant and stick out their tongues (relying on terminal respiration, sweat glands inside the mouth), cats lick their paws (sweat glands are on the paws), monkeys shake their tails (tails have veins), elephants and rabbits flap their ears (ears have rich capillary networks).

Such methods of cooling are insufficient for sustaining high-speed activity over long periods. On modern-day Earth, people have placed cheetahs on treadmills and found that although the treadmill’s speed was nowhere near their top speed of 110 km/h, their body temperature soared, and once it reached 40 degrees Celsius, cheetahs refused to move at all.

As for brain cooling, the cranial venous systems in other animals resemble that of humans, also going into the spine and then to the lungs. But without the skull’s tiny holes, their brains cool much slower. Once they begin to run at high speed, they cannot dispel heat in time and must slow down, lest they suffer brain death. For instance, if a horse ran at a constant speed without stopping, it could die, and overheating of the brain is a very likely cause.

Secondly, breathing. Without breathing, there is no life; naturally, there is no running. And breathing typically involves two aspects: frequency and depth.

Human advantages lie in the ability to consciously strengthen and deepen breathing when high-speed activity increases the demand for oxygen and, when necessary, to open the mouth and use it for taking in oxygen.

The disadvantage for other animals is that they breathe passively; the rhythm and depth of their breathing rely solely on the movement of their limbs, which drive the expansion and contraction of their chest cavity; they cannot breathe through their mouths, only their noses. And the larger the animal and the longer its nasal cavity, the lower the efficiency. When running, they cannot meet the oxygen supply demand, so they must slow down to reduce oxygen consumption, or they risk death. For example, a horse that died while fleeing at high speed likely succumbed to blood oxygen deficiency, which led to a combination of poisoning and stroke.

There is no question that humans are the best at long-distance running in the world.

In terms of simple combat strength, humans are no match for fierce animals such as leopards, wolves, tigers, and lions, nor can they outpace wild horses, antelopes, or boars when it comes to short bursts of speed. However, in the hunting and gathering era, our human ancestors acted in groups, often dozens or even hundreds strong, hunting together. Each person holding a spear, shouting, chasing, forcing the wild beast to flee desperately in one direction.

And the wild beasts… stood no chance of escaping!

Heat dissipation and breathing cinched the “necks” of each wild beast like a death shackle. The leopard, no matter how swift, had to stop after a few minutes; wolves, lions, and tigers, no matter how powerful, had to collapse after a dozen minutes. Even the endurance-favored herbivores like antelopes and wild horses rarely managed to run continuously for over an hour.

When these beasts were pushed to run until they were starving and parched, until they stopped in place panting, resting, and trying to find food, human ancestors would track them down following their escape trails and droppings, armed with dried food and weapons. They might have pursued for several hours, perhaps the whole day, but the outcome was decided from the start, predetermined by the creator at the moment of creation.

Human ancestors rose to prominence this way! Their success was not only due to their wisdom in crafting weapons and cooperation but also owed to their robust bodies and a bestial nature surpassing all creatures!

In ancient times, humans truly were the unchallenged King of Ten Thousand Beasts!

King of beasts, fierce animals, ruled the forest!

King of Ten Thousand Beasts, humans, hunted everything!

The fact that people often feel incapable of achieving this, causing them to doubt, is entirely due to their environment, so-called wisdom, and the constraints of their willpower. It’s like a house cat raised in a room that gets startled by a mouse, even though genetically and physiologically, there’s no difference between it and a country cat that hunts mice.

In some sense, many people are like pets raised by society’s advanced survival mode. If they dared to step out of this mode, they could reclaim their lost instincts and possess unbelievable abilities.

On modern Earth, many are undertaking such challenges, best evidenced by numerous extreme records:

The full marathon of 42.195 kilometers, male record 2 hours 2 minutes 57 seconds, female record 2 hours 15 minutes 25 seconds;

The 100 kilometers ultramarathon, male record 6 hours 13 minutes 33 seconds, female record 6 hours 33 minutes 11 seconds;

The 100 miles (160 kilometers) ultramarathon, record 11 hours 40 minutes 55 seconds;

The 135 miles (217 kilometers) Badwater Ultramarathon in California’s Death Valley, United States, record 25 hours 41 minutes 18 seconds;

The 246 kilometers Spartathlon, male record 26 hours 28 minutes 19 seconds, female record 27 hours 2 minutes 17 seconds;

The 875 kilometers Sydney to Melbourne ultramarathon, record 5 days 15 hours 4 minutes;

For Richard, becoming a werewolf as a Mysterious Wizard didn’t confer the advantages of a wolf, but rather its disadvantages. The more he transformed into a wolf, the greater the disadvantages he received.

Whereas he, as a human, had consciously trained his body for over a decade before arriving in this world, without having received any magical abilities. Certainly, due to limited conditions, he could not reach the peak of human physical state. Even after beginning to research magic, his training slacked, but the foundational strength was there. He was confident he could outlast the werewolf transformed by the Mysterious Wizard.

Of course, this was under the assumption that the opponent would be foolish enough to keep running like this, without making any changes.

Would the opponent do that?

Richard watched as he leaped over a rock in the forest and looked back.