Ch. 101..110

Chapter 101 Astor's Power

Shang was a bit surprised that he had to fight someone as powerful as Astor right at the beginning.

Did teacher Loran want to punish Shang for annoying him?

Teacher Loran noticed Shang's expression and snorted. "Don't think of yourself as too important," he scoffed. "You are the only person that I haven't seen fight yet, and I need to see your fighting style first."

"And that's why you're sending me against the strongest of the grade?" Shang asked with a frown.

"Blame your body," teacher Loran said. "You have an unfair advantage over everyone else."

Shang didn't like hearing that he had an unfair advantage, but it was the truth. It was already a shame that he was the only student in a lower grade than they were supposed to be.

"This is your first lesson in the academy, right?" Astor asked from the side as he slowly readied his huge sword.

When Shang saw Astor look at him with his readied sword, he felt his heart shake.

Powerful!

Astor felt so very powerful!

Astor was on a lower level than Shang, and Shang's body was nearly twice as strong as Astor's. Yet, Astor still felt so incredibly powerful to Shang.

Shang knew that he wouldn't win.

Shing!

Shang took out his sword and readied it. He knew that he couldn't win, but he would still give his all. This was not a fight for survival but a learning opportunity!

"As always," teacher Loran said, "whenever you draw your weapons, you must feel genuine killing intent. This is not an exception!"

Then, teacher Loran looked at Shang. "Under my supervision, none of you two will die. At my level, I can walk back and forth between you two over ten times before you can even finish half a swing. If you actually manage to kill your sparring partner, I will dedicate my life to being your servant. That's how confident I am."

The other students didn't react to teacher Loran's words. They all already knew of the power of a Commander Stage warrior.

Even the weakest Commander Stage warriors could reach 200kph in a single step, and that wasn't even their top speed. Additionally, even though they were warriors, their minds had still been infused with a lot of Mana just by having such a Mana-rich body around them.

Even a Commander Stage warrior with a warrior's body had, at least, a level two mind, which would technically allow them to become Adepts, as long as they knew how to properly cast spells.

That meant that their reaction times and thinking speeds were unimaginable for some mere Soldier Stage warriors.

Even if Shang were to use the sneakiest and fastest attack available, if teacher Loran didn't want it to hit, it wouldn't hit.

Shang nodded. He didn't exactly know how powerful Commander Stage warriors were, but since teacher Loran assured him that much, he believed him. Teacher Loran didn't seem to be the lying kind.

Shang readied himself and watched Astor carefully.

Astor slowly lifted his sword. As he did, the ground beneath him began to crack for some reason. It was almost like Astor had suddenly become far heavier.

Astor's body rotated until the sword was behind him.

For a moment, the world seemed to freeze.

Shang was preparing himself. If he were fighting for his survival, he would have struck first. However, Shang wanted to learn. If his opponent didn't take this fight seriously and Shang did, Shang could theoretically win. As long as an opponent was caught unprepared, even someone very weak could take them down.

Because of that, Shang let Astor prepare himself.

Astor was over ten meters away, but for some reason, Shang's instincts screamed at him. On top of that, Astor's pressure built more and more.

And then, Astor stopped.

In that instant, Shang felt his instincts scream at him! They were shouting that he would die if he didn't evade right this instant!

So, Shang did as his instincts told him.

BANG!

A small explosion of dirt appeared beneath Astor. All his power was put into his sword, and he swung forward.

And then, when the sword reached sufficient speed, he stopped adding more power to the swing, which resulted in Astor's sword flying forward.

However, Astor didn't let go.

All the power that Astor had pushed into the slash outweighed his body's weight by far too much. On top of that, his sword was ridiculously heavy.

This all culminated in Astor being carried forward by his heavy sword.

Obviously, on Earth, such a maneuver was impossible. After all, a human just couldn't put in that much power. However, if someone took up an incredibly heavy hammer and swung it with all their power forward, they would still need to take a couple of steps forward while trying to stop it.

That was the same principle but pushed to the extreme.

And it had incredible effects.

Astor had moved with astonishing speeds for his level.

If Shang hadn't evaded early, thanks to his instincts, he wouldn't have had the time to react to Astor's attack properly.

Astor was one level below Shang, but with that swing, Astor had reached a speed that surpassed Shang's top speed.

Astor used an incredibly heavy and hefty sword, and speed should be his weakness. He had traded speed for immense destructive potential and a potential shield, which could be used by simply turning the sword sideways.

But with that move, Astor had managed to completely get rid of his weakness.

Now, Astor had his two strengths without the weakness.

And his offensive power was… scary.

Shang had barely evaded and quickly readied his counterattack.

Yet, Astor had also stopped right beside Shang. It was almost like he had used Magic.

But wait, how could Astor suddenly stop? Where did all the power of the swing go?

Into another swing.

Astor's sword didn't stop. It simply changed direction.

Shang had readied a counterattack, but Astor's sword was already slashing at him.

Shang knew that he could hit Astor, but he would have to exchange hits with him.

Usually, Shang had no issues with trading hits. After all, he was very good at dealing with injuries, and he had a lot of regenerative abilities.

But this time, it was different.

If Shang got hit, all his regenerative abilities wouldn't matter.

That attack had so much power behind it that Shang would most likely explode, and if he didn't, he would lose everything below his chest at the very least.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Shang wasn't confident in taking Astor's head during that time, which was essentially the only way he had to kill him.

So, in short, this meant that Shang would most definitely die while Astor would maybe die.

That was not a good trade.

However, it also was too late for Shang to evade.

Because of that, he could only block the swing with his sword. At worst, he would get some broken arms, which would heal rather quickly.

For a moment, Shang considered using his Affinity. With a powerful blast of wind, Shang could push himself out of harm's way.

However, Shang put the secrecy of his Affinity above victory in a spar.

So, Shang readied his block.

And then…

WOOOSH!

A strong wind blew Shang's hair back, but the attack never arrived.

Teacher Loran also hadn't done anything.

It was Astor who had stopped.

For a split second, Shang wanted to attack since his instincts told him that his opponent had lost all momentum, but a second later, his rational mind took over.

Astor slowly pulled his sword back. "Teacher Loran will protect our lives, but not our weapons," Astor said.

Shang looked at his sword, and at that moment, Shang felt his sword's feelings.

It was deep terror.

It was like the sword had just faced death.

Shang gritted his teeth. In his need to come up with a solution in basically no time at all, Shang had overlooked the fact that his sword wasn't invincible. Yes, it had never been broken before, but the Frozen Lake Stag had put a scratch in it.

Was Astor's attack stronger or weaker than the attack of the Frozen Lake Stag?

It wasn't even a question.

"I win eight out of ten fights because I manage to destroy my opponent's weapon," Astor slowly explained. "My fighting style revolves all around the weight of my weapon. It needs to be so heavy that I can barely swing it by using all of my power."

"Materials of the First Rank can't achieve such heaviness. Because of that, a vast majority of my wealth gets invested into my weapon, and it is currently comprised of materials equivalent to the Middle General Stage."

"With its sheer weight and hardness, it can even destroy materials equivalent to the Early General Stage in one swing."

"I know a lot about weapons, and I can tell that your weapon wouldn't have even proved a hindrance. My sword would have cleaved through it and your body if teacher Loran weren't here," Astor slowly explained.

Then, Astor walked back to the same location he had started from earlier and readied his weapon again.

"This one doesn't count. This time, try to take the fight actually serious and attack me before I can get all my momentum going," he said as he pointed his sword at Shang from a distance.

Shang took a deep breath.

He had made a mistake.

He had nearly lost his weapon.

In the future, he had to be more careful with the durability of his sword.

Shang closed his eyes for a moment and readied himself mentally.

"Thank you, and sorry," Shang said as he readied his sword again. "This time, I won't let you build your momentum."

Astor nodded.

And then, he readied his swing again.

Chapter 102 Experience

BANG!

Shang exploded forward with his sword.

This time, he would be on the offensive!

He hadn't done that before since he had come here to learn. Yet, in his eagerness to learn from his opponent's attacks, he had learned nearly nothing since the fight had ended in basically one swing. The power of the first swing had been used in the second swing, which could technically make it count as the first swing.

'I have to get rid of the mindset that I need to go easy on Astor to learn from him,' he thought.

Astor had barely finished half of his wind-up when Shang arrived with his sword. Shang had the speed advantage due to his more powerful body as long as Astor couldn't build his momentum.

At the moment, Astor's sword was far behind him, and he lacked the speed to block Shang's attack. Additionally, since Shang had the speed advantage, Astor wouldn't be able to easily evade, and if he did, the evasion would be sloppy and would mess with his balance.

Because of all of these reasons, Shang didn't slash but stabbed forward. That would reach his opponent the fastest.

Shang had no idea how Astor could escape.

If he were in Astor's shoes, he also wouldn't find a method to get out of this one.

And then, Astor stopped.

A split-second later, Astor's left foot gathered nearly all the accumulated power of the swing and unleashed it in a stomp.

BANG!

The ground cracked as an incredible amount of power was pushed into it from one point.

Shang hadn't expected the ground to shake and crack in front of him, which meant that he wasn't able to react properly.

The ground shook, and Shang's sword barely missed Astor's torso.

However, even if it was barely, it still missed.

Shang's eyes widened as he realized the new dynamic in the fight.

Initially, Shang had caught Astor in an indefensible position. Shang had all the momentum, and Astor had nothing.

But now, Shang had completely lost his balance as his sword didn't hit anything, while Astor stood as firm and stable as a rock in front of him.

However, Shang still knew that he had the speed and power advantage thanks to his body, and he would make full use of it. From his offset position, Shang quickly used all his power and made his extended sword swing towards Astor's torso.

The wind-up was tiny, and Shang couldn't put a lot of power into such an awkward swing, but his sword was sharp, and Shang had a more powerful body.

This should be enough to, at least, injure Astor. Additionally, Shang could use that swing to gain some space to rebalance.

As Shang's sword went towards Astor's torso, Astor's body lowered as he gathered power in his left foot.

And then, Shang's sword hit.

Clink!

Shang's eyes widened as his sword bounced off Astor's uniform!

He hadn't expected that!

BANG!

Astor finished gathering his power, and he shot forward with his shoulder, hitting Shang in the chest.

Shang had a more powerful body, but that charge had so much weight being it that he still got shot into the distance by several meters.

Shang lost his breath for an instant, and an incredible pressure built up in his chest. A normal warrior would be stunned for at least two seconds under such an attack.

However, Shang had dealt with such injuries many, many times.

CRRRK!

Shang's feet hit the ground and created a ditch as they stopped his momentum.

BANG!

Then, Shang shot forward before Astor could ready his strike.

For an instant, Astor's eyes showed a bit of surprise, but they quickly returned to their cold selves again.

Shang reached Astor again before he could build up his momentum.

This time, Astor canceled his swing early. The swing wasn't as insanely powerful as the first one in the last fight, but it still had a lot of weight behind it.

Shang noticed that Astor wasn't using a block. Astor was using a wide swing, which was mostly for attacking purposes.

However, the sheer size of his sword automatically transformed the aggressive attack into a secondary block. Shang couldn't possibly take Astor's heart or head before he got hit.

But Shang didn't stop.

He continued running.

And then, Astor's swing arrived.

CRRRR!

Shang suddenly slid on the ground. The swing would pass over him, and Shang would have an opportunity to take Astor's heart.

And Shang was right. The swing did pass over him.

However, it didn't directly pass over him, but quite a bit above him.

Astor had changed the trajectory of his swing to not be horizontal but diagonal in a curved line. It essentially traveled in a hyperbola.

Astor's sword was now right above his head, fully extended to the sky. Both of his arms bulged as an insane amount of power gathered in them.

Shang felt the pressure from above him, but instead of despairing, he saw a chance!

Shang was currently right in front of Astor's waist, and he could stab Astor's heart before Astor could reach him.

Shang would kill Astor before Astor could kill him.

Shang's sword shot forward as it stabbed right towards Astor's chest.

When Astor saw that, his eyes seemingly began to burn. It was like he was suddenly unleashing all the power inside his being as an incredible amount of rage and brutality exploded forward.

Shang's sword hit.

CRACK!

Shang's eyes widened.

'What?!'

Shang's sword had hit Astor's chest, but when it did, several Magic Runes appeared on the uniform, converging in some sort of barrier.

The barrier broke apart, and the uniform lost its luster. However, Shang's sword had been stopped.

What had just happened!?

And then, Shang felt it.

Pressure.

Incredible pressure.

It was like Shang was in front of a monster that wanted to do nothing but kill him.

The sword above Astor shot down with an insane amount of power and speed.

Shang was still half on the ground, and his attack had just been stopped.

He couldn't evade.

The sword came right for Shang's head, exploding with the storming sounds of wind being cut.

Clink!

"Alright, that should be it," teacher Loran said as he stopped Astor's sword with two fingers.

For a moment, Shang couldn't breathe.

In the first fight, Shang had believed he would survive by blocking, but in this fight, he had looked death in the eye.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ It was just like that time when that Pest Cat had jumped him when Shang hadn't had his weapon yet.

It was the image of death.

The entire fight replayed in Shang's head.

Shang had the advantage in power and speed.

Yet, why hadn't it felt that way?

Because of technique!

Astor was slower than Shang, but he had always managed to completely stop Shang's momentum in some way. On top of that, Astor had probably planned his moves in advance. After all, it was very, very difficult to change the trajectory of such a heavy sword on the fly.

In essence, Astor had beaten Shang with surprise, intelligence, and technique.

Astor pulled his sword back as he took a deep breath.

And then, he smiled!

"I didn't expect for you to wake the warrior inside of me," he said with a smile as he offered Shang a hand. "For a second there, I went all in."

Shang was still a bit shaken by the close encounter with death, but he accepted the hand absentmindedly.

He only had one question.

"What happened with my attack earlier? I thought I got you," he said in a bit of confusion.

"Your uniforms have an Enchantment that grants them the ability to block one Soldier Stage attack that would hit your heart," teacher Loran explained. "The remaining parts of the uniform also have defensive powers, but not nearly as strong as the ones guarding your heart."

That explained how Shang's attack had been blocked.

'I should have gone for his head,' Shang thought, but an instant later, Shang realized something.

Yes, both of Astor's arms had been above his head…

But his left upper arm had been between Shang and his head!

With the added mass between the head, the blockage of vision, and the small defense of the uniform, Shang's chances of injuring Astor's brain before Astor's attack hit him were tiny!

Even more, Astor had probably been prepared to move his left arm to the side if Shang's sword stabbed it. At that point, Astor would have already put basically all of his power into the swing.

'What could I have done to win?'

…

'The only way to win would have been to anticipate the earlier feint. As soon as I fell for the feint, the fight was already over.'

Shang took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

Then, they opened again, and fiery ambition could be seen in them.

'This is exactly what I need!'

'Experience!'

'This is exactly why I have come to this place!'

Chapter 103 Mattheo

"Alright, Astor," teacher Loran said. "Go two rounds with Mattheo."

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ On the side, a young man with long red hair sighed. He had two very heavy and hard gauntlets with spikes near the knuckles. Surprisingly, he was using knuckles as his weapons.

Astor looked at Mattheo and gestured to the side with his head. The two of them had fought many times before. Astor was the most powerful person in the Advanced Grade Caterpillar Class, and Mattheo was the second strongest. Because of that, it mostly fell on Mattheo's shoulders to fight with Astor.

"It would be really great if you could hurry up and become more powerful," Mattheo said to Shang while walking past him with a helpless and somewhat joking tone. "I don't want to spar with that guy every time I come here."

"I'll try my best," Shang said.

Mattheo only chuckled a bit. "You do know that I was only joking, right? You can take all the time you need."

Shang wasn't quite sure how to respond. On Earth, he would have simply given off a polite and small chuckle, but right now, he just didn't want to. It was like it was just too much work.

While Mattheo walked to Astor, Sarah frowned with frustration. She had worked so hard, and she was absolutely certain that she could fight evenly with Mattheo. Yes, she had lost every match so far, but all of their fights had been even most of the time.

As one of the very few women in the class, Sarah felt like she had to prove herself. Oftentimes, women weren't seen as talented warriors by men. After all, the sad truth was that it was harder for women to reach the different levels in the Soldier Stage.

The power one needed to reach each level was universal. It didn't matter if the warrior was huge or small, thin or thick. Sadly, that meant that smaller and weaker people needed to train more than bigger people.

It only became irrelevant as soon as the warrior reached the Peak Soldier Stage. At that point, gender and size didn't matter anymore. After all, everyone would have the same starting point.

Sarah trained so hard and put so much effort into her career, but she still hadn't been allowed to spar with Astor. Sarah was mostly put against the fourth or fifth strongest in the class, which she always decimated in a fight.

When Astor was on a mission, Sarah would get to spar with Mattheo. Those spars were very even, but she hadn't been able to win yet. Because of that, Sarah was certain that she could also act as a sparring partner to Astor.

"Sarah, you go fight with Shang," teacher Loran said. "I haven't been able to properly see his techniques yet since Astor won that quickly."

Sarah frowned as she glanced at Shang. She was already annoyed that Shang was in her grade with a superior body. After all, the body was literally the only criterium that decides which grade someone belonged to.

It was literally unfair. That wasn't even a subjective perspective but an objective one.

Of course, on top of that, Shang didn't even deserve to fight with the likes of Astor. After all, if Shang didn't have such a powerful body, he would be at the bottom of the class. His body was literally the only thing strong about him.

Shang wasn't oblivious to other people's feelings. He could very well imagine how many people in the class felt.

How did Shang feel?

Of course Shang felt a bit embarrassed. After all, he was essentially the equivalent of someone that had been held back a grade. They didn't manage to reach the grades necessary to advance, which meant that they had to repeat a year. That person would then sit in a room with people one year younger than them.

It was embarrassing. Such a situation gave off a feeling of inadequacy.

However, Shang wasn't too embarrassed. Yes, it was bad that he had the most powerful body out of all of them, but Shang also didn't forget that he was literally four years younger than all of them.

Shang had advanced far faster on his path to power than everyone else in the school. At 15, he managed to reach a level that normally only 20-year-olds could reach. On top of that, Shang had only been in this world for a bit more than six months.

Because of that, it was also unfair to say that Shang was too powerful for this grade. After all, Shang had only had six months of training. That amount of time basically counted as nothing.

Sadly, in this world, age didn't matter.

Everything revolved around power.

It didn't matter if Shang were 30 or six years old. As long as he was in the same Realm, everyone would look at him the same way.

BOOM!

Shang looked over and saw that Astor and Mattheo had already started fighting a couple of meters away, and very quickly, Shang's eyes widened.

Small explosions came out of Mattheo's feet and elbows, boosting his speed. This made Mattheo reach the same speeds as Shang, even though Mattheo had a far weaker body. That was already very impressive.

On top of that, Mattheo managed to unleash an absolute barrage on Astor. With the speed of his two fists and the explosions, he let Astor gain absolutely no momentum. He was essentially barraging him with a storm of attacks every single second.

He managed to be far more aggressive than Shang, and the pressure Astor was under was obviously also far higher than when he fought Shang.

Astor didn't even manage to unleash an attack yet. He simply didn't have any opportunity to.

As a watcher, Shang couldn't imagine how Astor could win that fight. He was essentially being suppressed into a passive state, only waiting for his defeat.

Yet, for some reason, Astor managed to always just barely parry or evade an attack. Sometimes, he would push his shoulder forward and receive Mattheo's fist, which he would skillfully divert to the side.

It was insane! The control one had to have to pull something like that off was nuts!

But even Astor couldn't parry such an avalanche of attacks for long. A couple of seconds later, he messed up a parry, and his shoulder got broken.

And that's when it happened.

Suddenly, water appeared beneath Astor's feet. It wasn't much water, and it definitely couldn't hurt anyone. It almost seemed senseless to summon that water.

Yet, just an instant later, the water below Astor's feet quickly pushed him half a meter to the side. It came very sudden and without warning. It didn't make any sound, and it basically just happened.

But the effect was devastating.

This sudden repositioning had caught Mattheo off-guard. Mattheo had just released an attack, and he was off-balance.

As Astor moved to the side, the power that had destroyed his shoulder got used by Astor. He allowed his shoulder to be shot back, and Astor rotated with the power. In essence, Astor was using his opponent's power to rotate.

And then Astor suddenly stopped.

All the power of his rotation had been pushed into his sword, and his sword swung towards Mattheo with insane speeds.

"Alright," teacher Loran said as he stopped Astor's sword.

Astor and Mattheo released a sigh.

"You've become better," Astor said with a praising smile.

Mattheo only smiled bitterly. "Thanks."

On the side, Shang's eyes were still wide.

Only now did he truly realize how far away he was from Astor.

Astor hadn't even used his Affinity against Shang. On top of that, Shang hadn't managed to put even nearly as much pressure on Astor as Mattheo.

Shang had thought that he wasn't too far away from Astor, but that was obviously not the case.

There were worlds between them.

Literally, the only reason how Shang had been able to fight him for a couple of exchanges was due to his body.

The difference in experience was massive.

"Watched enough?"

Shang looked over at Sarah, who had pulled out her hammer by now. "Teacher Loran can keep watch over up to three fights at once. I let you watch their fight so that you can truly see the distance between you and them."

"You are in our grade, and there's nothing I can do about it. Only you can do something about it."

Sarah raised her hammer. "Become powerful enough to no longer be a shame to us."

Chapter 104 Counter

In a way, Shang didn't like hearing that, but he also knew that she was right. At the moment, he was an embarrassment to the class. He had the highest level out of everyone, but he wasn't even close to being the strongest. There were at least two people in this class that could jump levels against him.

Losing to someone of a lower level was always a shameful affair. Sadly, Shang just hadn't had enough time to train.

But hey, that was why he was in the academy.

He specifically came to this academy because he knew that he wasn't experienced when it came to fighting against humans.

Teacher Loran called out the next two pairs, who began to fight pretty quickly. From what Shang saw, teacher Loran was going from strong to weak.

"I will start now. Don't disappoint me," Sarah said with a dark voice.

Shang narrowed his eyes and readied his weapon.

BANG!

And Shang shot forward. He had already learned that taking it easy against these people was a bad idea. They were all warriors, and they had a lot of experience.

Shang closed in on Sarah with incredible speed. However, instead of releasing a strike, he only held his sword in a flexible position. He was using the advantage of his speed by forcing Sarah to act first. With his superior speed, he could react very well against any of her attacks.

Sarah's expression didn't change. Her right hand pulled the huge hammer back, readying it for an attack.

However, her left hand was moving towards Shang and his sword.

Only now did Shang realize that Sarah was wearing gauntlets. Usually, the students only wore their uniforms and their weapons. They didn't wear additional armor. Yet, Sarah did just that.

Why?

For what purpose?

Shang quickly slashed at Sarah's hand. Since she had already offered her arm to him, he might as well accept.

However, just before Shang's sword cut Sarah's arm, Shang felt a feeling of fear and terror come from his sword.

The feeling was nearly as powerful as when Astor was about to hit it with his sword.

Shang very quickly realized what was happening.

Shang knew the nine Affinities, and he also knew that hair color was very often an indicator of one's Affinity.

Shang hadn't seen grey hair before, but he could imagine what Affinity it represented.

Metal.

If Shang could absorb Ice Mana with his left arm, could Sarah absorb Metal Mana with her left arm?

Then, if Shang's sword hit her hand…

Shang immediately pulled back his sword.

Sarah's eyes narrowed even further when she saw that Shang had pulled back his sword. She had thought that Shang had no experience in fighting with humans, but this action of his had proven otherwise.

Sadly, what Sarah didn't know was that Shang truly had no experience in fighting with humans. His ability to make the correct choice came from the voice of his sword and his honed instincts.

When Shang pulled back his sword, Sarah unleashed a strike with her huge hammer.

Shang felt an aura of destruction approach. It was almost like Sarah's hammer had some kind of additional power that he hadn't felt before. It didn't feel as dangerous as Astor's attack, but it had a unique feeling of danger to it. It simply felt different.

BANG!

Sarah's eyes widened.

Shang had just kicked the underside of her hammer!

The sound of cracking bone could be heard, but thanks to Shang's power, he managed to divert the hammer. Its trajectory changed, barely missing Shang's lowered head.

Then, Shang slashed towards Sarah's extended arm, the one holding the hammer. As long as he could get rid of that, he would win.

However, Shang had to stop his attack again. Sarah had managed to put her other hand in the way again, and Shang couldn't afford to lose his weapon.

When Sarah saw that Shang had stopped his attack, she followed the swing of her hammer and put more power into it, pulling it around again to attack Shang.

BANG!

Shang kicked the side of the hammer again, breaking more of his bones. Luckily, thanks to his warrior's body, he regenerated the injuries rather quickly.

However, bones needed a lot of Mana to regenerate, and Shang's Mana was close to being depleted. If he made that move again, he would have to fight with broken bones.

BANG!

Sarah's hammer landed on the ground beside Shang, shaking the earth.

At this moment, Shang's mind was going wild.

'Her left arm is still free. I can't attack her hammer since my sword keeps telling me that it will be destroyed as soon as it touches it. I can't attack her right arm because her left arm is threatening my sword. As long as her left arm is free, I can't attack her with my sword.'

'Her entire fighting style is about countering weapons. Her right arm unleashes devastating and long-reaching attacks. That makes it nearly impossible to evade the normal way. I have to use something to divert the force, which will slowly exhaust me.'

'At the same time, her left arm is a perfect defense, keeping all weapons away from her.'

And then, Shang got an idea.

Shang slashed towards Sarah's right arm again, and just as predicted, her left arm quickly extended towards Shang's sword.

And then, Shang flicked his sword to the side.

The eyes of the watching students widened in surprise. Shang was throwing his weapon away?

Astor, who had just finished his second fight, also looked with surprise at Shang.

Teacher Loran frowned.

Shang grabbed Sarah's left hand and pulled her forward with all of his power.

Sarah lost her balance, and Shang stepped to the side until he was behind her.

Then, Shang jumped up. He put his legs around her torso and his arms around her head from behind.

BANG!

At least, he wanted to. However, before he could, Shang felt a force push him to the side, throwing him several meters away.

Sarah's eyes remained open in surprise. She knew what would happen, but for some reason, Shang's attack never came.

After a bit of confusion, she turned around to see Shang on the ground a couple of meters away.

Right now, teacher Loran was standing behind her.

"Are you stupid?!" teacher Loran shouted with annoyance at Shang. "This is a lesson, not a competition! You are supposed to learn from each other, not do everything in your ability to win!"

"What's the point of winning when you don't learn anything?! You can do that stuff when you have to win no matter what, but you're here to learn!"

Shang only now managed to stand up, and a look of annoyance was on his face. "Well, what am I supposed to do? Her left arm destroys my weapon. Her weapon destroys my weapon. By forcing me to only use my sword, you are forcing me to fight with a handicap."

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ "That is a handicap of your own making," teacher Loran said with a snort. "Our weapons are just as important as our bodies and techniques. All of you have enough power to earn enough money to increase the power of your weapons. If you have a weak weapon, that's your own fault."

"Great, but I haven't had any time to upgrade my weapon yet!" Shang said with frustration. "How am I supposed to gain experience when I can't even use my weapon? All of my attacks and defenses are unusable since my weapon will be destroyed in one exchange!"

"So? You don't have to sacrifice your weapon," teacher Loran said. "This is about learning, not winning. If you have such a problem, use the fights to train your defensive capabilities. So what if you can't win? Being able to live longer under a barrage can be a viable way to win since the opponent might become exhausted before you, giving you an opening."

Shang gritted his teeth in frustration.

He definitely didn't like it, but there was some truth to teacher Loran's words. This fight was not about winning but about gaining experience.

What had Shang learned during that fight?

Not much.

How much had he learned during Astor's fight?

A lot!

"Teacher, I think you're treating Shang unjustly."

Teacher Loran frowned and turned to Sarah.

Sarah had been the one that had said that just now.

Shang looked over with a raised eyebrow.

"He might not have learned much, but I have," she said as she looked at the ground with furrowed brows. "I thought that my defense was perfect, but Shang has shown me a huge flaw. With all my experience, I should be the one to win. However, I didn't."

"That's because he counters my fighting style. My fighting style revolves all around dealing with the weapons and armor of my enemies. However, if the enemy has no weapons or armor and is still a threat, I'm fumbling around blindly."

When teacher Loran heard that, he scratched the side of his chin in thought.

"Like a beast?" he asked.

Sarah furrowed her brows. "Yes, like a beast. I haven't fought many beasts before. I nearly almost only fight humans."

Teacher Loran hummed to himself for a bit.

Then, he turned to Shang. "You know what? I might have judged too early," he said. "Sure, you didn't learn anything, but you allowed Sarah to learn from you. So, the fight still hasn't been useless."

Shang looked at Sarah with surprise. He had expected her to complain, but that wasn't the case. Instead of thinking that Shang had won with unfair methods, she had accepted it. In her mind, she had just lost the battle.

That was an admirable quality.

"Alright, if you're both fine with it, you can continue," teacher Loran said before turning to the class again.

Shang and Sarah looked at each other.

One had nearly no experience in fighting with humans.

The other had nearly no experience in fighting with beasts.

One had fought many humans.

One had fought many beasts.

They could definitely benefit from each other's knowledge.

Chapter 105 Beast

Teacher Loran continued the lesson and called for the next people to start fighting. He let Sarah and Shang do whatever they wanted. Sarah had said that she learned a lot from Shang, which meant that Shang was an appropriate sparring partner for her.

Under normal circumstances, Shang should lose to someone of Sarah's level. However, Shang's experience in fighting barehanded made him the perfect counter to Sarah.

One had to remember that something like this wasn't normal. Basically, all warriors focused on their weapons, and they definitely didn't have much experience in serious hand-to-hand combat.

Yes, the students often beat each other up in a fistfight, but that was it.

It was a fistfight.

They punched and kicked each other, but they generally didn't grapple. They were so used to fighting with their weapons that they used their fists and legs as weapons. That meant striking the enemy with them.

If someone else had managed to get behind Sarah, they would have most likely unleashed a fist strike or a kick. Sarah would have been injured and thrown away, but she would have had a chance to turn things around.

And even if they tried to grapple Sarah from the back, there would have been a high likelihood that Sarah would have somehow managed to either smash their face in with the back of her head or managed to wriggle out of it.

However, Shang had been an MMA fighter on Earth. He knew exactly how he had to grab her. By putting his legs around her torso, shaking him off would have proven basically impossible. Her arms also wouldn't have been able to deal much damage, and her hammer could have only been swung in a very awkward manner.

The way Shang fought with his bare hands was very strange for this world. It was basically completely unknown.

In a way, one could say that Shang fought like a beast without his weapon. Beasts also often used their claws to grab an opponent and then use their teeth to kill them. When a beast wanted to kill someone, it didn't just swipe forward with its claws. No, swiping with their claws was mostly a defensive maneuver.

When a beast wanted to genuinely kill someone, it dug its claws into the opponent to keep them close and to position them perfectly for the finishing bite. Being caught by the claws was a death sentence most of the time, but not always. With enough experience, one could potentially turn things around.

Sarah and Shang began talking after teacher Loran turned his focus to the remaining class.

Sarah told Shang that she was interested in learning how to fight against beasts and unarmed opponents, which was why she asked him to fight without a weapon.

However, she also knew that Shang would basically not learn much, which would make this lesson an affair with only one beneficiary.

"In exchange, you can ask me whatever you want. I know a lot about politics, materials, resources in general, and weapons," she offered.

Shang realized that the offer was pretty good. The teachers had a lot to do, and he could probably only ask these questions at the end of lessons. Additionally, several teachers didn't specialize in the things Sarah knew. For example, teacher Loran didn't even know what a Sparren was, which counted as a gem and material.

Sarah's fighting style was specialized for countering weapons, which meant that she also had to learn a lot about materials and weapons. If she didn't know everything about her opponent's weapons, she would put herself in severe danger.

"I accept," Shang said.

Sarah nodded. "Then, after every session, you can ask me questions for ten minutes."

Shang nodded. "Deal."

After that, Sarah readied her hammer again.

Shang put his sword to the side. At this moment, Shang's sword was useless. If it touched Sarah's left hand or weapon, it would be destroyed. Because of that, it was literally better for Shang to fight barehanded.

So, the two of them began fighting again.

How did the fights go?

Horrible.

For Sarah, that is.

The biggest reason why Sarah couldn't win was her hammer.

It simply wasn't sharp.

Because of that, Shang could afford to kick, push, and punch it away. Yes, the power of the hammer still broke his bones, but that wasn't an issue. Shang's superior body gave him the ability to throw such a heavy weapon as Sarah's hammer away. If Shang's body were as powerful as Sarah's body, he wouldn't have that ability.

However, that was exactly the reason why Shang was able to essentially act as a beast. In the earlier levels of the Soldier Stage, the difference in physical power between a human and a beast wasn't that great. One could almost call them as being on the same level.

But everything changed in the Peak Soldier Stage. That was the first level when a beast's body became quite a bit more powerful than a human's body.

And things would only get worse at the General Stage.

The power of beasts' bodies continued to escalate the stronger they became.

Why?

Because that was the only way they could fight humans. The beasts that didn't have those powerful bodies had long since died out. Starting at the General Stage, a beast was a genuine threat to a warrior.

In the Commander Stage, beasts won far more fights against warriors than they lost. Of course, that was assuming a one-on-one duel without one party using a surprise attack.

In reality, most warriors remained hidden when they were hunting a beast. They would only attack when the beast didn't pay attention. Additionally, many hunters worked in pairs or teams.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ In an open one-on-one duel, most warriors in the General and Commander Stage would lose against a beast of an equivalent level.

Why?

Because warriors fought mostly with their bodies and beasts did too, and beasts had far more powerful bodies.

It often ended with a beast getting cut by a sword, the sword getting stuck in a bone, and the beast biting down on the warrior, killing them.

However, that only counted for warriors, not humans as a whole.

There were still the Mages, and those fights went very differently.

A true Mage didn't have any issues in taking down a beast of an equivalent level. They simply readied their spells and unleashed them on the charging beast.

Most of the time, the beast would be dead before it even reached the Mage. On top of that, Mages weren't stupid. They knew that they were at their weakest when their opponent was close. Because of that, it was imperative for all Mages to learn plenty of Spells and skills to gain distance.

If the beast didn't have an amazing long-ranged ability, the only way to win was to exhaust the Mage's Mana, which took quite a long time.

Beasts were mostly helpless in front of Mages, just like warriors.

This was not a rock-paper-scissors scenario.

Mages just straight-up dominated all the classes.

Being the strongest warrior on a level meant being a slightly above-average Mage in terms of Battle-Strength.

However, that only counted for the General Stage and up.

In the First Realm, the Soldier Stage, the two sides were still about equal.

The important part in all of this was that beasts were very dangerous to warriors, and that was why Sarah wanted to learn from Shang how to fight them.

Sarah lost every single fight, but she wasn't distraught. She knew that Shang was essentially fighting like a beast, and he also had the physical power of a beast.

As the lesson continued, Sarah managed to last longer and longer.

She was using her hammer less as a weapon to end the fight instantly but as a means to keep Shang at an appropriate distance from her. Shang's weakness was that he couldn't directly block the hammer. He had to evade or parry it.

Every time Sarah managed to force Shang to block, he would accumulate injuries.

However, one wrong move from Sarah and the fight would end.

This meant that Sarah had to be perfect, and she had to anticipate every single potential move Shang could make.

If she were fighting a beast, that wouldn't be so hard, but she was essentially fighting a human in the body of a beast. Shang had a lot of creativity in his fighting style.

So, when teacher Loran ended the lesson after three hours, Sarah still hadn't won a single time.

Chapter 106 Weapons

At the end of the lesson, teacher Loran informed all the students about stuff he had noticed during the fights. He informed them where they had made a mistake and where they should have performed better.

That also included Shang.

"I can't say much about your fight with Sarah, but I can give you some feedback on your fight with Astor," teacher Loran said.

Shang nodded.

"Ignoring the first fight, in your second fight, you haven't paid any attention to your surroundings. The ground is rather hard here, but it isn't unbreakable. The academy could have made the ground unbreakable for Soldier Stage warriors, but that wouldn't reflect a realistic battlefield."

"You might have also noticed that the training field isn't without obstacles," teacher Loran said as he pointed to a column near the edge of the arena.

Shang looked over and saw a column about a meter wide and two meters high. It was made of an unknown material that looked a bit like metal.

"The edge of the training field belongs to the training field, and these columns are included. They have been placed in the arena as obstacles. In your fight against Astor, you should have realized that his sword needs a lot of room to swing."

"Usually, being with your back against a wall is a bad idea, but if it's only a column, it can help you. Astor would have only been able to attack you with the tip of his sword and not the entire thing if the column was right behind you. If he extended too much and you stepped to the side, his sword would hit the column and bounce off or crack it, essentially robbing him of all his momentum."

"Additionally, you could have moved around it and use several stabs from the sides. Eventually, Astor would need to step away from that place and gain distance. At the moment when he steps away, you should use the column as a foothold to throw yourself at him to continue the fight with you on the offensive. If your offensive gets broken, retreat to the column."

"Another good way to win the fight is to retreat when Astor releases his swing. Every swing of his takes a lot of power and drains his stamina considerably. You have the advantage in speed, and by jumping in and out, you can exhaust him. Of course, you can't allow yourself to make any mistakes. If Astor sees your feint, he will use his swing to further his momentum instead of using it."

"When you closed in on Astor, you noticed that he is very good at defending his vital points. Attacking someone's vital points is a big undertaking and will leave you open if you fail. Astor only has to hit you once to win the weapon due to his sheer power."

"Usually, going for the kill is the quickest way to end the fight, but the quickest way isn't always the safest or best way. When you slid beneath Astor's sword, you shouldn't have tried to attack his heart but his legs. You could have tried to flee beneath his legs to avoid his strike. He has a lot of power and great defense, but his flexibility is a weakness that you have to exploit."

Shang took note of all of teacher Loran's lessons, and he learned a lot.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Earlier, he had thought that he had already lost after falling for Astor's feint, but there had actually been a way out. Now, Shang knew what he could have done.

"As you've seen, Mattheo is using pressure and relentless offense to deal with Astor. You don't have the ability yet to release such an explosive offense, which is why you should avoid doing that. Instead, try to win in the long run by slowly exhausting and injuring him to death."

"Of course, all of this is theory, and I only gave you a way to fight better against the abilities Astor has shown. He has plenty more abilities for all kinds of situations, but you have to see them for yourself for when you manage to actually put up a proper fight against him."

"In this class, you learn about how to deal with opponents. That's why I'm explaining to you what you should have done in your fight. If you want feedback on your specific techniques, you should enter Mervin's lesson. He's the teacher for sword techniques."

After teacher Loran said that, he went to the next student without even waiting to see if Shang had any questions.

Shang had noticed that teacher Loran also hadn't given any other student the chance to ask questions. It seemed like he wasn't a fan of answering questions.

After giving every student their feedback, teacher Loran left the training field rather quickly, leaving the students alone.

Astor left rather quickly. He seemed busy.

Mattheo talked and laughed with a couple of other students and left with them.

Elver, the green-haired boy that insulted Shang, looked at Shang, snorted, and walked away without saying anything.

"So, your questions?" Sarah asked Shang with a neutral voice.

Shang hadn't seen Sarah smile yet. Even when she had proclaimed her excitement at learning new things, her face hadn't shown even a hint of a smile. It was like she was serious 24/7.

"You have a Metal Affinity, correct?" Shang asked.

Sarah nodded. "Yes. Please keep your questions about my person as infrequent as possible," she answered flatly.

Shang nodded. "I wanted to know since I am most interested in your knowledge of metals, materials, and weapons."

"That makes sense," Sarah answered. "Your weapon is your biggest weakness currently. What do you want to know?"

"What kind of ore should I use to create a stronger weapon?" Shang asked.

"Depends on your Affinity and your control over it," Sarah answered. "There are weapons that can gain additional power with certain Affinities as long as they are made of the correct materials and by an experienced blacksmith."

Shang wasn't sure what he should say regarding his Affinity.

Should he say he didn't have one? In that case, he wouldn't know what he should do with his weapon.

Should he say he had one? In that case, questions would appear about what kind of Affinity Shang had.

Sarah noticed Shang's hesitation with a neutral expression. "Both it is then."

Shang felt a bit guilty for having to keep this a secret. "Thanks," he silently said.

"If you don't have an Affinity, it's simple. The more powerful the metal, the better," Sarah explained. "However, you have to pay attention to what kind of powerful metal you buy."

"Your sword is rather thin, which means it needs metal that can bend by a bit. Going all-in on hardness could get problematic since that would make it easier for your sword to break."

"However, all of that isn't an issue. All the different merchants selling ore know what they are doing. As long as they can see your weapon, they know what kind of ore you should get. Of course, I'm only referring to the good and professional merchants. Don't expect good service from someone that sells ore for cheap. You might get unsuitable ore."

Shang nodded.

"As for Affinities, that's a bit more complex. In terms of a Pure Affinity, it isn't much of an issue. You simply want a metal that has the same Affinity as your Affinity and the fitting characteristics for your weapon."

"If you have an Impure Affinity, which is a mixed Affinity created out of two or more Pure Affinities, you will have it much harder. However, the issue with creating such a weapon isn't the materials but the blacksmith. You need a blacksmith that can smelt metals of different Affinities together, and those blacksmiths are very expensive."

"If you have the luck to run across a fitting piece of ore with an Impure Affinity, you can also give that to the blacksmith. However, those kinds of ores are very rare and very valuable. They are outside your price range as long as you are a Soldier Stage warrior."

"As for the uses of weapons with Affinities, they can store and unleash Mana. In the Soldier Stage, that is not something you can freely use during a fight since we lack the amount of Mana to make our Affinities powerful enough to deal actual damage."

"We need to store the Mana in the weapon before the fight over a long period of time, and we can unleash the stored Mana during that fight. In that way, we can unleash an elemental attack with power far above our usual output."

"You've seen Mattheo fight. All the explosions around him come from the stored Mana in his gauntlets. He's releasing them in a controlled manner to increase his speed and power. He could have also unleashed everything at once in a big explosion, but that would have injured him too."

"Additionally, that doesn't work against Astor. He already tried it before."

"And the ten minutes are up. See you next time," Sarah said before turning around to leave.

Shang blinked a couple of times.

That was already ten minutes?

But… where could he get the money for that ore?

Where should he buy it?

Could he get it cheaper somewhere?

Did Sarah know of specific ore Shang could use?

Shang still had so many questions.

But in the end, Shang only sighed. 'Well, I only fought with her for one lesson. If I got all my questions answered immediately, it would be a bit bad.'

'Anyway, I learned a lot about Affinities and weapons. At least I know what I should pay attention to and what these kinds of weapons can do.'

Shang looked at the empty training field for one long moment.

Just one lesson.

Shang had learned so much in just one lesson.

Sure enough, it had been the correct decision to join the Warrior's Academy.

Chapter 107 Plan

Shang slowly walked away from the training field, scratching his chin as he thought about how he should proceed.

'My goal is obviously power. To get there, I need to increase my Battle-Strength since I can't work on my level right now. To increase my Battle-Strength, I need more experience. I'm very good at fighting against beasts, and I'm more than fine with Battle-Strength in that regard.'

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ 'So, logically, I should work on my Battle-Strength against humans. However, the issue is that I can't even properly fight other humans since my weapon gets destroyed with basically every attack. So, the first priority should be my weapon.'

'Sarah has taught me a lot about Affinities and weapons, and I'm pretty confident that I should get ore fitting for my Affinity.'

'Now, the question is, how do I have to combine the ore to make it work? If I were to combine the four different Affinities I have that I know of, do I need to get one-quarter of each, or do I need to get a full load of each?'

Shang wanted to look at his sword, but he remembered that he wasn't allowed to pull it out without a very good reason.

'That's the issue. Do I need all of it or just a bit? I mean, the logical first step would be to buy two units of ore with a Fire, Ice, Light, and Darkness Affinity. If that still isn't enough, I can simply buy more.'

'Luckily, my weapon isn't simple, and I don't need a blacksmith. The God gave me the weapon precisely due to the absence of powerful blacksmiths at the higher levels. He said it's too much to force me to blaze two paths at once. So, according to him, I don't need a blacksmith. I probably only need to put my sword close to the ore.'

'Can my sword handle multiple Affinities? Oh, why am I even asking? I think the God thought of that. I don't think that something like that is too hard for him.'

'So, first step, get two Units of ore for everything, and to get there, I need money or Contribution Points.'

'I still need to ask Sarah where I can get the ore relatively cheap, but that has to wait for the next lesson, which should be in two days.'

'Then, I should earn money and Contribution Points until then.'

Shang walked back to the main building and entered his room. Then, he checked the map in the rulebook again for all the different boards for missions.

The exchange hall had the mission board for escort missions and transportation missions.

The main gate had missions that took place in Warrior's Paradise. Those missions often consisted of someone renting a student for a specific amount of time. It was often for research or for teaching, as in that the student taught the person that submitted the mission.

Those missions didn't give that many rewards. After all, there were plenty of students that wanted to earn Contribution Points without risking their lives in the outside. Due to the great number of students willing to accept these missions, the rewards were very low. After all, even if 99% of students wouldn't accept a mission with such low rewards, 1% would still accept it.

The main building had a mission board that offered missions coming from different Zones and even other countries. Nearly all of these missions came from the countries themselves or directly from the army.

The Soldier Stage students were just that in the army, students. Sure, they were powerful inside the Soldier Stage, but actual armies used General Stage warriors.

What would the students be used for?

Assistance, low-ranking guards, transportation.

Unimportant jobs.

So, why ask for students?

Two reasons.

First of all, the army could pay the students in recognition and knowledge. This meant that the army didn't need to pay a lot for their help. Students also didn't mind the low rewards since they would learn a lot and also get acquainted with a couple of officers in the army. That would make it far easier to join the army in the future.

Second, the students from this academy had a bright future ahead of them, and by having them inside their army for a while, the likelihood of a student joining said army would increase.

Shang remembered that one female officer he had met in Blizzard's Edge. She had said that she was also part of the Warrior's Academy. Shang had wondered why she was there, but now it made sense. She had probably accepted one of these missions.

'Wait a sec,' Shang suddenly thought as he realized something. 'She was in the General Stage, right? And she said that she was part of the Warrior's Academy, right?'

'So, does that mean that she is part of that special training program? Additionally, she is obviously a member of the ones with the blue uniforms, the ones that want to become officers in the future.'

Shang blinked a couple of times.

'Wow, back then, I thought that basically all the students in this academy were outstanding, but she's in a league of her own. She's probably well on her way to the Commander Stage.'

'Huh, I guess I met a future knight. Who woulda thought?'

'Anyway, back to the missions. I think I should accept some of the missions near the north of the academy.'

What missions were in the north?

Beast hunting.

Beast hunting gave a lot of rewards, and Shang wouldn't need to travel very far. After all, Warrior's Paradise was just a stone's throw away from the wilderness.

However, the missions were dangerous. Going alone into the wilderness could end in tragedy. Just one wrong move and one might actually stumble across a beast they couldn't defeat. Only confident hunters accepted these missions, and they often went in pairs as insurance.

But for Shang, these missions were perfect.

Shang left the room and walked towards the south first. When he arrived at the market, Shang bought a couple of beast sacks. Teacher Mervin had delivered the corpse of the Pest Cat, which included the beast sack.

When Shang asked for beast sacks, he simply got several of them handed to him, free of charge.

The academy wanted to encourage people to hunt beasts, which was why the beast sacks were free.

After getting his beast sacks, Shang went towards the north. He walked past the training fields until he reached an area close to the city walls.

There, he saw a big board with plenty of missions hanging on it.

Then, Shang looked at the missions.

Chapter 108 Beast Missions

The mission board was absolutely filled with missions. The other mission boards couldn't compare at all to this one, which made sense.

Warrior's Paradise was a gigantic city fully focused on economy. People from all over the world came here to get rare materials from rare beasts, and the reason why Warrior's Paradise could get these rare materials was its very location.

It was in the middle of three differently ranked wildernesses.

Of course, the most important was the Canyon. The Canyon housed many beasts in the Third Realm, and those were the desirable ones for the city and the people visiting it.

However, to keep such a high-ranked wilderness healthy, there had to be lower-ranked wildernesses in its vicinity. A beast in the Third Realm couldn't just have its children in such a highly ranked wilderness.

After all, how will the beasts learn to fend for themselves and become more powerful? This wasn't Earth where it was natural for a beast to reach the power of its parents.

No, the offspring of a beast in the Third Realm would barely reach the Initial Second Realm before it counted as fully grown. At that point, it needed to become more powerful by hunting powerful beasts.

Because of that, basically all offspring of the truly powerful beasts were sent to an area filled with beasts in the First Realm. The offspring still had a definite advantage in the First Realm since it came from such a powerful bloodline, but that would change in the Second Realm.

That was why these lower-ranked wildernesses acted as a training ground for the offspring of powerful beasts. The offspring would learn to fight in these areas, and they would have to truly prove themselves in areas housing beasts in the Second Realm.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ And only when they managed to get through all the other beasts could they go to the Canyon.

So, even though the Canyon was the most important wilderness around Warrior's Paradise, it couldn't exist without the Wasteland and the Wild Forest. Without these two, new beasts in the Third Realm would become extremely rare, and Warrior's Paradise would inevitably eradicate the powerful beasts.

However, the Wild Forest and the Wasteland still needed a lot of maintenance.

First of all, the beast population had to be kept in place, or the beasts would start spilling over into the other wildernesses or even attack the Farm Line.

Second, there were several beast kinds that specifically hunted talented young beasts, and those were bad for Warrior's Paradise for obvious reasons. No talented offspring, no new Third Realm beasts.

And since there were three wildernesses around Warrior's Paradise, the missions regarding beasts were insanely numerous.

'Capture a newborn Spear Stork,' Shang read in his mind when he saw one particular mission.

This mission had caught his eye due to the familiar name.

'Spear Stork. That was the kind of bird that was killed by the ballista when I first arrived here. Teacher Loran said that it was in the Third Realm, the Commander Stage,' Shang remembered.

'Capture it? Why? The mission has been submitted by the Mana Austerum based on the mission slip. Well, I guess something like a Spear Stork has an Affinity for Wind. Maybe the Mana Austerum wants to study it?'

'Also, what's that reward? Four training slips? Is that for the special training, or what's that for? I should ask later.'

Shang looked over the other missions as well.

Nearly all the missions were about killing certain beasts, but there were also a couple of missions that wanted materials. For these missions, it didn't matter how one obtained these materials.

Of course, the reason why these missions even existed was that they were either cheaper to get from the academy or they were simply not available. Therefore, accepting the mission, buying them, and submitting them would be a net loss. If that worked, the submitter of the mission would have done that themselves.

'Lots of special beasts I have never heard of,' Shang thought. 'I don't even know what a Doomeye Lizard is. Also, what the hell is a Grimface?'

After looking at the missions for a while, Shang noticed an issue.

He had no idea what kind of beasts the missions wanted. Sure, he had the name, but he needed a description of their features, at least.

It was important to know which beasts could be hunted and which couldn't. Sure, around 90% of beasts were free to be killed by everyone, but the 10% that were forbidden from being hunted were important.

If the city noticed that someone had hunted a beast on the blacklist, the hunter would need to give up the corpse and pay a hefty fine. This meant that the hunter had literally risked their life to pay a hefty fine.

'Well, seems like I should stay with the base missions for now,' Shang thought as he looked to a smaller board to the side.

Base missions were different from normal missions. Normal missions were individual missions that had been submitted by a client. Base missions, on the other hand, were directly given by the academy itself.

Those missions also had descriptions of the targets on them.

Shang looked at the base mission at the top.

'Eradicate all Pest Cats. Makes sense,' Shang thought. 'Wait! 21 Contribution Points? I'm pretty sure that someone like teacher Mervin wouldn't steal a single Contribution Point from a student. So, does that mean that the reward has increased in the last couple of days?'

Shang looked over the mission and noticed that he didn't need to register for that mission. Usually, someone needed to register for a mission if they wanted to accept it. The registering process would then lock the mission to that person, which stopped two people from going out to do the same mission.

But for these base missions, registering wasn't necessary.

Why?

Because there was no limit to the number of targets. No matter how many corpses one brought, the academy would reward each and every one of them.

Speaking of corpses, Shang noticed that he didn't actually need to bring over the entire corpse for the reward. He only needed to bring two Pest Cat ears as proof.

Something interesting Shang noticed was that the eradication of the Pest Cats wasn't the only base mission, and it also wasn't the only one without a target limit.

There were three more.

'Swamp Millipede?' Shang thought as he looked at the next mission.

The first thing that caught Shang's eye was the reward.

'50 Contribution Points!' Shang thought with interest.

Then, he looked at the description.

'A purplish-black millipede with a Poison Affinity. It transforms its nest and surroundings into a poisonous swamp, severely damaging the plants and ruining the forest. They can be found in the northeastern Wild Forest,' Shang read in his mind.

'Poison Affinity?' Shang thought with furrowed brows, but a bit later, he realized something.

'The Empress Cobra Zone is to the northeast, and teacher Mervin said that the Empress Cobra has a Poison Affinity. I guess this is an invasive species.'

Shang continued reading.

'Huh, they are at the same level as Pest Cats generally, which is the Middle Soldier Stage, but they have elemental abilities, which makes them more dangerous. That's also why they are worth more.'

'I should keep an eye out for them.'

Then, Shang looked at the next mission.

'Life Scarab? That doesn't really sound dangerous,' Shang thought while reading the mission.

'Interesting. They find a tree and bind with it. Then, they absorb the light in the surroundings and infuse the tree with lots of Mana. The tree wildly mutates, which usually results in it destroying the other plants around it and becoming quite powerful. After the mutation, the tree is subservient to the light scarab.'

'One of the major reasons why they are a huge problem is that they don't kill to feed. They basically kill everything that comes close to them, no matter what it is. However, without the Life Scarab, the tree will quickly die.'

'200 Contribution Points as a reward since the tree usually exhibits power in the Late Soldier Stage. They can be found in the northwestern forest.'

'As it stands right now, I should go to the northwestern forest. There are simply more rewards there. However, I should look at the last mission first.'

Shang looked at the last mission, and his eyes widened.

'Vanishing Snake.'

'2,000 Contribution Points!'

Chapter 109 Vanishing Snake

'Vanishing Snake: In life trouble, in death trouble,' Shang read in his mind with surprise.

Why surprise?

Because 2,000 Contribution Points was a lot!

With just one snake, Shang could buy one unit of ore.

Shang definitely was interested in the big reward.

'Descendants of General Stage beasts. However, the General Stage variant only lives in swampy areas. The powerful adult Vanishing Snakes put their young in the Wild Forest, and the young remain there until they become powerful enough to go back to the Empress Cobra Zone.'

'The Vanishing Snakes are atypical snakes due to their teeth. In comparison to normal snakes, Vanishing Snakes don't have poisonous teeth but a full set of sharp fangs.'

'The Vanishing Snakes have a Metal Affinity, and with their sharp teeth, they infuse their prey with the destructive power of metal, making the insides of their prey bleed furiously.'

'The Vanishing Snakes are a menace in three ways.'

'One: They are experts at assassination, and they are not afraid of humans. The Vanishing Snake is the beast that kills the most Soldier Stage hunters each year in the Storm Eagle Zone.'

'Two: Vanishing Snakes can birth offspring after their death. In their lives, Vanishing Snakes will procreate with one partner, and the female Vanishing Snake will store the fertilized eggs until she dies unless she reaches the General Stage and finds a good spot.'

'When the eggs get into contact with stomach acid, they come out of hibernation and start growing. The eggshells are sticky and will stick to the lining of the stomach. Eventually, the young will eat the target that has eaten their mother from the inside out.'

'Three: The Vanishing Snake has access to a gas that causes targets to fall into a deep sleep. During combat, the effects of this gas are negligible, but if a Vanishing Snake manages to sneak up on someone without their notice, it can have devastating results.'

'Humans will very quickly realize that the sudden onset of tiredness is unnatural, but beasts won't. Vanishing Snakes are not very big, and they can move very silently, hence the name.'

'With the sleeping gas, the Vanishing Snake is one of the very few beasts that can take down beasts a Realm above them.'

'There have been cases of Vanishing Snakes killing the guarding dogs in the Farm Line.'

Shang's eyes opened wide.

He still remembered the dogs he had seen in the Farm Line. Even now, Shang was very certain that he couldn't kill one of them. They were simply too fast and powerful.

However, with the sleeping gas, the Vanishing Snakes could even kill these dogs.

After having read all of this, Shang realized why the reward was that massive.

This thing was the biggest danger to Warrior's Paradise out of all beasts in the First Realm.

It was probably also responsible for a lot of deaths among the students.

'It's also in the northeastern part of the Wild Forest,' Shang thought. 'So, to summarize, Pest Cats are everywhere, Life Scarabs are in the northwest, and Swamp Millipedes and Vanishing Snakes are in the northeast.'

That was when Shang realized something else.

'Swamp Millipedes and Vanishing Snakes? The mission said that adult Vanishing Snakes only live in the Empress Cobra Zone. However, if the Swamp Millipedes manage to turn the northeastern Wild Forest into a swamp, even the adults will come here.'

'It's almost like the poisonous swamp of the Empress Cobra Zone wants to expand. In comparison, the northwestern forest has it easier. Sure, they have the Life Scarabs, but they can't compare to the Vanishing Snakes in terms of threat to the environment and humans.'

'I think I should go to the northeastern Wild Forest since the reward is higher, but it's also more dangerous. I can deal with all kinds of beasts, but I can't deal with beasts I can't see.'

Shang scratched his chin in thought. He wondered if there was a way to find them.

Shang looked around at the other people. He had been standing here for quite a while, and a lot of people had come and gone from the mission board.

After a while, Shang's eyes shone when he saw someone.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ It was a man in his late 20s. He didn't wear the silver uniforms of the teachers but a black uniform. The students with the black uniforms wanted to become hunters.

Quick thinking people probably had already noticed something strange.

A student in their late 20s?

Shouldn't someone like that be in the General Stage?

And yes, this man was in the General Stage. However, he was also still a student. That meant that he was a member of the special training the academy offered.

"Excuse me," Shang said politely to the man.

"Hm?" the man uttered as he looked at Shang. "Yes?"

"I'm planning on going to the northeastern forest for the first time. I wanted to ask if there is a way for me to find the Vanishing Snakes before they find me?" Shang asked.

The man looked Shang up and down with a bored gaze. "No, they're too good at hiding. You can only trust your instincts. If your instincts are telling you that you are in danger, you are in danger. React appropriately, and you will be fine."

"Thank you for your advice," Shang said politely.

"No problem," the man said. Then, he pulled down a mission for a General Stage beast and left in a bored manner.

"How did you do that?"

Shang looked to his other side when he heard someone say that.

It was a student about 17 years old, and he wore a yellow uniform.

"Do what?" Shang asked.

"Get Yiral to answer you," the student said with surprise.

"The guy just now?" Shang asked.

The student nodded.

"I just asked."

That made the student frown.

"I've seen many people ask Yiral about the northeastern forest, but he always tells them that they shouldn't go there. He always says that they are too inexperienced and that they should go to the northwestern forest."

"But when you asked him, he answered."

Shang hadn't known that he had been treated differently from the other students just now, which surprised him a bit. After all, the guy had just answered a random question.

"I'm very experienced when it comes to beasts, and I have been in a wilderness for over six months without interruption before," Shang said. "I guess he noticed that."

The student blinked a couple of times in shock and surprise. "Six months in the wilderness?"

Usually, that student would never believe that. After all, how old was Shang? 15? Why would a 15-year-old stay in the wilderness for half a year?

However, when he thought about how Yiral had just acted, he started to believe it. Obviously, Yiral was looking out for the younger students by telling them not to go to the northeastern forest, but when it came to Shang, he apparently felt like it wasn't necessary.

That meant that Yiral probably thought that Shang could go to the northeastern forest.

After realizing that, the student tried to get acquainted with Shang, but Shang very quickly left.

Shang simply didn't want to be distracted from becoming stronger.

And then, Shang left the academy.

It was time to go to the northeastern forest.

Chapter 110 Power Of Magic

Shang exited the academy for the first time on his own. He had only left it once before, which was when teacher Mervin took him to hunt the Pest Cat. Back then, Shang hadn't had the opportunity to look at the city properly during the daytime.

Warrior's Paradise was bustling.

There were people everywhere, and the merchants put up stalls at nearly every corner of the road.

As Shang passed through the streets, he saw quite a big number of General Stage warriors. Most of them wore brown armor made of leather, and, surprisingly, many of them also wore cloaks made of Pest Cat fur.

The reason was obvious. During the night, the Pest Cats were great at hiding themselves, and the black cloaks could also be used by the hunters to hide.

However, in comparison to Shang's cloak, which he wasn't wearing at the moment, their cloaks had been made with far more skill. Most of them wore their cloaks as capes. From what Shang could see, the hunters could pull on a string, which made the cloak pull together at the back, transforming it from a cloak into a cape.

'I should buy one of those later,' Shang thought.

Sadly, while walking through the streets, Shang also noticed something else, and he definitely didn't like that.

He saw several weaker people avoid him. Some mothers were pushing their children away from him, and several men quietly put their hands over their sacks of money.

As soon as Shang noticed that, he got reminded of the words from that one guard near Duke Whirlwind's garden.

'You keep acting like a shifty criminal. If you don't fix that, you will see women protect their children and men protect their money,' Shang remembered with frustration.

Sure enough, that had come to pass.

Shang could only sigh. 'I really should work on that. Otherwise, I will be questioned by nearly every guard I come across. Buying things will probably also be harder outside the academy.'

Shang also saw several Mages in the streets. Most of them simply ignored him, but there were a couple of them that threw Shang some annoyed glances.

If Shang weren't constantly scanning his surroundings out of habit, he wouldn't have noticed these glances.

Those glances represented annoyance and a bit of disgust.

Shang didn't interact with the couple of Mages throwing these glances at him, but his expression became more and more annoyed.

'Most of the Mages I met were very approachable, but obviously, not all of them are like this. There are bound to be some of them that look down on warriors.'

When Shang came to the gates, he saw something quite surprising.

He saw someone jump off the street.

One had to remember that Warrior's Paradise was on top of a huge flat mountain in the middle of the Wasteland. If one jumped off the street, they would fall for nearly two kilometers.

Shang walked to the side and looked down.

Just before the person hit the ground, the trajectory of their body suddenly curved toward the front. Then, after around a hundred meters, Shang noticed that they began to slow down. Eventually, they touched the ground with their feet and continued running.

For some reason, their fall had been converted into forward momentum.

"That's a wind talisman," a random guy walking on the street shouted to Shang. Obviously, he had noticed that this was the first time Shang had seen something like that.

"Wind talisman?" Shang asked.

"Yeah. It absorbs the wind of the fall and releases it near the ground to stop the fall. Most experienced hunters around these parts use them," the person explained.

"Thank you for explaining," Shang shouted back.

"No problem. Have fun," the guy said as he continued to Warrior's Paradise.

However, Shang didn't continue walking. Instead, he continued looking at the Wasteland.

He had never truly seen the Wasteland during the day.

It was chaos.

There were deep crevices and hills everywhere, and Shang could already see several beasts walking through the Wasteland. On top of that, the Wasteland was so large that Shang couldn't even see the end of it from this position.

One had to know that Shang could see nearly 40 kilometers into the distance from his current position, and he still couldn't see the end.

Additionally, from what Shang was seeing, the land didn't start curving or anything like on Earth.

Shang could see that it continued and continued until the blue color of the air eventually hid the distant lands, and even at that distance, the Wasteland didn't end.

From up here, Shang could also see a couple of hunters fighting.

Shang had never seen a General Stage warrior fight before, and he was very interested in the fight.

However, from this distance, it was basically impossible to make out anything specific. Shang only saw a couple of hunters jumping around a big beast.

Suddenly, Shang's vision was pulled towards the left as he saw something glint in the distance.

Shang barely caught a glimpse of an explosion vanishing a couple of kilometers away.

In front of the explosion was someone with long red hair and red robes. Based on context clues, Shang guessed that they were a Mage, probably an Adept.

After the smoke of the explosion cleared, Shang could see the body of a beast… or at least what remained of it.

It had been completely decimated.

After looking at the corpse for a bit, Shang noticed something and looked over to the other battlefield.

Then, he looked back at the corpse again.

'That's the same beast!' Shang thought.

Based on the color and the horns, Shang was sure that the two parties had fought the same kind of beast.

However, while one side was still fighting with three warriors, the other side had simply unleashed one explosion to end the fight.

For the first time, Shang actually saw the difference between Mages and warriors with his own eyes. He had always heard about it, but he had never truly witnessed it himself.

Shang imagined the two parties fighting each other.

Then, Shang remembered the explosion he had seen. He could still see a several-meter-wide crater.

That single explosion would probably end the fight if the hunters were gathered.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ After coming to that conclusion, Shang looked at the road beneath him.

It was made with Earth Magic.

Then, he remembered the Wind Talisman that other hunter had used.

That was made with Wind Magic.

Shang looked at the city walls.

Made with Earth Magic.

Shang looked at the gigantic Mana Austerum towering over the city.

Magic.

Space Rings.

Magic.

Everything was made with Magic.

Shang had known that the Mages were the rulers of this world, but only now did he truly see the power of the Mages.

The warriors existed, and they could still reach quite a bit of power, but in the end, they were living in a world of Magic.

The Mages were the true rulers. Even the bastion that represented the most powerful warriors in the world, Warrior's Paradise, was essentially run by Mages. The Mages administrated the city and ruled it.

Yes, the dean was probably the most important figure inside Warrior's Paradise, but even he was probably subservient to Duke Whirlwind.

Warrior's Paradise was owned by a Duke.

It wasn't even a King.

Shang hadn't thought about the Mages very much while he had traveled to Warrior's Paradise, but he had seen their signs and symbols of power along the way.

This world was ruled by Mages.

For quite some time, Shang wasn't sure how he should feel about this.