Ch. 111..120

Chapter 111 Swamp Millipede

After watching the Wasteland for a while, Shang left towards the northeastern forest. He ran down the street at a comfortable pace, and a couple of minutes later, Shang arrived at the place where the road met the actual ground.

Shang looked at the sun to check where it was currently. He knew that it was the afternoon, which meant that the sun was in the west.

'Sure enough, the sun acts the same way in this world as it does on Earth. The road ends in the north, and the sun's currently left from where I am. I doubt I will come out of the Wild Forest before the day is over. I think I should spend the night in the eastern forest and try to hunt as many beasts as I can.'

Shang checked if he had everything he needed and went towards the northeast.

The Wild Forest stretched for nearly a hundred kilometers into the east and the west. After a hundred kilometers on either side, one would reach the next Zones. If one went towards the northwest, one would eventually reach the wilderness of the Ice Wyvern Zone, and if one went to the northeast, one would reach the wilderness of the Empress Cobra Zone.

The borders between the Farm Line and the Wild Forest had very few beasts due to the scouts and guarding dogs. If Shang wanted to hunt beasts, he would need to travel into the Wild Forest for quite a few kilometers.

Shang charged towards the northeast, and as soon as he reached the forest, he jumped onto a tree. Walking on the ground would attract the attention of several beasts.

Usually, Shang wouldn't care about some beasts at the Soldier Stage, but the Wild Forest was under strict management. If Shang accidentally got noticed by a beast that he wasn't allowed to kill, it could become troublesome. After all, the leaders of Warrior's Paradise didn't care if a hunter was attacked by such a beast. The hunter was not allowed to kill it, even if they were attacked.

Shang jumped from tree to tree, and only a couple of minutes later, he saw the first beast.

It was an orange lizard with red eyes. It was about a meter tall and two meters long. A red frill could be seen around its neck.

'I have no idea what kind of beast that is, but it doesn't feel dangerous,' Shang thought. 'From what I'm feeling, I think that beast is in the Middle Soldier Stage. Sadly, killing it would be a risk since I don't know if that thing is on the blacklist or not.'

Shang continued jumping from tree to tree as silently as he could, which wasn't easy. However, he had had enough practice.

On his journey, Shang also saw a huge brown boar and bird with a very imposing and angry-looking face.

The name of a beast immediately appeared in Shang's mind when he saw that bird.

'Grimface,' Shang thought. 'I remember looking at a mission that was about a Grimface. I guess that bird is a Grimface, right? I mean, the face certainly fits.'

'Sadly, I don't know what the client actually wants from the beast. Additionally, I didn't even accept the mission. I'm unsure if it's a problem if I kill the target before accepting the mission.'

Shang continued traveling toward the northeast for another hour. By jumping from tree to tree, Shang's speed had taken a considerable hit. At most, he was maybe ten kilometers into the forest.

That was when Shang found one of his targets.

On the ground in front of Shang was a one-meter-high and about ten-meter-long millipede. It was currently curled around a dying tree on the ground. The ground around it had sunken, and a smelly purple liquid was bubbling inside the sunken ground.

'I guess that's a Swamp Millipede,' Shang thought. '50 Contribution Points for each. I only need to bring its two feelers to get the reward.'

At the moment, the Swamp Millipede was only moving slightly, which showed that it was alive. Luckily, it hadn't noticed Shang yet.

'Middle Soldier Stage, just as the mission slip stated,' Shang thought. 'However, in comparison to Pest Cats, Swamp Millipedes have elemental attacks. I haven't fought something with a Poison Affinity yet, but I can imagine that being hit by poison can be troublesome. I think I should avoid a direct confrontation if I don't want my trip to be cut short.'

Shang slowly moved around the surrounding trees to check for the Swamp Millipede's head.

Sadly, even after a full round, Shang couldn't find it. 'I can see its tail and basically its entire body, but the head is nowhere to be seen. Well, I know where the tail is. So, I just have to follow the body until I can find its head.'

Shang looked again, and sure enough, he found the most likely location of the head.

'Its head is inside the tree near the bottom. I can't hit it from the outside, but I can behead it.'

'But there is an issue.'

Shang looked at the millipede's body with a frown. A big chunk of its body had curled around the place where its head entered the tree. From the side, it was impossible to hit its neck without cutting through its body.

However, cutting through its body might not kill it, and it might release some poisonous gas or something similar. Because of that, Shang wanted to kill it in one strike.

'I could hit it from above, but the dead tree is a bit far away. I also can't land on the dead tree since it will notice me. Do I really have to fight it head-on?'

Shang frowned as he tried to think of a way.

Suddenly, Shang's eyebrows rose.

Then, he looked at his left arm.

'I haven't truly tried out my new abilities yet. I have a couple more blasts after meeting the dean. I wonder…'

'Would that work?'

Silence.

'Well, I should try it.'

'It shouldn't be able to feel the Mana since the Mana I give off with my abilities is not part of its Mixed Affinity.'

Shang went to a stable branch near the millipede's head's place and readied himself.

Then, he jumped off.

Shang traveled into a long arc to gain more distance. He had to travel for nearly 15 meters, which was too much with only a jump.

After around eight meters, Shang's momentum started to go downward. As it looked right now, he would probably land around three meters away from the millipede's body.

Whoosh!

Shang pointed his left arm diagonally towards the ground behind him and used his Ice Blast.

The knockback of the Ice Blast pushed Shang forward and upward again, extending his jump.

In fact, the knockback was so powerful that Shang would hit the tree above the millipede.

However, just before Shang hit the tree, he pointed his left arm towards the sky as he readied his sword with his right.

Whoosh!

A ton of hot wind came out of Shang's left arm.

Shang's forward and upward momentum was completely stopped as he shot straight towards the ground at incredible speeds.

He was directly above the millipede's neck!

BANG!

Shang's body hit the millipede while his sword cut through its neck with ease.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ His plan had worked!

Shang heard some scratching and thrashing come from inside the tree, and the millipede below him was also thrashing around.

Shang quickly put his nearly destroyed left arm at the millipede's body and used his new ability with Darkness Affinity.

Shang felt his left arm being healed rapidly, and the body very quickly stopped moving.

After a couple of seconds, the body below him shriveled up like it had lost all its life energy and water.

Shang remained on the Swamp Millipede's body for a while, looking at his left arm with furrowed brows.

It hadn't completely healed.

'I absorbed the life energy of its entire body, but it wasn't even enough to heal my left arm all the way,' Shang thought.

'Well, the Swamp Millipede was only in the Middle Soldier Stage. I guess that a more powerful beast would give me more life energy. Luckily, I easily have enough Mana in my body to heal the remaining injuries on my left arm.'

'Oh, it stopped moving?' Shang thought as he noticed that he stopped hearing the sound of scrapping coming from inside the tree.

Shang stood up on the millipede's body and put his sword into the cut-off neck inside the dead tree.

After that, Shang pulled the head out. It wasn't easy, but with enough force, it worked. The tree was dead anyway, so Shang didn't care if he damaged it.

The head came out, and Shang quickly cut off its two feelers.

However, while cutting off the feelers, Shang got distracted by the hole in the dead tree.

Then, his eyes widened.

 

Chapter 112 Hunting

What did Shang see in the hole inside the dead tree?

More Swamp Millipedes, but smaller.

No wonder that thing had its head pointed into the dead tree. It was probably nursing its young.

The little Swamp Millipedes were only around half a meter long and quite thin. At the moment, Shang could see them squiggling around in a ball.

'Lucky!' Shang thought with a grin. 'Those are at least ten, which means I get another 500 Contribution Points.'

Did Shang feel bad about killing them?

No.

First of all, they were a menace to nature, and second of all, they were insects. It was just natural for a human to feel less empathy for insects.

Shang looked at his left arm, which had healed by now.

Then, Shang put his hand into the hole and pointed it at the ball.

Shang used his Ice Blast, and the ball froze over in an instant. Of course, Shang's arm nearly burned off, but he quickly saved it by using a Fire Blast in a random direction.

However, his arm was still bleeding heavily, and it would need some time to heal. Luckily, the bone wasn't injured, which meant that Shang wouldn't need to use as much Mana.

The inherent Mana inside his body should heal the arm pretty quickly.

A couple seconds later, Shang's arm was fully healed.

However, his Mana was dangerously low.

In his spars against the other students, Shang had been able to heal his broken foot a couple of times, but that had only been a small foot. This time, it was his entire arm. His Mana had to heal way more mass.

After healing his arm, Shang took out the frozen ball of Swamp Millipedes and put it inside his beast sack together with the feelers of the adult version.

'That should be around 500 Contribution Points or something like that. Kind of hard to count how many young are inside the ball.'

'Let's see. I need at least 2,000 Contribution Points per unit of ore since the cheapest Rank Two ore cost that much. However, since I need ore with specific Affinities, I will probably need more. Additionally, I need two units per Affinity.'

'If I say that each unit of ore costs 3,500 since I have rare Affinities, I would need 28,000 Contribution Points.'

Shang took a deep breath when he finished his calculation.

'So, this ball of Swamp Millipedes isn't even a fiftieth of what I need. Oh boy,' Shang thought.

'That's a lot of work, but I think that's to be expected. The other students have been in the academy for over four years. Over four years, they have probably done a lot of missions.'

'If they earned 100 Contribution Points per day, which is definitely possible, they could have easily earned way over 100,000 Contribution Points in four years. It's definitely possible to earn 28,000 Contribution Points, but it takes time and effort.'

Shang sighed.

'I certainly don't like the thought of going into the wilderness every day to kill beasts that aren't even a danger to me, but I guess work isn't supposed to be fun. After all, it's work.'

'Anyway, I should continue,' Shang thought as he put the beast sack over his shoulder. It was very light at the moment since nearly nothing was in it, but it was still a bit annoying to carry it around.

'I need a Space Ring. However, I will also get something that allows me to store my stuff when I reach the General Stage. That kind of makes a Space Ring not worth it.'

As Shang continued towards the northeast, the sun continued going down. The afternoon had passed, and evening had arrived.

Shang saw several more beasts on his journey, but he still had no idea if he was allowed to kill them or not.

That was until he found some blood and signs of dragging on the ground.

Shang's eyes lit up.

Shang followed the signs and found a hidden burrow beneath a tree.

Just like the last time, Shang lured the Pest Cat out of its burrow by throwing his sword in front of one of the entrances, but this time, the Pest Cat fled out of another exit.

Shang quickly killed it, cut off its ears, and looked into the burrow.

After a minute, Shang came out of the burrow with a sigh.

'No young.'

Shang jumped back to the trees and continued journeying to the northeast. He had decided that he would go deep into the forest. Right now, he was still in an area where a lot of students and hunters went to, which meant that the number of killable beasts was relatively low.

If Shang wanted to make his trip profitable, he would need to enter deep into the forest.

A couple minutes later, Shang saw another Swamp Millipede, but this time, it was in the middle of a clearing in a big puddle. It was about as big as the other Swamp Millipede.

What was the Swamp Millipede doing?

It was oozing out purplish liquid like a slug and munching on the surrounding earth. Shang decided to watch the Swamp Millipede for a while.

Over the next minutes, Shang saw that the Swamp Millipede ate up all the grass in its surroundings and replaced it with black saliva.

Shang saw that black saliva slowly mix with the purplish liquid around the Swamp Millipede, and as soon as the two liquids came into contact with each other, they started sizzling.

A bit of black smoke came out of the sizzling liquid, and it entered the Swamp Millipede's body again.

'Did it convert the life energy of the fertile earth into smoke, which it then absorbed?' Shang thought. 'I mean, the Poison Affinity is a mix of the Water Affinity and Darkness Affinity. If my Darkness Affinity can absorb life energy, the Swamp Millipede can probably do something similar.'

After watching the Swamp Millipede for a bit, Shang charged at it with all of his speed. The last Swamp Millipede had been a problem since it had been positioned weirdly, with its head protected.

This one was just in the open.

The Swamp Millipede noticed Shang, but it was already too late. One shouldn't forget that the Swamp Millipede was at the Middle Soldier Stage while Shang was at the Peak Soldier Stage. Together with Shang's advantage of surprise and his impressive speed, the Swamp Millipede couldn't even react before Shang cut its head in two.

This one also didn't have a nest, sadly.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ After cutting off the feelers, Shang continued traveling to the northeast.

Over the next two hours, Shang killed a couple more Pest Cast and Swamp Millipedes. As his journey continued, they became more frequent.

Sadly, he hadn't found another nest.

Shang had just killed another Swamp Millipede and just wanted to go when he felt that something wasn't right.

For some reason, he felt really uneasy.

He felt like he was being watched by something dangerous.

Shang narrowed his eyes because he knew what was happening.

'Is there a Vanishing Snake eyeing me?' he thought.

Shang looked around, but he couldn't see anything.

He looked at the trees, the grass, the ground, the bushes, at everything.

However, he saw absolutely nothing.

Shang was pretty certain that a Vanishing Snake was around, but even when he knew that it was there, he couldn't find it.

Yet, a couple of seconds later, the feeling of being watched vanished.

'It probably saw that I noticed something and decided to retreat.'

'Fitting name. It's truly like it has vanished.'

'Now, I can understand why that older student always dissuades people from coming here. If someone doesn't have a lot of experience in the wilderness, the Vanishing Snakes would be the death of them. I knew it was there, but I still couldn't find it.'

'If that thing is that good at hiding, probably not even I would be able to react appropriately if I don't sense it early.'

'That thing truly is worthy of 2,000 Contribution Points.'

Chapter 113 Circling

After waiting for a couple more minutes, Shang noticed that the dangerous feeling didn't return.

Apparently, the Vanishing Snake had vanished.

Shang put the beast sack back on his back. It still was rather light since he only harvested ears and feelers.

By now, the sun was near the horizon. Soon, it would be night.

'I should be able to find a lot more Pest Cats in the night. I've already found quite a few during the evening when they are hiding, which means that I will find even more during the night.'

'This definitely isn't like Duke Whirlwind's garden. Duke Whirlwind's garden didn't have that many actual beasts. Most of the things in Duke Whirlwind's garden were animals.'

'When I came to this world, I thought that the God put me in some dangerous area, but only now do I realize that he really had put me in some sort of tutorial area. If he had put me in this forest, I wouldn't even have survived a day probably.'

'The most dangerous beasts in Duke Whirlwind's garden had been the Pest Cats, and there hadn't even been that many. Sure, there have also been some more powerful beasts, but they were rare. On top of that, the Ice Spear Bear was completely isolated in the lake and only appeared in the winter. If I didn't search for it, I wouldn't have found it.'

Shang continued towards the northeast, and soon enough, night hit.

As soon as the last glimmer of light vanished, the entire feeling of the forest changed, and a familiar feeling appeared in Shang's heart.

This was just like back when he had been in Duke Whirlwind's garden at night.

It was a feeling of pressure and unknown. It was like every nook and cranny could hide a powerful beast.

Shang knew that he wasn't in much danger since he counted as basically the strongest entity in this forest, but he still felt a bit nervous.

His instincts simply told him that he had to be careful.

Shang continued traveling towards the northeast and killed a couple more Pest Cats. Sure enough, Shang found one nearly every five minutes as soon as night hit. Luckily, since he was at the Peak of the Soldier Stage, his eyesight was pretty good.

However, even that wouldn't have been enough to find that many Pest Cats.

So, how did Shang find so many?

Because Shang found something interesting.

As soon as the night hit, the Darkness Mana in the surroundings started to become denser.

Yes, ever since Shang had absorbed the Darkness Mana Source, he had been able to feel Darkness Mana. He was also able to feel Light and Fire Mana, but those two skills were irrelevant at the moment.

The fact that feeling Fire Mana was useless was logical, but why was feeling Light Mana useless? Shouldn't he have been able to feel his surroundings during the day by feeling the Light Mana?

Well, it depended on the location.

The Wild Forest was thick, and not a lot of light reached the ground. Because of that, during the day, the Darkness and Light Mana had actually been in balance. There wasn't enough of either of them to feel the surroundings.

But now, during the night, Shang could use the Darkness Mana to feel out his surroundings.

It definitely wasn't very accurate, and it didn't have that much range, but it was something.

Shang could only perceive a bit of movement regarding Mana. If something without much Mana moved, like the wind or branches, he wouldn't be able to feel that. However, if something with a lot of Mana moved, the Mana in their own being shoved the Darkness Mana to the side.

But when it came to Pest Cats, it was a bit different. Shang couldn't feel them push the Darkness Mana to the side but gathering it. It was like they were attracting it and gathering it.

Shang guessed that this cloak of Darkness Mana was the reason why the Pest Cats were able to move that silently.

As Shang used his new ability, he also noticed something else.

Up in the sky, something was displacing Darkness Mana, and it was displacing a lot.

Shang guessed that something was flying above him, above the forest, and it was quite powerful. Shang wasn't certain how powerful it was, but it felt more powerful than any of the beasts he had seen before in this forest.

Shang couldn't see the flying thing due to the trees, and he certainly didn't want to aggravate whatever was flying there by climbing above the trees to take a look.

If Shang knew more about the beasts in this forest, he would certainly take a look. However, as it was now, he didn't know whether he was allowed to kill it or not. If that thing up there was on the blacklist, and he provoked it, he would have to flee until it gave up.

It was better to just let it fly around in the sky.

Suddenly, Shang's eyes narrowed, and he stopped moving.

The feeling had returned.

Another Vanishing Snake was near.

Shang didn't move at all. Last time, he had scared the Vanishing Snake off by looking around frantically, and he didn't want that to happen again.

The Vanishing Snakes were exactly the reason why Shang had come here.

One of them was worth 2,000 Contribution Points!

Even with all of Shang's hunting up to now, he barely earned 900 Contribution Points.

Shang concentrated on his Darkness Vision and closed his eyes.

He had already learned earlier that it was impossible to spot the Vanishing Snakes with his eyes, which meant that he had to rely on his instinct and Darkness Vision.

For the first time in a long while, Shang was genuinely nervous. He felt a heavy feeling in his stomach, but he also felt some excitement.

This was the feeling of being close to death.

It had been so long since he had last come into contact with it.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Shang's pores opened, and his concentration reached its peak.

His entire mind was concentrating on his instincts and Darkness Vision.

The wind moved lightly through the forest, but mostly, the forest was silent.

In the middle of the night, Shang simply stood in a small clearing with closed eyes, in nearly total silence.

After some seconds, Shang felt his instincts become louder. They were telling him that he was in danger.

However, at the same time, Shang noticed something.

Something very small was moving in the darkness.

It was about ten meters away from him and moved very slowly.

Judging by the displaced Darkness Mana, Shang guessed that it was probably only a meter long and very thin.

Shang narrowed his eyes.

Whoosh!

Then, Shang's eyes opened wide.

What had he just felt?!

Something different had suddenly moved through the darkness at absolute ridiculous speeds!

It had come from the top, interacted with the supposed Vanishing Snake, and shot into the sky again.

All of that had happened in barely a second.

Shang's guess was confirmed when he felt the dangerous feeling vanish.

The Vanishing Snake had vanished once more, but this time, Shang knew where it had gone to.

Shang concentrated on the flying thing above him.

That thing had been the culprit.

Shang remained standing for several minutes.

That thing flying above him was extremely dangerous, and he didn't want to aggravate it.

The speed he had just witnessed was insanity!

It had probably moved as fast as teacher Loran when he had intervened in Shang's fights.

Shang remained in the same spot for ten more minutes.

However, that thing circling above him didn't vanish.

It was like it was following him!

 

Chapter 114 Green Bird

Shang's eyes narrowed.

'Is that thing following me? Why is it continually circling me? Am I near its nest?'

After a bit of deliberation, Shang continued walking towards the northeast.

Sure enough, the thing kept circling above him.

'Shit! That thing's actually following me! Why is it following me when it doesn't attack me!?' Shang thought with frustration.

Shang moved around in senseless patterns to test if that thing was truly following him, and, sure enough, it kept following Shang, no matter where he went.

Shang's frown intensified. He definitely didn't feel comfortable with something like that circling above him.

'If it decides to attack, I have to be ready. If I don't notice the very moment it charges down, I won't be able to react.'

'The thing is very fast, but it doesn't displace enough Mana to be a General Stage beast. It feels a bit stronger than the beasts I saw before, but it doesn't give me the feeling of overwhelming dread that a General Stage beast does.'

Shang remembered that spider he had hidden from on his way to Warrior's Paradise. That thing had been in the General Stage, and Shang had felt absolutely helpless.

In comparison, the thing circling above him felt more like an extremely powerful Soldier Stage beast.

Shang guessed that the thing was probably just like Astor, someone a level below him that could threaten him.

However, in comparison to Astor, this thing was a beast, not a human.

While Shang knew that he couldn't win against Astor, everything was different when his opponent was a beast.

Shang specialized in killing beasts.

If Astor were a beast, Shang was confident in winning, but he would have to be very careful and not make any mistakes.

So, even though the thing was very fast, Shang knew that he had a chance. If it was a flying creature with a lot of speed, its defense and pure power probably weren't that powerful. That meant that Shang could end the fight with one strike. He only had to hit it when it charged at him.

And what if the beast was on the blacklist?

Fuck that!

Shang could run from all manners of beasts, but that thing was far faster than him. Running would most likely end in his death since one wrong dodge would kill him.

So what if he had to pay a huge fine?

He had to stay alive!

Suddenly, Shang stopped.

Another Vanishing Snake had appeared.

Shang continued standing on the spot and concentrated on his Darkness Vision.

His instincts were shouting at him, and Shang saw the Darkness Mana being displaced.

WHOOOSH!

Shang frowned.

Just like last time, the thing above Shang swooped down and killed the Vanishing Snake.

Since Shang had been prepared this time, he had seen the thing move. He had barely looked in the direction of the Vanishing Snake before he saw a green streak shoot across his vision.

Shang hadn't been able to see much detail, but he had seen green feathers.

'A green bird, huh?'

For a moment, Shang thought of the mission he had seen.

'Capture a Spear Stork.'

Spear Storks could reach the Commander Stage, and Shang had guessed that this might be a Spear Stork. That would explain its terrifying power.

However, Shang hadn't seen a long beak. In fact, he hadn't seen any beak due to the speed of the green bird, but Shang was sure that it wasn't a Spear Stork.

After all, if the green bird had a long beak, Shang would have seen it. He had only been able to see prominent features, and a long beak would have been a prominent feature, but since he saw nothing, it meant this thing didn't have a long beak.

After this event, Shang also had an inkling as to why the green bird was following him.

'It's using me as bait to catch Vanishing Snakes,' Shang thought. 'It only strikes when I can feel the Vanishing Snake too, which probably means that the Vanishing Snake needs to come out of hiding to hunt.'

'The green bird can't see the Vanishing Snakes when they hide, which is why it follows me. The Vanishing Snakes see me as their prey, which gives the green bird an opening to strike.'

Shang took a deep breath.

'However, the green bird really is terrifying. Vanishing Snakes are at the Late Soldier Stage in general, and the green bird should be on the same level. Yet, the Vanishing Snakes couldn't even defend themselves.'

'That's bad,' Shang thought. 'I came here to hunt Vanishing Snakes, but if this thing keeps killing them, I won't be able to kill any of them.'

'I might as well go to the northwestern forest if the most valuable prey in the northeastern forest is unavailable.'

Shang weighed his options.

'Forget it. I'm already too far in the northeastern forest. Turning around now would waste a ton of time. I might as well hope that the green bird gets its fill of Vanishing Snakes and goes-'

'Wait!' Shang suddenly thought with widened eyes. 'Aren't Vanishing Snakes multiplying by being eaten? Does that mean that the bird in the sky is already at death's door?'

'Is it?' Shang thought with furrowed brows. 'Why do I feel like it isn't?'

'Maybe it isn't eating the Vanishing Snakes?'

Shang concentrated on his Darkness Vision again.

Then, he searched through the surroundings for places with dense Mana.

A couple of seconds later, Shang found something.

It was the headless corpse of a translucent snake!

'Is it only eating the heads? I mean, the eggs should be in the belly at the back, not in the head.'

'Seems like the bird knows that it can't eat the entire corpse.'

Then, Shang sighed.

'Sadly, I can't turn in that corpse. It has obviously been killed by a beast, and the academy won't accept such a corpse.'

'Anyway, I should continue. I hate having this death bird flying above my head the entire time, but it probably doesn't care about me. Might as well continue.'

Was this a smart decision?

Probably not.

Most humans would have turned around. After all, the green bird was a huge unknown factor that could potentially end their lives. It was too risky to continue.

However, for some reason, Shang enjoyed this feeling of danger.

Dancing on the edge of a cliff made Shang feel awake.

He felt alive.

The mix of terror, uncertainty, and excitement brought Shang a unique feeling that he had missed inside the academy.

What was this feeling?

Shang wasn't sure, but it was the feeling of control.

Why control? This didn't seem to be related to control at all.

It meant that Shang's destiny was in his own hands.

If Shang died out here, it would be due to his own lack of skill.

There were no external factors like on Earth. On Earth, other, higher-ranked people often decided one's fate. If Shang were the most competent person for a job, he still wouldn't get it as long as the manager didn't like him.

In that situation, Shang's skills and abilities would have been easily enough to succeed, but other people had decided to take this chance away from him.

Back when Shang had still been a fighter, he had known that he had had the abilities to enter the MNFA. However, it had still taken him another year to prove himself to them.

Why had it taken so long?!

Couldn't they see how he had won every fight?!

But in this wilderness, everything was up to Shang.

His abilities were the only things that would decide his success.

And Shang was confident in his abilities.

He knew that he would survive!

And he wanted to prove that to himself.

He wanted to prove that he was in control of his life.

The more dangerous his surroundings, the more powerful he would feel after coming out victorious!

Shang didn't know all this. He only knew that he wanted to be in danger.

In his mind, he believed that the more danger he survived, the more powerful he would become.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ And that was true. Combat experience was incredibly important, and surviving difficult situations increased combat experience like nothing else.

Shang continued going towards the northeast, but he couldn't get far before something happened.

The green bird in the sky suddenly swooped down again, but it wasn't attacking Shang.

Before Shang could find the target the green bird was attacking, he heard an aggressive screech coming from it.

It was the kind of screech that a bird would use when a predator came close to its nest.

Shang looked over.

BANG!

Then, he heard the loud, explosive sound of two heavy objects hitting each other.

Shang's eyes widened.

He saw a translucent snake, but this one was different!

It was over ten meters long while the other one had only been one meter long!

The explosive sound Shang had heard had been its fangs clamping down on each other.

Luckily, the bird managed to barely evade the violent teeth.

At that moment, Shang's heart stopped.

He hadn't noticed that Vanishing Snake at all!

Not even his instincts had warned him!

But now that he saw it, he noticed the sheer amount of Mana it displaced.

'General Stage!' Shang realized.

That also explained why the green bird hadn't been able to kill it.

'What is a General Stage Vanishing Snake doing here?! I'm not that close to the Empress Cobra Zone, am I? Did it come to have its young?!'

'What shitty luck is that?!'

The bird screeched again as it hovered near the Vanishing Snake.

Then, it scratched the air with its talons.

CRK!

Shang's eyes widened when three gigantic gashes opened up on the Vanishing Snake's side!

The three gashes were deep, and blood exploded out of them.

The snake hissed and tried to bite the bird again, but the green bird flew away.

Apparently, it had decided to retreat back into the sky.

That had probably been its strongest attack, and it had fled after seeing that its target was still alive.

When Shang saw the three huge gashes on the snake, a glint appeared in his eyes.

Shang's heart pounded heavily as he made his decision.

He would kill it!

Chapter 115 Blade

Shang's heartrate sped up as he made the reckless decision to attack.

A beast in the General Stage.

He hadn't fought one before.

However, in comparison to all the other General Stage beasts Shang had met on his journey, this one felt like the weakest. Shang guessed that the other beasts had all been in the Middle or Late General Stage, while this one was most likely in the Initial General Stage.

Additionally, this was an ambush predator, and ambush predators generally weren't very good at direct combat. If their ambush failed, they would most likely flee.

And most important of all, the green bird had injured the Vanishing Snake.

Usually, Shang wouldn't try fighting against a General Beast because of his weak weapon. The body of a General Stage beast was very powerful, and Shang would have huge difficulties getting through their defenses.

But now, things were different. The Vanishing Snake had three huge gashes at the side of its body, and Shang could use these gashes to his advantage.

However, Shang couldn't be too careful in this fight.

If the Vanishing Snake were at the Peak Soldier Stage, Shang would only need to look out for its bite, but that wasn't the case with this one.

Beasts in the General Stage had true elemental powers, and Shang was certain that this snake also had one.

The Ice Spear Bear had been one of those beasts. Back then, Shang had learned that powerful beasts in the General Stage gave their offspring Mana Sources to awaken their elemental powers early.

This Vanishing Snake could probably do even crazier stuff than the Ice Spear Bear.

After mentally preparing himself, Shang shot forward.

The Vanishing Snake was still looking at the green bird that had just retreated, making this the perfect opportunity to strike for Shang.

Shang closed in, and the Vanishing Snake only noticed him after he had already reached striking distance.

Shang directly targeted the three gashes on its left side with a stab.

BANG!

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Out of nowhere, its tail suddenly struck forward with incredible speeds and hit Shang right in the chest.

Shang shot backward, but he had only received a couple of bruises. The snake had a stronger body, but it wasn't stronger to such a degree that Shang would be obliterated with one strike of its tail.

However, his attack had failed, and Shang had to plan his next attack.

After throwing Shang away, the Vanishing Snake looked at Shang, but it didn't hiss.

Shang didn't know much about snakes, but he knew a lot about beast behavior in general.

Hissing was a form of intimidation, and the snake didn't hiss.

What was the purpose of intimidation?

It was to make the enemy retreat.

So, if the snake didn't hiss, it meant that it didn't want Shang to retreat.

That could only mean that the Vanishing Snake saw Shang as its next meal, even though it had failed the ambush.

To it, Shang probably didn't feel that powerful. Because of that, in its mind, it could still kill Shang.

However, most of the snake's attention was still on the green bird. Shang felt incredibly weak to the snake, but the bird had injured it. Because of that, it always kept an eye out for the green bird.

CRRRK!

The Vanishing Snake extended its tail, and grey Mana gathered around it. In an instant, a long and thick clump of metal formed on its tail, completely encasing it.

While still keeping an eye on Shang, the Vanishing Snake put the base of its tail into its mouth. One had to remember that Vanishing Snakes had a full set of fangs instead of the two poison fangs that normal snakes had. Its teeth reminded one more of a wolf than a snake.

SHING!

Suddenly, the Vanishing Snake pulled the tail through its closed mouth. The metal that touched the inside of the Vanishing Snake's teeth became liquid and was swallowed by the Vanishing Snake, regenerating its Mana reserves.

However, the metal that touched just the edge of its teeth started to heat up as the teeth and the metal ground together.

Shang's eyes narrowed, but inside, he was shocked.

It was a bad job, but the snake still managed to shape the metal around its tail into the shape of a blade. Its tail definitely wasn't very sharp, but with its power, it didn't need that sharpness.

Earlier, Shang had received bruises by just being hit by the snake's tail. Now, even though the blade on its tail wasn't sharp, all its power would still be focused onto an edge or a tiny point.

Shang quickly realized that this was the snake's elemental power.

It had turned its back into a terrifying weapon.

This also made a lot of sense with its battle style. After all, if its ambush failed, its next course of action would be to flee, and this tail definitely helped in that. Predators would think twice about chasing something that continually pointed a long and sharp blade at them while running away. If they weren't careful, the snake could pull its body together like a spring and stab the beast chasing it.

The snake had accomplished all of this in just a single second. It had created the metal and the blade in basically an instant.

'This is troublesome,' Shang thought. 'This thing has two weapons that can strike very fast. On top of that, its weapons are far harder than my sword. I can't use my sword to block, or it will become useless. I can take out weaker beasts with only my hands, but I doubt that will be useful against this one.'

As Shang thought more about his opponent, his plan slowly changed.

'I could attempt to fight a stronger beast maybe under normal circumstances, but this one counters me due to its Affinity.'

'If I had a good weapon, I could attempt fighting it.'

Then, Shang got an idea. 'It will be risky, and it won't work forever, but it should give me a chance. After all, the snake's blade isn't like a human's weapon.'

At the moment, the snake had formed a coil with both its head and tail pointing upward. It was ready to strike with both of them if anything decided to come near.

Earlier, the green bird had had the advantage of a surprise attack, but now, the snake was ready. If the bird decided to charge at the snake again, the snake's tail would skewer it. Shang had already seen how fast the snake's tail was, and it definitely wasn't easy to avoid.

BANG!

Shang charged forward, and the snake quickly noticed his approach. It tensed its neck as it awaited his approach. Its tail was still pointing upward. Apparently, the snake kept its tail reserved for the bird that was still circling above them.

When Shang came into the snake's range, its head shot forward with all of its speed.

The strike of the snake was incredibly fast, and Shang definitely wasn't fast enough to evade or parry the strike.

However, Shang had never planned on evading.

Instead of striking, Shang kept his sword pointed upward in front of him. In comparison to normal times, Shang held his sword with both hands this time.

 

Chapter 116 Metal Mana

BANG!

Like it had hit a wall, the snake's head was stopped by the sword. The snake was long, but it wasn't incredibly massive. Its head was barely half a meter across.

Because of that, Shang was able to block the snake's head with his sword.

To paint a clearer picture, one only needed to imagine an attacking dog. The dog bit forward, but the human in front of it took a long stick and held it vertically, pushing it back. Since the dog's head was in its normal position, its mouth couldn't open wide enough to get the entire length of the stick into its mouth. Sure, if the stick were horizontal, it wouldn't be a problem.

Shang's arms shook under the weight, but the snake hadn't put its full power behind its bite. After all, it still had to keep an eye out for the green bird.

Because of that, Shang managed to keep his sword relatively straight.

When the snake's snout hit the blade, it began to bleed. The wound wasn't deep, but it had drawn blood.

BANG!

Shang stepped forward and angled his sword on the snake's head. Then, he struck upward with the handle, making the snake's head fly up. Usually, Shang wouldn't have the power to push the snake away due to the difference in power in their bodies. However, the lever principle applied here.

The snake's head was far extended, essentially putting it out of balance and putting the head far away from its center of mass. Because of that, Shang could shove the head upward.

At the same time, Shang's sword was above him, and with the step he had just taken, his stance was perfect for a devastating strike downward.

Then, Shang struck forward, cutting along the underside of the snake's jaw.

CRRRRRRRR!

Sparks flew, and a couple of scales fell off, but the snake barely bled. Its scales were simply too hard.

Shang gritted his teeth, and the snake's head quickly went back into an attacking position.

The snake bit forward again.

Shang blocked with his sword.

Whoosh!

However, the snake's head stopped and angled to the side before striking forward again.

Before it had attacked, it couldn't have been sure at which angle Shang would hold his sword this time, which was why it had stopped to fake out Shang's block.

When Shang saw the snake's head rotate, he quickly let himself fall to the ground to evade its strike.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ If his sword ended up in the snake's teeth, it would be destroyed. Sure, if Shang's sword were sharp enough to cut through the snake easily, he could have used that opportunity to split its jaw from its head. Sadly, the sword wasn't sharp enough.

BANG!

As the snakehead arrived above Shang, he punched it away with the handle of his sword again. The distance was too small, which made it impossible to slash it with his sword effectively. From such a position, Shang's sword wouldn't be able to get through the snake's defenses.

Shang quickly angled his knees so that he could shoot forward.

BANG!

Shang used all his power and charged forward. The snake's head had barely regained its control when it noticed Shang arriving near its body.

For a second, the snake thought about using its tail to strike Shang, but it was still scared of that green bird.

So, the snake moved its head towards Shang from his back. Sadly, since it didn't have the spring effect from its main body due to its head's position, it couldn't move at its normal speed.

As Shang reached its body, he noticed that the head was coming close to him again.

'This is it!'

One scratch and he would die. Vanishing Snakes had terrifying metal poison, which would immediately destroy Shang's insides if that got into his bloodstream. Because of that, he couldn't allow himself to be hit at all.

Earlier, Shang had been in a safe location. If he saw that his block wouldn't work as intended, he could have always jumped back.

Now, his retreat was cut off.

The snake's head was behind him while its tail and body were in front of him.

If Shang decided to block the snake's head again with his sword, it would most likely strike with its tail. Yes, the snake was paying attention to the bird, but if it saw a surefire way of killing its prey, it would probably take the shot.

'Let's hope this works!'

As the head closed in, Shang pointed his left arm towards it.

BANG!

Shang jumped and unleashed a Fire Blast!

The Fire Blast wasn't powerful enough to hurt the snake in any way, but the wind slowed down the head, ruining its bite, while Shang was catapulted forward.

The snake's mouth barely missed Shang's feet as his body left the ground.

Then, Shang grabbed the tail with his legs.

The snake quickly tried to bite Shang again, but Shang's nearly frozen arm unleashed an Ice Blast. Thanks to Shang's arm nearly being frozen, the Ice Blast had a lot of power behind it, ruining the snake's attack yet again.

At the same time, Shang put his sword to the metal blade in front of him.

'Show your Magic!' Shang urged in his mind.

As soon as the sword touched the blade, Shang saw his sword shine in a bright light.

In nearly an instant, all the metal around the snake's tail was gone!

'It worked! Luckily, that's not a human weapon!' Shang thought with exhilaration.

Any half-decent blacksmith added special Magic Runes to their weapons. After all, it would be ridiculous if an opponent with a Metal Affinity could just ruin their weapons.

Of course, these Magic Runes only became common at the General Stage. Because of that, Sarah's ability was still useful.

Sarah had been able to threaten Shang's sword with her ability since Shang's sword was weak. However, she wouldn't have been able to do that with Astor's weapon, for example.

Additionally, the Magic Runes didn't make the weapon completely immune to this ability but weakened it tremendously.

Luckily, the snake's blade didn't have these Magic Runes.

Because of that, Shang could use the ability of his sword to absorb the metal around its tail.

At that moment, Shang's sword gave off a terrifying amount of Metal Mana.

The snake's tail hadn't been made with natural metal but with metal created with Metal Mana.

That was a big difference!

Keeping Metal Mana in the state of solid metal ate up a lot of energy, meaning Mana. Because of that, metal constructs made out of Metal Mana didn't hold forever, and they needed a constant supply of Metal Mana to be maintained.

Because of that, Shang's sword wasn't strengthened permanently, but only until the absorbed Metal Mana inside it was used up.

After absorbing the Metal Mana, Shang put his left hand on the snake's tail and used his Darkness Absorb.

Shang's nearly destroyed arm healed at unimaginable speeds as he quickly pointed his sword towards the snake's head again.

SHING!

The snake had attacked again, but this time, Shang's sword was way sharper than before. It cut through the snake's snout for two centimeters but couldn't get through the entire bone.

Yet, it had worked, and Shang had finally managed to injure it.

But then, Shang felt himself being lifted by the tail.

At that moment, Shang was put before a crossroads.

Remain on the tail and get smashed into the ground, very likely breaking several bones, or jump off?

If he remained, he would be severely injured.

If he jumped off, he gave the snake a chance to kill him in the air.

Shang gritted his teeth and made his decision.

Chapter 117 The Last Moment

Shang let go of the tail.

BANG!

The tail slammed into the ground, destroying the earth beneath it. If Shang had kept hold of the tail, his spine would have most probably been broken. At that point, he would be unable to move, which would have been a huge issue in this fight.

As the tail hit the ground, a small explosion of blood appeared below it. Shang had consumed a huge amount of life energy from the snake's tail, making it weak. Because of that, it couldn't perfectly withstand the strong impact.

At the moment, Shang's left arm was swollen with life energy, and he felt like it was about to explode. However, that didn't matter.

Just as predicted, the snake's head shot towards Shang. It would be difficult for Shang to block that attack with his sword in his position, but he didn't plan on doing that anyway.

Shang's arm pointed downwards.

BANG! BANG!

Shang released a Fire Blast and an Ice Blast in rapid succession. The knockback of the two blasts shot him upward for a couple of meters, and the snake's attack missed.

Shang's arm was nearly destroyed again, but it quickly regenerated thanks to it being filled to the brim with life energy. In nearly an instant, Shang's arm was in peak condition again, and its life energy got depleted.

Right now, Shang was over five meters above the snake.

As Shang stopped in the air, his eyes became cold as he readied his sword.

CRRR!

A new coat of metal appeared around the snake's tail, and it sharpened the tail in an instant.

Shang had just stopped in the air when the tail had already transformed into a blade again.

Shang had already expected that this would happen.

'I can't absorb all the metal instantly during an attack. Even if I could, the sheer weight and force behind it would destroy a huge part of my body.'

The snake readied both its head and blade as it looked at Shang.

'If the head hits me, my death is certain. If the tail hits me, I won't immediately die, but I will be severely injured. I can't block both attacks at once.'

'I have to end it here!'

Shang had already anticipated this situation.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ He had been lucky that everything had gone according to plan up to now, but he couldn't trust his luck forever.

It was too dangerous to stay close to the snake. Earlier, he had to get in close in order to gain a weapon that could kill the snake, but now, he had it.

Shang also knew that he had only survived until now due to the three gashes on the snake's side. He hadn't been able to use them to injure the snake, but the gashes had probably slowed down the snake's attacks.

As Shang stopped in the air, time seemingly froze.

This instant seemed to go on forever in his mind.

It was the moment before the jump.

And then, time continued.

Shang began to fall as the snake's tail and head shot towards him from below.

'I have to kill it with this attack and survive its tail!'

Shang readied himself.

Just at that moment, a green blur arrived at the base of the snake's tail. In an instant, a terrifying blade of wind left the green blur.

CRKSH!

The terrifying sound of hard scales, bones, and flesh being destroyed echoed throughout the forest as the tail was severed.

The bird had recovered some of its Mana, and it had seen that the snake's tail had been weakened.

Because of that, the bird had swooped down while the snake had been preoccupied with Shang. Due to Shang's threat, the snake had forgotten to pay attention to the bird. A human might have remembered the bird, but the beast didn't.

Shang's eyes shone when he saw the tail falling to the side.

He hadn't expected that the green bird would strike right now, but he welcomed it.

Apparently, the bird still held a grudge for its failure to kill the Vanishing Snake earlier.

For just an instant, the snake got distracted by the searing pain.

At that moment, Shang saw his chance.

He pointed his left arm towards the sky.

BANG! BANG!

His regenerated arm unleashed a Fire and Ice Blast.

In an instant, Shang reached incredible speeds as he directly shot toward the snake's head.

He couldn't allow it to recover its focus!

In the instant in which the snake had lost its focus, Shang's shooting body reached its head.

And then, Shang struck.

CRRRRRK!

Shang's sword punched through the snake's mouth, destroying the entire thing.

However, the snake's skull eventually stopped the sword. Even with the upgrade, the sword wasn't powerful enough to cut through the entire head.

Shang's body hit the snake's head after his sword. The force of his body was too much for his arms to block.

BANG!

Shang and the snake's head fell to the ground.

Luckily for Shang, the injuries of the snake's head made its face rather mushy, cushioning Shang's impact.

For an instant, Shang couldn't breathe, but he was used to this sensation by now.

In a panic, the Vanishing Snake's head quickly lifted as a distorted sounding wind came out of the bleeding chunks that were once its mouth.

It was attempting to hiss.

At the same time, the Vanishing Snake quickly turned away.

And then, it fled.

It had lost its tail and its teeth. All its weapons were destroyed.

It had to regenerate!

Shang quickly managed to get his breathing under control again as he stood up.

Just before Shang chased after the snake, the screech of the green bird could be heard as it arrived beside the fleeing Vanishing Snake.

It had seen that its prey was injured and that it had lost all of its most dangerous weapons. Because of that, the green bird began to attack the snake violently.

The snake tried to throw the bird to the side by throwing its head around, but the bird easily evaded these weak and slow attacks.

As Shang chased after the fleeing snake, he finally got a good look at the green bird.

It had massive wings and powerful, long talons. The upper part of its beak was curved at the end, creating a sharp hook.

'An eagle,' Shang thought.

The green eagle scratched the snake's head with its talons endlessly. At some point, it even managed to grab the snake with its talons and started to ram its beak into the snake's head.

However, the Vanishing Snake didn't get many injuries. Without Mana, the green eagle couldn't easily get through the Vanishing Snake's scales.

The snake thrashed around under the attacks, trying everything in its power to get rid of the green eagle.

"Move!" Shang shouted as he arrived beside the snake.

The bird noticed Shang, screeched, and flew off again.

Under the barrage of the attack, the snake hadn't heard Shang's shout, which made it oblivious to his presence.

Shang had arrived beside the snake's head, his sword lifted high above his body.

And then, he struck down with all of his power.

BANG!

The sword hit the snake's neck, cutting through the scales and flesh. When it hit the snake's vertebrae, it stopped, but the sheer force of the attack fractured the vertebrae.

In its panic, the snake moved its head around erratically, which made the splinters of the bone dig into its marrow.

The Vanishing Snake's movements turned into spasming as it lost control over nearly its entire body.

Shang lifted his sword again and struck the snake's neck again.

BANG!

The snake's body seized once more before its movements became very small and weak.

Its eyes were wide open, and blood was flowing out of its mouth.

Silence.

Shang took a deep breath.

'It's over.'

Chapter 118 More Potential

For a moment, Shang only looked at the corpse of the General Stage Vanishing Snake.

The fight had been very risky. If Shang had even been scratched by its teeth, he would have died. Its metal poison was just too powerful.

During the fight, it had seemed that Shang was in control most of the time, but that control had been flimsy. One small slipup and it would have been the end.

However, as Shang looked at the corpse, a deep feeling of excitement and satisfaction appeared inside his chest.

He had killed his first General Stage beast.

Sure, the beast was bad in a direct confrontation, it had been injured previously, Shang had help, and it had been distracted for a big part of the fight, but Shang had still won.

Shang looked at his sword. 'I really need to focus on my sword. This boost will only work for a short time, and I need to strengthen it permanently. In the beginning, I haven't even truly been able to injure it.'

'Right now, my weapon is my biggest weakness. Fights where my weapon isn't in danger, aren't dangerous, and in dangerous fights, my weapon is always in danger.'

Suddenly, Shang's eyes shot to the head of the snake.

The green eagle had landed on the snake's head, looking at Shang.

Shang had seen how the green eagle had eaten all the previous Vanishing Snakes' heads, and he knew that the bird wanted to consume this one too.

The bird was at the Late Soldier Stage, one level below Shang, but its help had been imperative in Shang's fight with the snake.

If Shang and the bird had a falling out, who would win?

Shang wasn't sure.

However, he was sure of one thing.

The fight wouldn't end quickly, and Shang would probably be chased by the bird for a long time.

Shang knew that the bird was far faster than him. Not even the snake had been able to chase the bird.

If Shang missed his opportunity, the green eagle would fly away and wait in the air until Shang became distracted.

In the end, Shang sighed as he took a couple of steps back.

'Even if I could kill it with confidence, I would feel bad about killing it,' Shang thought. 'I can be cruel to my enemies, but this eagle isn't my enemy.'

Shang put his sword away as he showed that he wouldn't fight over the corpse.

If the bird were a human, Shang would negotiate with them about gaining about half the corpse. Sadly, the bird was a beast.

If Shang suddenly started pulling or cutting on the corpse, the eagle might view that action as an attack, and that would spell trouble for Shang.

Sometimes, stupidity and stubbornness win.

The bird looked at Shang for a bit.

Then, its eyes went to the Vanishing Snake's head.

Shang could see the hunger and desire in the green eagle's eyes.

This meal would catapult it to the Peak Soldier Stage, at least.

The eagle looked at the head for a bit longer.

Then, it slowly moved its beak to the head and lightly tapped it twice.

And it flew away.

Shang looked at the green eagle's leaving figure with surprise and a bit of confusion.

'Why would the green eagle not want the corpse?' Shang thought.

For a while, Shang only looked at the corpse.

Then, he got an idea.

'It might sound ridiculous, but what if the green eagle didn't consume the corpse out of pride? The eagle doesn't seem like a pack beast. Does it only consume prey that it killed on its own?'

At that moment, Shang heard the sound of flesh being torn apart in the distance, and he immediately realized what had happened.

'I think I'm right!' Shang thought. 'The green eagle went to the place where the snake's tail had been cut off. By the sounds of it, it's currently tearing the tail apart and eating it.'

'It has severed the tail, but it hasn't killed the snake. Because of that, it only wants to eat the tail.'

At that moment, Shang narrowed his eyes.

'That is a terrifying mindset,' he thought, 'and it also explains how the eagle can be so powerful at such a level. It only eats beasts it has killed by itself. On top of that, I can't forget that it had actually attacked a General Stage beast.'

'The green eagle definitely knew that the Vanishing Snake was far stronger than all the other ones it had seen, but it still decided to attack. Just like me, it has searched for a dangerous fight that pushes it forward.'

'It will become a dangerous beast in the future. I only hope it's not the kind that attacks humans.'

'Well, I mean, it didn't attack me. So, it probably isn't that kind.'

Shang slowly walked over to the dead Vanishing Snake. 'I wonder how much a General Stage Vanishing Snake is worth.'

Shang extended his left arm towards the Vanishing Snake to shove it into his beast sack, but he grimaced when he felt a searing pain shoot through it.

For a moment, Shang was distracted by his injured left arm.

'My new Affinities have increased my Battle-Strength by quite a lot. Sure, using my Blasts twice in quick succession will nearly destroy my arm, but I also have a way to regenerate its condition without using my Mana. I only have to touch my opponent.'

Shang thought about how he had used his left arm in the fight.

'At the moment, its Blasts aren't very useful in terms of damaging my opponent, but they are very useful when it comes to moving around. I can use them to unexpectedly move around in the air, suddenly stop, or suddenly accelerate above my peak speed.'

'My Blasts haven't done any damage to the snake, but they have allowed me to close in on the snake and deal a fatal strike in the end.'

Shang's eyes narrowed.

'However, is that all my Affinity can do? I don't think so.'

'With my additional Affinities, I also understand my Affinity more. I don't have an Ice or Fire Affinity, but an Affinity for converting the two.'

'The Mana that gets unleashed in my Blasts has to come from somewhere, and it doesn't come from my body. So, it can only come from the surroundings.'

'However, the surroundings have all kinds of Mana, and the heightened density of any kind of Mana won't increase the effect of my Blasts. Because of that, I can safely assume that my Mana isn't using the Ice or Fire Mana in the atmosphere.'

'Instead, it's using the normal Mana.'

'As far as I can tell, my arm can split normal Mana into Fire Mana and Ice Mana. When I use my Ice Blast, my left arm absorbs normal Mana and converts it into Fire and Ice Mana. The Ice Mana gets expelled while the Fire Mana heats up my arm.'

'The more power I put into the Blast, the more Mana gets split apart. Because of that, the Blast also becomes more powerful.'

'Usually, that would make the Blast only as powerful as what my arm can handle.'

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Shang's eyes shone.

'However, if I concentrate it, the effect will be different.'

'If a kid attacks an adult with a stick, the adult only gets annoyed. However, if the same kid uses a knife, the adult gets injured. The force behind both attacks are about the same since it's the kid unleashing the attacks, but one of them is way more dangerous than the other one.'

'The answer is concentration! The smaller the point of impact, the more effective the attack.'

'I can heat and cool a huge part of the air a little bit, or heat and cool a small part of the air a lot.'

'The knockback won't be as powerful since less air is being pushed to the side, but the Blast will have actual damage potential.'

'When I'm back at the academy, I should try if I can do that.'

For a moment, Shang wasn't sure how he should feel.

On one hand, Shang now had even more things to train, increasing his workload.

However, on the other hand, Shang now had even more things to train, giving him more opportunities and options to increase his power.

Shang thought about his left arm for a bit longer, but he quickly came back to reality as he realized that he was still in a rather dangerous forest.

Shang stopped thinking about his Affinity and shoved the General Stage Vanishing Snake into his beast sack.

Chapter 119 Idiot

The snake wasn't that big. Sure, it weighed a couple hundred kilograms, but Shang could pull that weight with relative ease. It was still annoying, and it definitely slowed him down, but Shang didn't need to constantly take breaks.

Luckily, the beast sacks were made to handle such weight and even more. They were way better than the shitty garbage bags on Earth.

When Shang put the corpse away, he decided to go to the north.

Why?

Because he had already met a General Stage beast.

Since Shang had always gone towards the northeast, he couldn't be close to the Wasteland, which meant that the General Stage beast didn't come from there. Obviously, it came from the Empress Cobra Zone.

So, instead of directly traveling towards the Empress Cobra Zone, Shang decided to go directly north, towards the border of the Empress Cobra Zone and the Ice Wyvern Zone. Different kinds of elemental Mana were mixing on the border, making the area less interesting to more powerful beasts. Powerful beasts preferred Mana that had their Affinity.

Shang had the corpse of a General Stage Vanishing Snake, but he doubted that this corpse would last him forever.

He obviously needed more Contribution Points, and since he was already here, he decided to continue hunting.

He wouldn't waste any time this night.

After Shang had traveled for five minutes, he noticed that the green eagle was no longer following him. Apparently, it had had its fill, and it was no longer interested in using Shang as bait for Vanishing Snakes.

Jumping from tree to tree became harder with the added weight, and Shang definitely made more noise than before, but he could still hunt.

Shang had the speed advantage over nearly every other beast, and when he saw one, he simply dropped the beast sack to charge after it.

Since night had finally arrived, Shang found way more Pest Cats.

In fact, Shang found one nearly every three minutes, which was crazy in his mind.

'No wonder they're called Pest Cats. They are literally everywhere!'

Of course, it was mainly thanks to Shang's Darkness Affinity that he was able to find all these Pest Cats. Pest Cats moved very stealthily in the night, and they were great at hiding.

However, since they all attracted Darkness Mana, Shang could find them rather easily.

As Shang continued going towards the north, he saw fewer and fewer Swamp Millipedes but more and more Pest Cats.

Shang was only going towards the north to avoid the General Stage beasts from the Empress Cobra Zone, but he didn't know that there would also be far fewer beasts from the Empress Cobra Zone in general.

But why?

Swamp Millipedes converted their surroundings into swamps, right? So, why would they enter the Wild Forest in the Storm Eagle Zone but avoid the border with the Ice Wyvern Zone?

The reason was the Ice Mana.

But wait, that also didn't make much sense. Ice was basically just another form of water, right? The Poison Affinity was made of the Darkness and Water Affinities. Why would the Poison Affinity beasts avoid that?

Because of conversion.

To destroy an element or Affinity, one didn't necessarily need the opposite element or Affinity.

If one drop of water touched a bigger sheet of ice, it would most likely turn to ice. If a small piece of ice were thrown into a bucket of water, it would most likely turn to water.

Because of that, the density of Water Mana at the border between the Empress Cobra Zone and the Ice Wyvern Zone was far lower.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ In comparison, the Wind Mana in the Storm Eagle Zone didn't really interact with the Water or Darkness Mana from the Empress Cobra Zone. These kinds of Mana could coexist without clashing.

Because of that, the Swamp Millipedes preferred the Storm Eagle Zone over the Ice Wyvern Zone.

Sadly, Shang didn't know that. In his trip towards the north, he also wanted to hunt Swamp Millipedes, but he would be doomed to not find another one for the remainder of the night.

But instead, Shang found a lot of Pest Cats. Every single one of them was still worth 20 Contribution Points, and Shang definitely wouldn't refuse that.

Shang had just harvested another two ears and went back to his beast sack when his instincts suddenly screamed at him.

CLINK!

Shang jumped to the side out of reflex, and he felt something strafe past his side, hitting part of his uniform.

At that moment, Shang's heart nearly stopped.

Just now, a Vanishing Snake had attacked him.

Shang had evaded with incredible speed and reflexes, but the snake had also been very quick. Because of that, its teeth had scratched Shang's uniform.

For an instant, Shang felt like his death had arrived.

But then, he quickly recovered, gritted his teeth, and attacked the Vanishing Snake.

SHING!

The snake was cleanly cut in half as Shang released all his terror, shock, and anger.

Shang's heartrate had shot through the roof as he felt that he had just dodged death by a hair.

'My uniform saved my life,' Shang thought in terror as cold sweat ran down his back.

The uniform of the academy could block a Mid Soldier Stage attack at the sides and a Peak Soldier Stage attack near the heart.

The Vanishing Snake had been at the Late Soldier Stage.

If it had managed to actually bite down on Shang or his uniform, the uniform wouldn't have provided much protection, but since Shang had managed to jump to the side, the snake's teeth had only barely scratched it. Because of that, his uniform had been able to block the attack.

Shang would already be dead if that incident had happened with the General Stage Vanishing Snake.

For a moment, Shang only tried to come to terms with what had just happened.

'I nearly died.'

'I nearly died!'

Shang gritted his teeth in frustration and anger.

At whom were the frustration and anger directed?

At himself, of course.

'I walked through the forest recklessly, only looking for Pest Cats and Swamp Millipedes. After killing the General Stage Vanishing Snake, I also didn't fear the normal Vanishing Snakes anymore. After all, why would I care about these weak Vanishing Snakes when I have already killed the big one?'

'I'm fucking stupid!'

'I'm a fucking idiot!'

'So what if I killed a much more powerful variant? One good attack from a Vanishing Snake, and I will still be a goner!'

'That I survived that attack just now is way luckier than me surviving the battle against the General Stage Vanishing Snake!'

'I'm literally only alive because of the protection the academy gave me, free of charge!'

'I never relied on the protection of my uniform, but I'm only alive thanks to that uniform now!'

'I've become careless.'

At the moment, Shang didn't even think about the 2,000 Contribution Points of this Vanishing Snake.

All his focus was on his surroundings and his frustration with himself.

'I can accept dying in a fight, but I can't accept dying in such a stupid way!'

'Shang! Pay attention! You are not the strongest! You can still die in here! Don't fucking forget that, you fucking idiot!' Shang mentally screamed at himself.

After urging his brain to remember to pay attention for some more seconds, Shang took a deep breath and sighed.

'I can't become careless now.'

After some more seconds of calming down, Shang shoved the Vanishing Snake into his beast sack and continued towards the north.

Chapter 120 Teacher

Shang continued traveling towards the north for another two hours, killing tons of Pest Cats on his way.

Sadly, he hadn't met another Vanishing Snake in these two hours. Now, he was ready for them, and they decided not to show up.

After these two hours, Shang turned around and traveled towards the southwest.

About half the night had already passed, and Shang was rather certain that he would need the remainder of the night to exit the Wild Forest, especially with the added weight of his beast sack.

For the next couple of hours, Shang killed Pest Cats while going towards the southwest, and finally, he also found another Vanishing Snake.

This encounter wasn't nearly as dangerous as the previous one. When Shang had noticed it, he slowed down a bit but kept running. After the Vanishing Snake appeared in Shang's darkness vision, he immediately dropped his beast sack and charged toward it, killing it rather quickly.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Shang killed a couple more Pest Cats before he noticed that he found fewer and fewer of them.

And then, he saw none of them anymore.

Shortly after, Shang came out of the Wild Forest.

As Shang exited the Wild Forest, he saw that the sky in the east was slowly beginning to light up, which meant that dawn would soon arrive.

In front of Shang were lots of fields growing wheat.

'The Farm Line, huh? Seems like I went quite far into the north.'

Shang searched for a way through the fields and continued walking towards the west. For once, he decided to stroll instead of run. He had run nearly the entire night, and he wanted to relax for a bit. Additionally, it had been a while since Shang had walked through such fields.

These fields of wheat reminded Shang of home. He hadn't always lived in the city, and these fields of wheat reminded him of his childhood.

Suddenly, a large shadow appeared beside Shang.

BANG!

Shang jumped to the side with all his power, shaking the ground beneath him.

At the same time, Shang heard the startled yelp of a dog from the shadow as it also jumped back.

Only now did Shang notice that this was just one of the guarding dogs in the Farm Line. The huge shadow and the weight of Mana inside the shadow had startled Shang.

Of course, the dog hadn't anticipated for Shang to jump away, resulting in it also getting startled.

Another two dogs, a couple of houses down, lifted their ears as they looked towards the dog beside Shang.

When they saw that nothing of note was happening, they only put their heads down to sleep again.

The startled dog looked at Shang with eyes that he interpreted as accusing.

It was like the dog was blaming Shang for startling it.

"Don't sneak up on me like that," Shang said after a sigh.

Who wouldn't get startled by a two-meter-high beast shadow suddenly appearing beside them?

'It probably smelled the General Stage Vanishing Snake in my beast sack and became curious. The dogs are probably specially trained to kill these kinds of snakes since they are the biggest danger to the Farm Line.'

After sniffing the beast sack from a distance for a little bit, the dog turned around and left.

'Well, there goes the relaxing atmosphere,' Shang thought as he started jogging. While strolling through the fields, Shang had felt quite calm. He had just come from a dangerous location with several dangerous encounters while carrying a lot of wealth on his shoulders. That had made the stroll rather enjoyable.

But now, all the joy was gone.

Shang had lost the mood and sped up as he jogged towards Warrior's Paradise.

It took him quite a while with the added weight, and before he knew it, he saw other people running beside him towards Warrior's Paradise.

Shang saw a lot of students who looked at his beast sack with interest.

However, they were used to such sights, which made them interested but not interested enough to strike up a conversation.

Shang also passed by a lot of other students and teachers without saying a word. He didn't want to waste any time since the streets would only become busier, and he definitely wasn't interested in entering a traffic jam during rush hour.

"Wait!"

Shang suddenly heard the voice of a woman, and he somehow felt like it was directed at him.

Shang stopped and turned around.

He hadn't paid any attention, but Shang had passed by a woman with long black hair and a silver uniform. She looked like she was in her late twenties, and there was an interested but distant look in her eyes as she looked at Shang.

"Yes, teacher?" Shang asked.

In comparison to many of the other teachers, this woman wasn't accompanied by any students.

Obviously, she wasn't a very sociable person.

That was also why many other students became interested in why she had stopped Shang.

"Come over here for a second," she said, gesturing for Shang to come over.

Shang's brows furrowed, but he complied. After all, she was far stronger than him, and she was also his teacher.

She extended her hand to the beast sack on Shang's shoulder and moved her finger over it. Then, she put the finger to her nose and smelled it.

After that, her brows furrowed.

"I want to see the corpse," she said.

"Of what?" Shang asked.

"You know what I mean," she said with annoyance.

This piqued the interest of the other students.

A corpse that their teacher was interested in? That had to be a special corpse!

Shang's brows furrowed even more. "Why?" he asked.

"Because we have to note down every appearance of them," she explained. "They are an important indicator for the status of the northeastern Wild Forest."

This alleviated Shang's trepidation.

It made sense. The General Stage Vanishing Snakes laid their eggs in the Wild Forest to avoid the predators in the Empress Cobra Zone. That meant that there was always a certain distance between the Empress Cobra Zone and the location of the eggs.

If the General Stage Vanishing Snakes went further into the Wild Forest, it might mean that the Swamp Millipedes had claimed a bigger part of the Wild Forest than before.

Shang looked at the interested eyes of the other students.

"Fine, but I don't want to show it to the public," he said.

The teacher gestured to the western Wild Forest. They hadn't yet arrived at the slope to Warrior's Paradise, which meant that they could just run a couple of kilometers to the west to enter the Wild Forest.

Shang and the teacher ran towards the west and entered the Wild Forest while the students on the path were annoyed that they wouldn't be able to witness the corpse.

Why had Shang decided to hide the corpse?

Because he wanted to keep his strength a secret.

The less attention there was on him, the easier his life would be.

After entering the Wild Forest, the teacher stopped. "No one will spy on you here," she said.

Shang put the beast sack down, put his hand into the sack, and pulled out the corpse of the General Stage Vanishing Snake.

When she saw the corpse, her eyes narrowed.

Then, her eyes went towards Shang, his sword, and back to the corpse.

For a second, her brows furrowed in confusion, but then she noticed the lower part of the snake's neck.

Three large gashes were there.

At that point, a light of recognition lit up in her eyes.

"Seems like you had some help."