Ch. 121..130

Chapter 121 Celebrity Autograph

"Yes," Shang answered. "What kind of beast is that green eagle? It was in the Late Soldier Stage, but it was able to damage a General Stage beast to this degree with only a single attack."

"First, I want to know what happened to the green eagle," the teacher ordered. "Don't omit any detail."

Shang frowned, but he complied. "The green eagle was the one that found the snake. I can feel the approach of the weaker variants, but I hadn't felt the approach of this one."

"The eagle attacked, but it failed in its assault and released that powerful attack before retreating," Shang said as he pointed at the three gashes. "I decided that this is the best opportunity to earn some money and combat experience, which is why I attacked the snake."

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ "Near the end of the fight, the green eagle returned and severed the tail. After that, I killed the snake. I saw that the green eagle was a huge threat to my safety, which is why I didn't want to fight over the corpse with it. However, funnily enough, it just let the corpse lay there and ate the tail instead."

"I haven't seen it since."

The teacher looked into Shang's eyes for a while, trying to make sure that Shang wasn't lying.

Then, she nodded. "Everything you said makes sense."

The teacher stood up and stepped away from the corpse, looking at Shang. "It's good that you didn't attack it."

"What kind of beast is it?" Shang asked.

"Progeny of the Storm Eagle," she answered.

"The… Storm Eagle?" Shang asked in shock.

The Storm Eagle!?

The very beast that had this Zone named after it?

The very beast that could kill all the humans if it wanted to?

The teacher nodded. "Its young keep flying around in this area. It has a couple of them, and you met the youngest. Luckily for us, they don't attack humans."

"Of course, that means that we also are forbidden from attacking them. The last time a human had killed one of the Storm Eagle's young, the Storm Eagle went on a rampage."

The teacher pointed in the direction of Warrior's Paradise.

"This city was built after the Storm Eagle's last rampage, but it isn't the first version of Warrior's Paradise. There have been a couple of them before, but as you can guess, when the Storm Eagle got angry, they stopped existing."

Shang took a deep breath.

If he had decided to kill the green eagle, and if he had succeeded…

"Now you get why I am so interested in the Storm Eagle's young's whereabouts," the teacher added. "I'm not interested in being turned to dust anytime soon."

Shang nodded, but he also fell into thought.

The Storm Eagle's young.

That also explained the discipline and sheer power of the green eagle.

It came from the most powerful beast that Shang knew of, which meant that it was already destined for greatness.

However, greatness could only be realized with hard work and discipline. The young eagle had shown hard work by attacking a General Stage beast, and it had shown discipline by not consuming something it hadn't killed.

Just based on its bloodline, the green eagle was already a prodigy beyond compare, but on top of that, it was working and training intensely.

It was a perfect beast.

And then, Shang remembered something.

"It ate the tail," Shang said. "What about the eggs?"

The teacher lightly kicked a part near the end of the corpse. "Right here," she said.

That made Shang release a sigh of relief.

"Tell me where you found the snake," the teacher ordered. "We need to document where the adult ones appear."

Her voice pulled Shang out of his thoughts, and he recounted his journey up to where he had found the snake.

After he was done, the teacher combed her long black hair with her fingers, her eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"It's a bit further than normal, but it isn't crazily out of place," she muttered. Then, she looked at Shang with slightly narrowed eyes. "Why did you decide to go that far into the northeastern forest? Was your goal a General Stage beast from the very beginning?"

"I'm not suicidal," Shang answered. "If I had known that a General Stage Vanishing Snake could appear there, I wouldn't have gone there. If the green eagle hadn't been there, I would have died without even noticing."

The teacher furrowed her brows, but then she noticed something. "I don't recognize you. Have you been in my class?"

Shang shook his head. "I only joined a couple of days ago, and I have only visited one class up to now."

"That explains things," she said. "Listen. Yes, the Wild Forest is a Rank One wilderness, but that doesn't mean that you can't find the occasionally General Stage beasts there. Especially the older ones need to go there to have their young."

"In the northeastern Wild Forest, you can find the occasional adult Vanishing Snake, Poison Toad, Ancient Slug, and Mud Pangolin. Not only will they most likely kill you, but the latter two are even on the blacklist."

"If you want to hunt in the northeastern Wild Forest, don't go further than the spot where you found the Vanishing Snake. That spot should be your cutoff point for the northeastern and southern directions."

"From that point onward, you can draw a straight line north until the end. Everything east of that is dangerous territory, while everything left of that is relatively safe."

While explaining, the teacher drew a couple of lines in the dirt to show a map. Then, she drew a line through the map, starting at the bottom left corner and ending in the middle of the top, separating the map into two parts.

"You can safely hunt in these 40% of the map," she said, tapping on the northwestern part of the northeastern forest. "The remainder is dangerous."

Shang looked at the map and burned it into his mind. "Thanks," he said.

"I would advise you to enter my class first before going hunting again. You obviously don't know anything about the wilderness around here, and it shows. I'm teaching the beast knowledge class," she said.

Shang nodded. He had already expected something like that.

The teacher had given off a threatening, solitary, and explosive aura since the very beginning. When Shang had seen her, he had immediately been reminded of that one scout he had met on his journey to Warrior's Paradise.

"I will keep that in mind, teacher," Shang answered.

The teacher nodded. "I would advise against handing that corpse over to the academy," she suddenly said.

Shang furrowed his brows. "Why?"

"Under normal circumstances, it would be in your best interest to give nearly everything to the academy since Contribution Points are more valuable to you. However!"

The teacher lightly tapped on the three gashes on the snake's side.

"The value of this corpse goes beyond its materials," she said.

Shang looked at the three gashes in confusion.

"People all over the world are in awe of the Storm Eagle," she continued. "However, nearly no one is insane enough to capture one of its young or steal from them. Because of that, finding something that one of the Storm Eagle's young had left a mark in is very rare, and there are several wealthy individuals in the world that collect these things."

Shang's eyes widened.

That actually made sense!

If a celebrity on Earth had owned something before, its worth would increase.

'So, these three gashes are basically an autograph?' Shang thought.

Chapter 122 Teacher Niria

"How much should I ask for?" Shang asked.

"No less than 2,000 gold," the teacher said.

Shang's eyes widened.

2,000 gold?!

He had 27!

The overpriced ore in the academy was worth only around 200 gold!

"How much would it be worth under normal circumstances?" Shang asked in shock.

"Around 500 gold," the teacher said, "and that's considering its rough condition. A well-preserved corpse can go for 800."

"And the young ones?" Shang asked.

"Around 50 gold," she said. "You can't compare Soldier Stage beasts with General Stage beasts. Why do you think there are so many hunters here? General Stage beasts are worth a lot of money."

Normal Vanishing Snakes were already at the Late Soldier Stage, while the adult variant was at the Initial General Stage. Yet, that already increased the price by more than a matter of ten!

Shang remembered the reason why the academy wanted collateral of five gold for every special exam.

Sure enough, powerful warriors could earn money easily.

"Go to the Curio Trinket in Warrior's Paradise. It's a shop at the edge of the market. They should be interested in that corpse," the teacher said. "Tell them teacher Niria sent you."

That surprised Shang. "Why are you helping me to this degree? This doesn't sound like the normal kind of help."

"I can respect potential and power," teacher Niria said neutrally. "Additionally, you might not know it, but we are connected."

"Connected?" Shang asked.

"When you realize what I mean, and if you are willing to trust me, you can ask me after class, but I won't elaborate on that matter," she said. "You have your way, and I have my way."

This threw Shang for a loop.

He had no idea what she was talking about.

Obviously, she wasn't romantically interested in him. Shang saw absolutely no signs of attraction in teacher Niria's demeanor. On top of that, they had just met.

Either she was crazy, or she knew something that Shang didn't.

'Is the dean not the only other person from Earth?' Shang thought.

"I will go back to the academy," teacher Niria said.

Shang had questions, but he saw in Niria's demeanor that she wasn't interested in talking anymore.

"Thank you again, teacher," he said.

Teacher Niria nodded once and left.

Now, Shang was alone again, and he looked at the corpse of the snake in confusion.

He still had no idea what she was talking about.

In the end, Shang gave up trying to find the reason for her words.

He grabbed a second beast sack and shoved the corpse into it. Since he would now sell the corpse to someone else, he decided to separate the corpse from the ears and feelers.

After that, Shang went back to the street, and he saw a great number of wagons and people walking on the street. He had spent quite a bit of time in the forest with teacher Niria, and rush hour had arrived.

Shang could only sigh and entered the busy street.

He had to walk slower due to all the traffic, but the traffic still wasn't as bad as Shang had thought.

Shang looked to the side at the ridiculous width of the street. Who even made a road that's an entire kilometer wide?

But now, Shang saw that over half of the road's width was used up.

'How is Warrior's Paradise not overflowing with stuff with so many wares arriving every single morning?' Shang thought.

A while later, Shang arrived in front of the widely opened gates. Several big crystals were around the gate. They looked like they were supposed to give off light, but they didn't right now.

Shang quickly realized what these crystals were there for when he noticed that the guards didn't even inspect any of the wares entering the city.

'I guess these crystals are kind of like a metal detector, but for illegal goods, maybe?' he thought.

When Shang had arrived during the night, someone had gone through his stuff manually. Operating the crystals probably cost a lot of Mana, and it probably wasn't worth it to keep them running throughout the night.

In the end, just like everyone else, Shang entered the city without being stopped.

The streets became far more crowded, and Shang had to slow down a lot until he eventually stopped.

Now, this was a real traffic jam.

However, Shang quickly noticed that he was the only actual person stuck in the traffic jam. The other people in the traffic jam all rode carriages and other kinds of vehicles.

Shang looked around and found some people walking along the side of the road.

'Wait. They actually have sidewalks? How did I never notice that?'

Shang looked around and then awkwardly moved towards the sidewalk.

Freed from the traffic jam, Shang jogged toward the marketplace.

Just like always, the marketplace was filled to the brim with wares, stalls, and merchants.

Shang walked along the edges of the marketplace since teacher Niria had said that the Curio Trinket was near the edge.

And, sure enough, Shang eventually found the shop.

In comparison to nearly all the shops, the Curio Trinket was inside an actual building and not some stall or shed.

Shang didn't see any people in front of the shop, which surprised him a bit.

Nevertheless, Shang still entered.

Inside the Curio Trinket, Shang saw many rings, amulets, crystals, and other kinds of, well, trinkets. The name sure was fitting.

Shang saw no other customers.

"You're in the wrong shop," someone shouted from the back of the shop. "We don't trade in beasts."

Obviously, the person in the back of the shop had noticed the beast sack on Shang's back.

"Teacher Niria sent me," Shang answered.

"Huh?" the person in the back of the shop uttered, and the head of a young man peeked over the corner. "Teacher Niria? She doesn't normally send proxies."

"Well, she told me to contact you," Shang said.

The man furrowed his brows and stood up. After that, he came out of the backroom.

He had red hair and wore red robes. On top of that, Shang felt a lot of Fire Mana coming from the person.

'That should be a Fire Adept,' Shang thought. 'There aren't that many Fire Mages in Warrior's Paradise.'

'That also explains why no one is here. If this shop has a Fire Adept as their clerk, they probably don't sell cheap stuff.'

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Someone like a Fire Adept could earn a ton of money just by going into the Wasteland and killing any random General Stage beast. So, since this Fire Adept wasn't doing that, it probably meant that he earned more by being a clerk in this shop.

"Did she get another interesting beast?" the Fire Adept asked with a bit of interest.

"I thought you said you don't trade in beasts," Shang said.

"I say that to everyone since it takes too long to explain to them what we are interested in when it comes to beasts," the Fire Adept explained. "Now, show me what she's killed this time."

The Fire Adept walked to a large table at the side of the room and knocked on it to show Shang where to put the corpse.

Shang walked over and put the corpse on the table.

As soon as Shang let go of the beast sack, it opened on its own, revealing its contents.

When the Fire Adept saw the General Stage Vanishing Snake, he furrowed his brows. Then, he looked at Shang. "Why should I care about a Vanishing Snake?" he asked with annoyance.

Shang only gestured to the three gashes.

The Fire Adept looked at the three gashes with furrowed brows.

Then, a glint of recognition appeared in his eyes.

"Oh, now we're talking," he said with a smirk.

After saying that, the Fire Adept closely examined the corpse with many different instruments.

A couple of minutes later, when he was done, he put the instruments away with a smirk.

"Sure enough, Niria killed this one. Her handiwork is unmistakable," he commented.

Shang blinked a couple of times in confusion.

He was pretty sure that he was the one that killed the snake.

"How do you know?" Shang asked.

"Client confidentiality," the Fire Adept answered with a smirk. "You might have been sent by her, but I won't give up the secrets of our clients."

"How do 1,800 gold sound?" he asked.

"Teacher Niria also told me what I should ask for," Shang added.

The smirk on the Fire Adept's face vanished.

"Fine," he said with a sigh.

SHING!

Four sacks appeared near the table, two big ones, and two small ones.

"Take your 2,200 gold," he said.

Shang nodded and took the gold.

"Happy doing business with you," the Fire Adept said with less enthusiasm while taking care of the corpse.

Shang nodded. "Thank you."

And he left the store with his new wealth.

Once again, he was rich.

The dangerous fight sure had been worth it.

Chapter 123 Psychopath

After Shang left the Curio Trinket, he paused.

'Teacher Niria seems to be really good at bartering. She told me that I should accept no less than 2,000 gold, but as soon as I told the guy that teacher Niria told me what I should accept, he gave me more. Glad I didn't make a direct offer.'

Shang looked at the second beast sack he was carrying. He had decided to mask his gold by putting it into a second beast sack. He didn't want anyone to become suspicious of his wealth. Additionally, Shang had entered the shop with two beast sacks, and he was now exiting with two beast sacks. It would look like his trade had failed.

No one knew that the contents of the second beast sack had changed to pure gold.

After exiting the shop, Shang directly traveled to the academy. An unknown teacher was guarding the gate, and Shang gave them a quick greeting before entering.

Shang directly walked toward the main building. He wanted to put the gigantic sack of gold away first.

Sadly, things didn't go as smoothly as he had expected.

As soon as Shang approached the main building, his eyes narrowed.

He had noticed three boys looking at his beast sacks, and Shang had also noticed that they seemed rather tense. They were all around 16 or 17 years old, which meant that they were well in the Middle Soldier Stage.

Ironically, this was the most dangerous spot to be in.

At that level, the students would no longer belong to the truly weak ones, but they also wouldn't have enough experience to tell if someone was truly dangerous or not. Because of that, the Intermediate Grade had the most fights.

And the grade that suffered the most was the Beginner Grade.

The Intermediate Grade would most often target 14- and 15-year-old students. These students could earn a lot of money, but they were also far weaker and less experienced than the students in the Intermediate Grade.

Because of that, the Beginner Grade was the most horrible grade to be in, thanks to the Intermediate Grade.

However, the Intermediate Grade was walking on a tightrope. They could probably dominate over 90% of all people in the Beginner Grade, but they also wouldn't notice the most powerful 10% of the Beginner Grade.

But these people could tell that Shang was powerful. They didn't know how powerful he was exactly, but they had seen how he had dominated a couple of Early Soldier Stage kids.

This meant that he had to be, at least, in the Middle Soldier Stage. Maybe, he even was in the Late Soldier Stage.

But that's also why they came with three people at once.

On top of that, they were rather confident in taking down Shang.

Why?

Well, there was one familiar face among the people.

It was Shang's neighbor, the one he had met when he had searched for his room.

When that guy heard that Shang was part of the Caterpillar Class, he had smirked and told him that he had entered hell.

What was the reputation of the Caterpillar Class?

Trash.

Why trash?

Because they didn't train in any actual fighting techniques. Every other student trained in several advanced techniques that perfected their fighting styles.

In a direct fight, people of the Caterpillar Class nearly always lost against other students. Only the most powerful students in the Caterpillar Class could fight the other students.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ However, that was to be expected.

The students of the Caterpillar Class were forced to build their own fighting techniques, which meant that their fighting techniques came from someone in the Soldier Stage.

Meanwhile, the other students were training in techniques created by Commander Stage warriors.

These techniques were multiple times more powerful and refined than some techniques some kids could come up with.

So, how did these three people view Shang?

He definitely was a very powerful person for his age, but that was the problem.

For his age.

How much experience could a 14- or 15-year-old have in fighting against humans?

On top of that, they were three, while Shang was one.

They knew that it would be risky, but the reward was worth it.

They had seen how interested teacher Niria had been, and they knew that Shang must have something very interesting in one of his beast sacks.

It was risky, but they had to try!

So, how did they go about getting that stuff from Shang?

Simple. The three would jump Shang without talking, all targeting him with an attack. While Shang dealt with one of them, the other two would tear the beast sacks away and run off with the loot.

And that's what they did.

The three guys charged at Shang from different angles without saying anything. One was coming from the front while the other two came from the side.

Shang could only attack one of them, and he would be too panicked and surprised to react appropriately. At most, one of them would be injured.

As soon as Shang noticed that they had charged at him, he narrowed his eyes.

'I intimidated them with my actions yesterday, but it didn't have the effect I was hoping for. I was hoping for them to not bother me, but instead, they now take me seriously.'

'Do I have to go even further? Do I actually have to kill one of them?!' Shang thought.

'Do I actually have to act like a crazy psychopath before you finally let me alone?!'

'Fine!'

'Let's have a gamble!'

BANG!

The floor below Shang's feet shook as he exploded forward with his full speed.

He had charged forward just when the three of them began running towards him.

There were several meters between all of them, and if Shang had remained on the spot, they would have reached him at the same time.

However, Shang charged forward.

The eyes of the guy at the front opened wide in terror.

How was Shang so fast with so much weight on his shoulders?!

Shang was way faster than he had expected!

'You want a psychopath?! Fine! Here you go!' Shang thought with gritted teeth and narrowed eyes.

The guy in front of Shang only had a body in the Middle Soldier Realm, and he wasn't fast enough to appropriately react to Shang's attack.

With his full speed, Shang jumped forward, the two beast sacks still on his shoulders. Shang had used his full power while accelerating, and with the added weight of the two beast sacks, a terrifying amount of power was behind his charge.

Shang pulled his leg back and kicked forward with all his power.

This was a fully-powered attack of someone two levels above the guy in front of Shang.

This was essentially an adult releasing a hate-filled kick at a ten-year-old.

This was not a joke.

BANG! CRK!

The guy barely managed to put his arms in front of his chest before Shang's kick hit.

When Shang's kick hit the guy's forearms, they immediately broke apart, and that wasn't even the end.

CRK!

The ribcage of the guy broke behind the sheer force of Shang's momentum, his broken ribs digging into his lungs and heart.

At that moment, the guy felt like he was in a nightmare.

What was that sound?

Was the sound of breaking bones coming from him?

Was the sound of flesh and organs being pierced by bones coming from him?

Would he survive?

BANG!

The guy's back hit the wall, and his back broke into pieces too.

He was as close to death as it could get, and he was lucky for that.

If he hadn't been able to block his chest with his arms, his insides would have probably been turned to mush.

Shang noticed that he was still alive and felt some relief.

This had been his gamble.

He would go in with an attack that would actually kill the guy if he didn't react appropriately.

He had to show that he would not be afraid of actually risking his own life by killing someone else.

How did the other two react?

They quickly arrived behind Shang. They had already expected that one of them would be injured, and they didn't even look at their friend.

They had no idea how injured their friend was, and they didn't care right now.

They needed the loot!

Shang turned around and let go of his two beast sacks. His two opponents now were diagonally in front of him.

The two of them noticed that they couldn't grab Shang's beast sacks since they were behind him now. So, they decided to attack him.

One of them unleashed a kick while the other one punched at Shang.

Shang gritted his teeth.

'They still don't have enough?! Do you want me to go even further?!'

'Fine!'

'You win!'

Chapter 124 Crossroads

Shang used both of his hands to grab the leg of the one that tried to kick him, blocking the kick.

The fist of the other one hit Shang's head.

BANG!

Shang angled his head and headbutted the incoming fist.

Shang had a far more powerful body, and his bones were tempered to the maximum for the Soldier Stage. On top of that, the forehead was incredibly hard in general.

CRK!

The hand of the punching guy broke, and Shang felt his brain being scrambled. However, he was used to getting struck in the head from all his fights on Earth. A normal person would become disoriented, but Shang could somewhat keep his mind going.

Being able to take a hit was a very important aspect of any kind of fighting sport on Earth.

Shang's eyes burned in fury and stress.

He was afraid of ruining his future at this very moment.

However, he needed to do that!

If the previous two strikes weren't enough to stop everyone from bothering him, he would have to go even further.

BANG!

Shang swung the guy he had a hold of and hit the other one.

A couple of bones inside them broke, and the other guy fell to the ground.

"You wanted this!" Shang shouted with anger.

While this was happening, one of the teachers grabbed the first student and brought him to the Water Mage. The teacher had realized that this student had been incredibly close to death, and if he didn't hurry up, that student might die.

Teachers allowed fighting between students, but they were also responsible for keeping the students alive if they could prevent their deaths.

Meanwhile, Shang didn't stop. He continued holding one of the students by the leg, lifted him up, and struck the ground with his full power.

BANG!

The sound of breaking bones could be heard, and even the ground beneath the student broke.

The skull of the student cracked open, his brain now visible.

BANG!

Shang let go of the student and kicked him to the side with his full power, his back and ribs breaking.

It was unknown if the student was alive or dead.

"You wanted this!" Shang shouted again.

Then, he went to the other student on the ground.

In the beginning, the watching students were excited about the show, but that excitement had somewhat vanished.

If things ended now, it would be a normal fight.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ However, Shang showed no sign of stopping.

Was he not afraid of being expelled?

"I'm sorry!" the student on the ground shouted in fear, looking into the cold eyes of Shang just before him. "I won't do it-"

BANG!

Shang hit the student's face with his fist.

The student on the ground had his face caved in, his skull splintered into pieces at the front.

Blood bubbled out of the student's face, making his face resemble a puddle.

The watching students took a deep breath.

"What will it take for you to stop bothering me?!" Shang shouted with a voice filled with fury.

Shang was no longer acting.

At the moment, he was actually filled with fury.

Currently, in Shang's mind, the night of the bandits reappeared.

Shang had killed several people during that night, and he had hated himself for letting them get away.

Letting some of them get away was the very reason why killing the others had become unnecessary.

He should have killed all of them!

However, Shang was still a person from Earth, and killing people wasn't normal to him.

Murderers were seen as monsters on Earth.

But Shang also knew that he had to kill people in this world.

This conflict of interest stressed and enraged Shang.

He didn't want to kill them, but he had to!

He had already made a mistake by not killing all the bandits, and he would not commit that same mistake again!

Earlier, Shang had only planned on bringing them close to death, but after he had actually become enraged, that plan vanished.

At this moment, Shang genuinely wanted to kill this student.

Shang lifted his fist again under the shocked eyes of the watching students.

Hey, dude, aren't you going a bit far?

Do you actually want to be expelled?!

Do you actually want to kill them?!

The night of the bandits replayed again and again in Shang's mind.

He remembered all the bandits he had killed, and he remembered their eyes in the last moments.

Their eyes had been filled with fear and terror.

They were genuinely afraid, and they heavily regretted their actions.

They were sorry.

"Hlp, hlrpsss," the student on the ground tried to shout for help through his crushed face, his arms moving around blindly. His eyes had been crushed, and he could no longer hear anything.

"Srssy, Srsshy," the student tried to say he was sorry, but his words couldn't be understood.

"Mhmmyy!"

Shang understood that word.

He was shouting for his mother.

At the moment of death, he was shouting for his mother.

He was only a kid.

He was only 16 years old.

When Shang heard that word, his insides shook.

These were just kids.

They only tried to steal from him.

He was killing a child right now.

For a moment, Shang paused.

But then, an explosion of rage appeared inside of him.

'I'm not on Earth anymore!'

'Empathy is weakness!'

'Feelings for others is weakness!'

The conflict of emotions only infuriated Shang even more.

The more he hated to do something, the angrier he got.

He didn't want to do it!

But he had to!

The ear grating, high-pitched sound of grinding teeth reverberated throughout Shang's body.

He hated it!

He hated it!

He hated it!

He hated it!

Shang's mind went blank.

At that moment, he felt like time had stopped.

He felt like this moment decided his future.

Was this what he wanted to become?

Would he kill a kid for trying to steal from him?

The three attackers were probably already traumatized by everything, and they would most likely not attack another student for a very, very long time, maybe even forever.

They would wake up in cold sweat at night.

They might not even decide to hunt beasts in the future since a deep fear of death would be implanted into them on this day.

It was enough.

Shang had done enough.

"DIE!" Shang shouted.

And then, Shang punched the student's chest with all of his power.

It was like everything was happening in slow-motion to the watching students.

BANG!

The fist hit the student's chest, activating the Magic Runes.

If the uniform hadn't blocked the attack, the student would have died.

The watching students felt shocked.

He had actually done it!

He had actually tried to kill him!

This was no longer normal!

If he killed this student, he would be expelled!

On top of that, nearly every student had a somewhat powerful background, and those families would want to find revenge. Without the protection of the academy, Shang would quickly be killed!

It was finally done.

Shang had finally managed to intimidate the students into never attacking again.

Most students would stop attacking someone if that person put them close to death, but that was only most of them.

But all of them would stop if they knew that they could actually die.

Shang had accomplished his goal.

No one would ever bother him again.

The guy on the ground had devolved into trying to shout for his mother.

When Shang heard these shouts, his hatred exploded.

He had long since lost his mind in rage.

These shouts made him feel bad, and in his rage-filled state, he saw these innocent shouts as an attack.

He hated himself for feeling bad.

And he hated the guy on the ground for making him feel bad.

He hated him!

Shang lifted his blood-covered fist again.

Time seemingly stopped for the watching students.

Was this actually happening?

Was he actually striking again?

Some of the older students thought about intervening, but after seeing Shang's face, they decided against it.

They could probably fight Shang, but they feared for their own future.

They could no longer anticipate Shang's actions since Shang had essentially become a crazy person.

If they angered him now, it was possible that he might actually try to kill them.

What then?

Then, they would have to actually risk their lives.

Was this worth it?

Was it worth it to risk their lives for a younger student?

The risk was too high.

They wouldn't intervene.

After lifting his fist, Shang swung again without waiting.

Time moved in slow motion.

Shang's fist hit the student's crushed face.

A loud cracking sound reverberated throughout the academy.

Blood splashed.

And Shang suddenly lost consciousness as something hit the side of his head.

 

Chapter 125 Water Mage

Shang opened his eyes.

'What happened?' he thought with a scrambled mind.

He felt the ground beneath his hands.

'Why am I on the ground?'

Then, the pain hit Shang.

He felt incredible pain coming from his left cheek, and he spit out pieces of blood and bone.

Shang's last memory was of him killing that one student.

So, why was he on the ground now?

Shang slowly sat up and looked at his surroundings.

The surrounding students were looking at him with mixed expressions.

Some of the expressions were filled with disgust.

Some of them were cold.

Some of them were sympathetic.

Then, Shang noticed a big bubble of water levitating around ten meters away from him. The bubble of water was where Shang had just been before waking up here.

He saw a woman with long blue hair in front of the bubble of water, her hands holding a staff with a blue gem on it.

Shang realized that she was probably the Water Mage responsible for healing students.

Shang heard the whispers of some of the students in the surroundings.

They were calling him a maniac.

They were calling him a crazy person.

They were calling him a monster.

Shang didn't react to these whispers.

He had calmed down by now, and a feeling of emptiness had appeared inside his chest.

For a long while, Shang only silently sat on the ground, looking absentmindedly in the distance.

'Did I lose control?' Shang thought.

Everyone around Shang continued whispering, but Shang didn't hear it. To him, the world was silent.

'Did I do the right thing?'

Silence.

'Did I do the right thing?'

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ …

Shang put his head in his hands.

'I don't know.'

'If I didn't act like this, they would keep coming for me.'

'But I also risked my entire future.'

'I don't know.'

Shang absentmindedly stood up and looked at the bubble of water levitating in the air.

The other students were throwing looks at him with all kinds of emotions. Just like Shang, the students also felt a great variety of emotions and uncertainty.

Most of them believed that Shang was a crazy person, but a couple of them also felt sympathy for him.

The ones that felt sympathy for Shang had been in similar situations in the past.

They knew what he was going through.

Shang slowly walked over to the bubble of water under the judging gazes of all the other students.

After a silent walk, Shang stopped near the bubble, only looking at it absentmindedly.

"Do you regret what you have done?" asked the Water Mage with a neutral voice. Shang couldn't tell what she thought of his actions. Her voice was completely neutral.

Shang didn't immediately answer.

"I don't know," Shang answered honestly.

The Water Mage frowned as she continued looking at the bubble.

"The other two are fine, but this one might not make it," she said. "His brain is too heavily damaged."

Surprisingly, Shang didn't become shocked when he heard these words.

He only felt empty.

It was like all of this had nothing to do with him.

"If he dies, you will be expelled from the academy," the Water Mage said. "Is this what you want?"

Shang didn't answer for several seconds.

"No," he answered.

"Well, it's no longer up to you. It's up to him and me," she said. "At this moment, your future is no longer in your own hands."

"You have attempted to kill him, and if I didn't stop you at the very last moment, he would definitely be dead right now. You would be expelled, and his family would come for revenge. I don't believe that you can flee from a squad of General Stage warriors."

Shang remained silent as he listened to her.

"Were you in control of yourself? Is that what you wanted?" she asked.

Shang didn't answer for a while.

"I don't know," Shang answered. "I don't know if I have been in control or not. At the time, it felt like the right decision."

"Is it the right decision in hindsight?" the Water Mage asked.

Shang only looked at the water bubble.

His mind went back to that night with the bandits.

He had been lenient back then, which made the sacrifices of the beggars meaningless.

He hadn't been ruthless enough back then.

"They wouldn't have stopped coming for me otherwise," Shang said.

"So?" the Water Mage asked.

This word hit Shang.

All the previous words hadn't hit him, but this dismissive "so?" had hit him.

"Are you that weak that you fear that you might be beaten up by some students?" the Water Mage asked.

"Are you that weak that you fear that you will lose against a group of Middle Soldier Stage students?"

Shang felt like his heart was shaking.

"So what if they keep going after you? You can just beat them up whenever someone comes. At some point, they will realize that going after you doesn't help them. They never gain anything and always leave with injuries."

"No one is trying to kill you in here. No one is trying to end your career as a warrior."

"Today, you have decided to kill a student just because you didn't want to be annoyed anymore. You were not in danger. You were not in danger, but you were still willing to kill a fellow student."

"For what?"

When Shang heard that, he looked over at his two beast sacks, which still remained near the street.

"For that?" the Water Mage asked when she noticed Shang looking at his two beast sacks.

"So what if they took it? They are students, and they will be in the academy. You saw their faces, and you could have hunted them until they gave everything back with additional compensation. You know what's in there, and you know how much everything is approximately worth. Just make them buy stuff equivalent to what you have lost."

"However, all of that isn't even necessary since you wouldn't have lost your stuff anyway. You are at the Peak Soldier Stage, and only other Peak Soldier Stage students can stop you, and these students don't care about your meager wealth. These kinds of students are fully focused on reaching the General Stage."

For the first time, the Water Mage actually looked at Shang.

"There was no reason to go that far."

A complex mix of emotions appeared inside Shang's chest.

Was it regret?

Was it anger?

Was it fear?

He wasn't sure.

Maybe it was all of those emotions.

Shang looked at the bubble of water in front of him.

Did his regret matter?

He had already done it.

All the regret in the world didn't matter at this moment.

If the student died, it didn't matter if he felt regret or not.

He would have killed a fellow student, and he would have gotten expelled and hunted.

For a while, Shang only watched the Water Mage work.

"Will he survive?" he asked.

When the Water Mage heard that, a smirk appeared on her face.

"Of course. Who do you think I am?" she asked. "If I weren't confident in saving him, I would have stopped you sooner."

"Actually, I'm already done."

After she said that, the water disappeared, and Shang could see the boy he had nearly killed.

It was that one guy that had told Shang that he had come to hell.

Currently, he wasn't conscious.

When Shang saw that he was still alive, he felt an unimaginable feeling of relief wash over him.

"In my time in the army, I have seen a lot of people like you," the Water Mage said. "Let me give you an important piece of advice."

"Leave the battlefield on the battlefield. Don't bring the battlefield home."

This comment hit Shang again.

Now, Shang actually felt regret.

"Anyway, you're still young," the Water Mage said as she grabbed one of the legs of the student, pulling him behind her. She seemed to be used to pulling students by the leg. "You still have a lot of life in front of you, and you still have a lot of learning to do."

"Remember what you are feeling right now. If you feel consumed by rage again, remember how you have felt at this moment."

"Don't let your past ruin your future."

And after she said that, she pulled the unconscious student into the building.

Shang continued standing at the same spot.

'Don't let your past ruin your future.'

Chapter 126 In Control

For a while, Shang only remained on the spot, thinking.

'Don't let my past ruin my future,' Shang repeated to himself in his mind.

To Shang, these words had a profound meaning.

When he thought about these words, the night with the bandits returned.

'My past.'

Shang felt like the Water Mage had been right in basically everything she said.

But at the same time, Shang also felt that her words were a bit too simple.

'Ruthlessness is still a necessity in this world. Not dealing with threats might make them even bigger in the future.'

'Leaving the battlefield on the battlefield, huh?'

'I'm not sure if there is a place that's not a battlefield in this world.'

'The teachers say that the academy is safe, but is it truly safe? Have there been no instances of students dying to other students?'

'I don't believe that.'

Shang looked at the place where the unconscious student had just been.

'However, was he truly a threat?'

'Have I not risked the threat becoming an even bigger one by trying to get rid of this small threat? Before my actions, he might have been the only threat, and his threat had been minuscule.'

'However, what about his family? If their child had received some permanent damage, wouldn't they search for revenge? Wouldn't have this little threat turned into a bigger threat then?'

For a while, Shang tried to wrap his head around his new understanding.

After the night of the bandits, Shang's mind had focused on dealing with all the small threats to stop bigger threats from appearing.

But today, Shang's method of dealing with small threats had nearly summoned a far bigger threat.

'Is it right to always deal with smaller threats?'

Silence.

'Yes, it obviously is, but what constitutes as dealing with a threat?'

'The threat had already been dealt with after injuring him heavily. At that point, he had no longer been a threat. After all, he had probably never planned on actually killing me.'

'He's only a kid that made a mistake. Just like me, he has plenty of time to learn about the consequences of his actions.'

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ 'Teaching him a lesson was the correct course of action, but when the lesson had gone too far, it has caused problems for me.'

'In the end, I can't only look at the person in front of me but also at the surroundings. Killing him would have only had negative consequences to my life.'

'I need to learn how to differentiate between different kinds of threats and their dangers.'

After a while of thinking, Shang turned around and slowly grabbed his two beast sacks.

'I need to pay more attention in the future. I need to be mindful of the consequences of my actions.'

'This time, I managed to get out of this mess because an outsider intervened. In the future, I am bound to come into a situation where no one is there to stop me from losing control.'

'I lost control, and I have to accept that I have lost control. Even though my actions have appeared correct at that moment, they have not been correct in retrospect.'

'I am not emotionless, and I have to keep in mind that anger can cloud my judgment.'

Shang entered the building and went into his room.

After putting the two beast sacks down, Shang sat on his bed, only looking at the ground with furrowed brows.

His mind had returned to calm with surprising speed.

It was almost like the incident hadn't occurred.

The image of the crushed face beneath him shouting for its mother returned for an instant, but Shang's mind quickly shoved it to the side.

'I need to be more mindful of my future. I can't ruin my future with actions committed in the heat of the moment.'

The image returned, but Shang shoved it away again.

'I need to be in control of myself.'

The image returned and vanished again.

'I need to always remain in control.'

The image came back and was pushed away again.

Shang kept repeating to himself that he had to remain in control.

The image always returned, but Shang always pushed it away.

That wasn't him anymore.

He was in control of himself.

This was his new past.

He would not lose control anymore.

He would leave the past in the past.

Shang kept shoving the image into the back of his mind.

He wouldn't allow it to ruin his life.

Shang remained sitting on his bed for a while.

Suddenly, Shang was pulled out of his thoughts when he smelt something disgusting.

He furrowed his brows and looked at the source of the smell.

One of the two beast sacks.

Shang opened it and looked inside.

All the Pest Cat ears had begun to decompose, which was the reason for the horrible smell.

'Stuff decomposes this quickly in this world? Something like that takes multiple days on Earth,' Shang thought.

'Well, I am in a different world. I should expect some things to be different.'

'Anyway, I should deal with this stuff.'

Shang took hold of the beast sack, leaving the other one in the room. Then, Shang left his room and went to the marketplace.

While he walked to the Exchange Hall, every student in front of him stepped out of the way.

It was unknown if it was because of Shang's actions or the smell.

Shang didn't notice their actions. He was walking to the Exchange Hall like a machine.

Eventually, Shang arrived in the Exchange Hall and went to one of the counters.

Shang put the beast sack on the counter. "Pest Cat ears, Swamp Millipede feelers, and Vanishing Snakes," he said.

The person behind the counter was a General Stage warrior, and he looked at the beast sack with disgust.

"Why didn't you bring that earlier?" he asked with annoyance as he opened the sack. When the sack opened, a disgusting liquid mixed with all kinds of things could be seen. However, the Pest Cat ears and Swamp Millipede feelers were still visible.

"I only killed them this morning,' Shang said.

The clerk snorted. "This morning?" he asked with annoyance. "Do you think stuff rots to this degree in only a day?"

"That's at least four days old."

Chapter 127 The Pest Cat Problem

"At least four days?" Shang asked in shock.

Four days?

According to Shang's memory, he had killed the beasts just this night. Sure, he had that run-in with these three kids and then spent some time in his room, but not even a full day should have passed since then.

Was it the effect of his Darkness Mana?

No, he felt no Darkness Mana coming from the parts.

It was straight up just decomposition.

There was only one explanation that made sense.

'Have I been in my room for three entire days, maybe four?' Shang thought as he looked at the ground.

'But it hasn't been that long. I only thought about that image for maybe a couple of hours.'

The image returned at that moment.

The featureless face.

A viscous pool of blood where the features should be.

Shang immediately pushed it to the back of his mind.

'I am in control of my thoughts.'

"Hey, you!"

Shang was pulled out of his thoughts as he looked at the clerk in front of him.

"I'm pretty good at remembering faces. I haven't seen you before. When did you join?" he asked with annoyance.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ "I joined a couple of days ago. I was here once before, but I talked to another person back then," Shang said absentmindedly.

"Is this the first time you brought over beast corpses?" the guy asked.

Shang nodded.

Then, the guy sighed.

"Listen. We have a cutoff date for corpses. Not more than 48 hours are allowed to pass after you have obtained the parts," he explained.

For some reason, Shang wasn't that shocked or distraught.

He had just heard that nearly his entire night of hunting had become worthless.

Yet, for some reason, it didn't feel that important to him.

He saw it only as a minor inconvenience.

"The reason for that policy is market manipulation," the guy explained. "You've probably noticed it before, but the prices for different corpses change based on demand. Because of that, it's theoretically possible to wait a couple of days to hand over your loot if you think that the price will rise."

"We don't condone that, which is why that rule is in place. 48 hours is the maximum you can wait, and we are all very experienced with telling the time of death of a beast. If we are uncertain if something falls within the 48-hour window, you have to show proof that it is still within the 48 hours, which is nearly impossible."

The clerk sighed again.

"However, since the price for Pest Cats has sunken in comparison to three days ago, and since you're obviously new, I will make an exception this time, but this will be the only one," the man said.

The man looked at Shang, expecting him to show an expression of positive surprise.

But Shang simply didn't react. It was like he wasn't even there.

"Did you hear what I've just said?" the man asked with a bit more force.

"Oh," Shang said as his eyes regained their focus. "Yes, I've heard. One time exception," he said.

The man furrowed his brows. "A thanks would be appreciated," he said.

"Oh, yeah, thanks," Shang said. "Sorry, I'm distracted right now. I'm… I think I'm dealing with something. Not sure."

The man only sighed in annoyance. "Follow me. I'm not going through the parts inside the Exchange Hall. The stench is too strong."

Shang only nodded absentmindedly as he followed the clerk like a robot.

The two of them walked out the back to an open area surrounded by high and thick walls.

When Shang arrived, he couldn't be distracted by his thoughts anymore since he was distracted by something else.

The stench.

The absolute, pure, abhorrent stench.

In front of Shang were hills of ears, all of them from Pest Cats. They were all in varying stages of decomposition.

This was the source of the stench.

Thousands of ears of Pest Cats decomposing in an enclosed area.

Shang nearly had to hurl, but he managed to keep himself under control.

"The ears are unusable," the man said as he poured out the contents of the beast sack in a relatively clean place. "We are not hunting the Pest Cats because of their resources but because of their numbers. As you can see, the number of Pest Cats is insane. Can you imagine what will happen if we stop hunting them?"

Since Shang was no longer distracted anymore, he actually managed to listen to the guy's words.

So many ears, every pair representing a dead Pest Cat.

How many Pest Cats would be roaming around if all the ones that had died to the students were still alive?

"In colder climates, the Pest Cats only mate once per year due to the seasons, but we don't really have strong seasons here," the man explained as he threw one pair of ears after the other onto a hill. "Because of that, the Pest Cats are an especially strong issue here. Without the inhibiting cold, they are multiplying all year round."

"Due to their numbers, their corpses are also nearly worthless. There is an abundance of Pest Cat corpses, many times higher than the demand. Because of that, Pest Cats are only worth a single Contribution Point. That dissuades hunters from hunting them. After all, they get basically nothing."

"That's why you students have to kill them. It's too expensive to pay external hunters enough to make them actually hunt them. Most of them wouldn't even bother to bend down to pick up a piece of gold."

"Pest Cats reach maturity in a matter of days, which is why we have to keep hunting them every single day of the year."

"126," the man suddenly said.

Shang looked at the pile the man had gone through and noticed that all the Pest Cat ears were no longer on it.

"126 ears or pairs?" Shang asked.

"Didn't you count?" the man asked with a bit of annoyance.

"Not really," Shang said.

"It's pairs. You killed 126 Pest Cats, and from the looks of it, you did it all in one day," the man said. Surprisingly, his voice had stopped being annoyed.

"That's quite impressive," he said. "You seem to be very experienced in hunting."

"Thanks," Shang said.

After that, the man took hold of the feelers of the Swamp Millipedes.

"In comparison to Pest Cat ears, Swamp Millipede feelers are actually useful. Sadly, the decomposition is too advanced. You would be getting three Contribution Points per feeler under normal circumstances, but I can't accept them. I can only give you the reward for slaying them."

Shang nodded.

The man went through the feelers and counted them.

"18 Swamp Millipedes," he said.

Now, only two small corpses were left.

The man looked at them with an evaluating expression.

"Two Vanishing Snakes," he said. "Sadly, the corpses are also in bad condition. You would be getting 100 Contribution Points per corpse normally."

"It's fine," Shang said as he looked to the side. "It was my fault for waiting that long anyway."

After a bit of looking at the feelers and Vanishing Snakes, the guy sighed and threw the feelers onto the hill of ears.

"What do you do with the decomposed corpses?" Shang asked.

"Fertilizer," the man said. "Helps a lot in the Farm Line."

The man stood up and threw the two Vanishing Snakes into a hole at the edge of the area.

After that, he gestured for Shang to follow him back into the Exchange Hall.

The two of them quickly arrived, and the clerk tallied everything up.

"126 Pest Cats. Right now, they are worth 20 Contribution Points. That's 2,520 Contribution Points."

"18 Swamp Millipedes without the feelers. The price is always a static 50 Contribution Points. That's 900 Contribution Points."

"Two Vanishing Snakes. That's 4,000 Contribution Points."

"Total: 7,420 Contribution Points. Give me your emblem," the guy said.

Shang handed over his emblem.

The guy put the emblem on a Magic Circle on top of the table. A flash of light appeared, and the guy handed the emblem back to Shang.

"Wanna buy something with your new wealth?" the man asked.

"Can I take a look at your Rank Two ores?" Shang asked.

The man smirked. "Certainly. Which Rank Two ores specifically? Initial? Early? Mid?"

"Depends on the price," Shang said.

"Sure, let me just give you a rundown of common prices for different levels of Rank Two ores."

Chapter 128 Help

"For what Affinity? There are different prices depending on the Affinity," the guy asked.

"All nine of the pure ones," Shang said.

"All nine?" the man asked with furrowed brows. "There are only eight. One for no Affinity and seven Pure Affinities. Of course, there are also a couple for Mixed Affinities, but that still wouldn't come to the number nine."

"Darkness and Light," Shang said, his heartbeat speeding up.

He knew that it was risky to ask for Light and Darkness Affinities, but he had to get the information from somewhere.

The man furrowed his brows.

"Seems like you are privy to some sensitive information," the man said with a deep voice.

Shang didn't answer.

The two remained silent for a while.

Then, the man sighed.

"Fine."

"Initial Rank Two ores have the following prices."

"No Affinity: 2,000 Contribution Points."

"Fire, Earth, Wind, Water Affinity: 2,500 Contribution Points."

"Ice, Lightning, Metal Affinity: 3,000 Contribution Points."

"Light Affinity: 1,000 Contribution Points."

"I don't sell Darkness Affinity ore."

Two things immediately jumped out to Shang.

"Why is the Light Affinity one so cheap?" Shang asked.

"Low demand," the man said. "Rank One Light Affinity ore is mostly used as an efficient light source. Rank Two Light Affinity ore is used as a supporting agent that expedites the healing of injuries, but most people aren't interested in the Initial Rank Two Light Affinity Ore. They want the better stuff."

"And the Darkness ore? Why do you not sell that?" Shang asked.

"Depends on what you mean with you. You singular or plural?" the man asked.

Shang's brows furrowed. "Singular," he said.

"I don't have access to it."

"And plural?" Shang asked.

"I don't know. Above my paygrade," the man answered.

Shang really didn't like that.

He needed Darkness ore, but the Exchange Hall didn't sell it.

On top of that, Shang wouldn't dare to walk to the merchants and ask them. He had been willing to talk about the Darkness and Light Affinities in the Exchange Hall since they were directly employed by the academy.

The merchants weren't.

Selling out information about students was probably highly illegal for the employees, but the merchants weren't under this restriction.

This was a big problem for Shang.

"What about Early Rank Two?" Shang asked.

"Times 1.5 except for the Light Affinity one. That one's times two," he said.

"And Middle Rank Two?" Shang asked.

"Same thing."

Shang did some math in his head while thinking.

'I think I should go for Middle Rank Two,' Shang thought. 'Astor already has a Late Rank Two weapon, and he is clearly someone very dedicated to his weapon. Nearly everyone else will probably only have an Early or Middle Rank Two weapon. If I want to train my techniques, I need a weapon on the same level as everyone else.'

'So, I need a Middle Rank Two weapon.'

'I need seven units of ore for my weapon, but I want it to have a proper balance. Because of that, I need to actually buy eight units, two for each of my Affinities.'

'That comes to 32,500 Contribution Points, and I'm still missing the Darkness ore.'

'Luckily, I still have a lot of gold, which means I don't have to only buy from the Exchange Hall.'

'But I still need to keep my Affinity a secret. The best way to accomplish that is to buy two of everything.'

'But that's not feasible with my current wealth. The longer I don't have a usable weapon, the more time I waste by not being able to properly train my techniques.'

The man had already started doing something else. He was used to students taking several minutes to make their decisions sometimes.

Shang was going through several possible ways to reduce his cost.

'I need to make one Affinity public. The only reason why I have to keep my Affinity secret is because of the added Darkness and Light Affinities. There are probably a couple of people that have a Temperature Affinity, but it should still be very rare. If I go public with a Temperature Affinity, I will probably be under scrutiny by a lot of outsiders.'

'I should go public with my Ice Affinity.'

'However, before doing that, I have to get the Fire, Darkness, and Light Affinity ore in secret. Then, I will go public with my Ice Affinity and buy the ore. With that, I would have all the ore I need. After getting the Ice Affinity ore, I can upgrade my weapon, and everyone will believe that I used the Ice Affinity ore I've just bought.'

"Is there a way to use Light Affinity ore to speed up training?" Shang asked.

The man stopped what he was doing and looked at Shang. "Well, when talking about these stones, we don't generally refer to them as Light Affinity ore," he said.

Shang lifted an eyebrow.

"They are known as Healing Stones, and they have grades. Grade One Healing Stones refer to Initial Rank Two Light Affinity ore. Grade Two refers to Early Rank Two and so on."

"They are usually put into a room in which you are training. The healing aura of the Healing Stones makes your body heal faster, which allows you to train with more risk and quicker. That's also why they are being sold," the man explained.

"No one will bat an eye if someone buys Healing Stones," the man added.

Shang showed no reaction.

"However, buying Darkness ore would pull up a lot of questions," the man said.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ "Especially since that's officially contraband."

"Contraband?" Shang asked.

"Illegal goods. Darkness ore can be used in a variety of ways to kill someone. A stone at the bottom of medicine can pull out all the life force of said medicine. If someone relies on that medicine to save their life and it doesn't work, chances are high they would die."

"Using a stone in a liquid with compatible ingredients could even poison someone."

"That's also the reason why I don't sell them," the man said. "You've seen the big crystals above the city gates? No normal person can smuggle that stuff in. You would have to be someone with a lot of prestige, like a True Mage or a Commander Stage warrior, to smuggle that stuff in successfully."

"Of course, most of them wouldn't take the risk. The risk is far too high for this little bit of reward. They would rather kill a Commander Stage beast. That's a many, many times higher payoff for less risk."

"You would need someone that's on that level who is willing to take that risk for you," the man said.

Shang furrowed his brows.

"I would like to buy two Grade Three Healing Stones," Shang said.

"Sure," the man said with a smirk.

He walked to the back of the Exchange Hall and came back with a brown bag.

When Shang saw the brown bag, his eyes shone.

He had seen several people get their wares, and they had always received them without any hiding.

This guy was obviously helping Shang.

"Students, as well as teachers, get most of their stuff from us," the man said. "However, they are all customers, and customers don't have access to the information of other customers. This policy exists under the order of the dean, and only the dean can overwrite it."

When Shang heard that, his eyes shone again.

Several pieces of scattered information just clicked together.

"Thank you," Shang said after paying.

"Only doing my job," the man said with a smile.

Shang said his goodbyes and left the building.

'I should repay him in the future.'

'He dropped enough hints for me to realize where I can get Darkness Affinity ore.'

'Only an idiot wouldn't be able to combine the clues.'

Chapter 129 Darkness Affinity

Shang sat down in one of many chairs inside one of the rooms on the third floor of the main building.

Several other students were with Shang in the room, and a couple of them threw worried glances at him while whispering to their neighbors, who then also shot a look at Shang.

Shang tried to ignore it, but it was way too obvious what they were talking about.

All the students in the room were 16 and 17 years old, except for Shang.

A couple of minutes of whispering later, the teacher entered.

She looked to be in her late twenties, and she had long black hair, her eyes detached and distant.

She inspected everyone present, and her gaze lingered a bit longer on Shang.

"Let's start class," she announced.

Everyone quieted down.

Then, Teacher Niria began her lesson.

This afternoon, she was teaching the class about the northeastern forest.

She talked about Swamp Millipedes and Vanishing Snakes, but most of all, she talked about the Empress Cobra Zone. The northeastern forest was adjacent to the Empress Cobra Zone, and there was a high likelihood that the students would find some beasts from there in the northeastern forest.

She talked about the climate and how the beasts behaved.

And that was already it for the lesson.

There was so much to learn about the northeastern forest that it couldn't be covered in just one lesson. Today, she had only talked about the special things one could expect to come across in the northeastern forest. The local flora and fauna would be taught in different lessons.

After the lesson was finished, several students walked up to teacher Niria to ask questions, which she very quickly answered with the least words possible.

Several minutes later, all the students had left.

That was when Shang walked up to her.

"Do you have a question?" teacher Niria asked with practiced ease.

"My question would be if it is safe for me to speak right now," Shang said.

Teacher Niria's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Follow me," she ordered.

Shang and Teacher Niria left the room and then the building.

After walking towards the north, past nearly all of the training fields, teacher Niria stopped. At the moment, Shang and teacher Niria were directly beneath the northwestern wall.

"Ask," teacher Niria ordered. "No one can hear us."

Shang took a deep breath.

This was it.

He hoped that he hadn't made a mistake in his deduction.

"I have a Darkness Affinity," he said.

"And why would I care?" teacher Niria directly asked, like she had seen Shang's words coming.

"Because we are connected," Shang said.

"How so?" she asked coldly.

"You also have a Darkness Affinity."

"What makes you think so?" she asked.

"Several things," Shang said before he started rattling down his thoughts.

"Back when you inspected the corpse, you said that we are connected. However, you and I met for the first time back then. That means that the corpse told you something about me."

Teacher Niria let Shang continue without interrupting.

"You even helped me far more than is to be expected of a teacher."

"However, that isn't the only reason I have found out. The clerk in the Curio Trinket also made an interesting comment based on the corpse."

Teacher Niria frowned. "What did he say?" she asked.

"I only told him that you have sent me, nothing more. Yet, when he inspected the corpse, he said, of his own volition, that this snake has definitely been killed by you. He said your handiwork is unmistakable."

"Of course, I know that I have killed the snake. However, how can he be so sure that you killed it, not me?"

"Are we two the only ones in the entire city that use swords? I don't think so."

"Do you have access to call upon the progeny of the Storm Eagle? I don't think so."

"So, if the cut on its side and the killing blow were not the giveaways, that only leaves one thing. The weakened tail."

"Nearly the entire tail was cut off, but there is still quite a bit of weakened flesh near its back. An experienced eye will notice it. You noticed it, and the clerk noticed it too."

"Alright," teacher Niria said. "That's nice and all, but why did you want to talk to me? Did you only want me to listen to your ramblings?"

Shang took a deep breath.

"I need your help," he said.

"For what?"

"Middle Rank Two Darkness Affinity ore," Shang said.

"How much?" teacher Niria asked.

"Two units."

"Impossible," she answered.

That threw Shang for a loop.

He was sure that she was the person he should contact.

Back in the Exchange Hall, the clerk had given him several hints.

He had said that it needed someone in the Commander Stage to get the ore. On top of that, it would be a major risk. So, the person should have a strong connection with Shang.

With that sentence, the clerk had told Shang that he needed to get a Commander Stage warrior he could trust.

Then, the clerk had said that he had to keep the information of both students and teachers a secret.

With that, he was telling Shang that he should go to a teacher.

Adding the teachers into the sentence was useless. He could have simply said that the students' information would be hidden from everyone.

Lastly, he said that only the dean could check up on information in the Exchange Hall.

That meant that Shang only needed to get the Darkness ore from the teacher, and he could buy anything he needed from the Exchange Hall.

Well, as long as the dean wasn't Shang's enemy, but if he were, Shang would have bigger problems.

In short, the clerk had indirectly told Shang that there was a teacher in the school that was willing to do something like that. However, it was up to Shang to find them.

"Why is it impossible?" Shang asked.

"You haven't shown me the basic amount of respect required for asking me for help," she said.

"The basic amount of respect?" Shang asked in confusion.

What did she mean by that?

He had been polite, hadn't he?

What did she mean?

She looked at Shang for a bit longer before slowly walking away.

"You can come talk to me again when you are serious," she said.

Shang's mind was going wild.

What did she mean?

Did she want a bribe?

No, she didn't seem like a person that wanted to be bribed.

She also didn't seem like a person that liked to play political games.

She also didn't seem like the deceiving kind.

'Wait, she doesn't seem like the deceiving kind?' Shang thought.

'If someone weaker than me asked for my help, and I were theoretically willing to help them, what would be the least I would want them to do?'

That's when it hit Shang.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ However, it was risky, very risky.

That also explained teacher Niria's earlier words.

When Shang had said that he wanted Darkness ore, she hadn't immediately said that it was impossible.

No, before that, she asked how much he needed.

Only when he stated the amount did she say that it was impossible.

Shang took a deep breath.

"I have more than only a Darkness Affinity," Shang said.

Teacher Niria stopped.

Then, she walked back to her previous spot.

"Continue," she said.

The least Shang would want from such a person was honesty.

They should at least be honest with him.

 

Chapter 130 Not An Affinity

Shang took a deep breath. It was definitely a huge risk to tell teacher Niria about his one-of-a-kind Affinity.

However, this was still the safest bet.

First of all, teacher Niria already knew that Shang had more than just a Darkness Affinity, which meant that she already knew that his Affinity had to be very special.

Second, teacher Niria had already indirectly taken the first step. If she hadn't given Shang several hints, he would have never found out that teacher Niria had a Darkness Affinity. In a way, she had tested Shang's intellect and had also shown him her trust.

She had taken the first step by unveiling her own secret.

On top of that, teacher Niria was probably the only person that could help Shang without too much risk.

The dean?

Shang doubted that the dean would help him. The dean seemed like a very strict parent to Shang. If Shang asked him for help in that matter, not only would the dean not help him, but he would probably even call Shang weak.

It was Shang's responsibility to become more powerful. The fact that he was allowed to study in this academy was already more than enough help.

"At the moment, I have four Pure Affinities," Shang said.

"That's impossible," teacher Niria said, "but I don't believe you're lying. Prove it."

Shang pointed to the side, and his arm shone with a bit of light for a second. Luckily, they were alone right now. Shang trusted in teacher Niria's capability to notice if someone tried to spy on them.

Teacher Niria hadn't been shocked by the light. She had already anticipated that Shang also had a Light Affinity.

Why?

Because she knew that Shang must have a Mixed Affinity that couldn't be covered with Mixed materials, like a Poison Affinity. In her mind, a fusion of Light and Darkness made the most sense.

However, when teacher Niria saw Shang's left arm, her eyes narrowed.

Shang's left arm had shriveled up.

This definitely wasn't normal.

"I thought you had a Mixed Affinity," she said. "Seems like I have been mistaken."

"What do you mean?" Shang asked, interested in her thoughts.

"Affinities don't damage the user," she said. "After all, an Affinity is something that you have great compatibility with. Someone with a Fire Affinity won't be damaged by fire as much and not at all by their own fire."

"However, your arm has been damaged by the release of Light Mana. That is not normal," she said.

"How would that normally work?" Shang asked.

"Someone with a Light Affinity can heal others and themselves," she explained. "They convert the Mana in their body and mind into Light Mana. This means that they can unleash Light Mana as long as they have Neutral Mana left in their body."

"But you have used your own life energy, or by the looks of it, the life energy in your left arm. This is not normal. Affinities always only make use of the saved-up Mana in your body and mind, not your life energy."

Teacher Niria walked forward and held her hand out for Shang. "Go heal your arm. You might as well show me the peculiarities of your Darkness Affinity."

Shang nodded and took hold of teacher Niria's arm. Then, he used his Darkness Absorb to absorb a bit of her life energy.

"I'm not a weakling," she commented. "I want to see if your Darkness Affinity also has a negative side-effect. If it has one, show me."

Shang nodded and absorbed more of teacher Niria's life energy.

Shang's arm swelled up, and he let go of her.

When teacher Niria saw Shang's left arm, her eyebrows furrowed. "Just as expected, you directly absorb life energy without converting it to Mana."

"The balance of Life Energy inside your body is important. Too little, and you will slowly succumb to many tiny injuries appearing all over your body. Too much, and you will explode."

Shang's arm was close to exploding, but it hadn't crossed the threshold yet.

"Your Darkness and Light Affinities have transformed into a control over life energy," teacher Niria said as she combed her long hair with her fingers, her eyes distant. "However, the most shocking part is that your two Affinities do not interact with Mana at all, which should be impossible."

"All Affinities interact with Mana. Mana is the very medium that makes these transformations possible. Yet, your Light and Darkness Affinities don't interact with it at all."

At that moment, Shang pointed his left arm to the side.

Then, he released a Fire Blast.

Teacher Niria was pulled out of her thoughts as she felt a large amount of Fire Mana leave Shang's body.

At the same time, she also noticed that Shang's left arm was now filled with Ice Mana.

Then, Shang unleashed an Ice Blast.

Shang's arm got severely injured, but the added life energy inside his left arm was being used up to heal it now.

In just a single second, Shang's left arm was in its peak condition again.

Teacher Niria needed a long time to react after witnessing Shang's abilities.

"Shocking," she whispered. "Your Fire and Ice Affinities also don't interact with the Mana inside your body. They only interact with the Mana in the surroundings."

Teacher Niria narrowed her eyes as she combed her hair. "This should be impossible. Affinities are precisely the transformation of your own Mana into different Mana. Yet, your four Affinities don't touch your Mana at all."

"In a way, this doesn't even conform to the definition of an Affinity."

"According to the definition of an Affinity, your Affinity doesn't belong to you. After all, it doesn't interact with your Mana."

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ "From what I've seen, you basically only count as a medium. You are something that transforms the Mana of your surroundings into something else."

"Maybe you are the Affinity?"

Shang felt like teacher Niria was onto something, but he also wasn't sure what she was thinking about. Her words were too abstract.

"Or maybe, since your Affinity doesn't interact with your Mana but the Mana of the world, this Affinity is the world's Affinity."

"And you're only its hand."