Ch. 151..160

Chapter 151 Quota

The lesson was over faster than Shang had anticipated. He had felt like only a couple of minutes had passed, but, apparently, Shang had fought Astor for nearly three hours.

After the first two fights, Shang hadn't won another one. Astor had perfectly countered all of Shang's attacks after knowing what he could do.

Surprisingly, nearly every fight, Shang felt like he had Astor on the ropes. Astor was always so close to losing every single time.

Yet, for some reason, Astor managed to somehow wiggle out of his disadvantaged state.

At that point, Shang had already committed too much, making it harder for him to resist Astor's offensive.

The closest Shang had gotten was when he had loaded his sword with an Ice Blast. He had struck upwards against Astor's sword, completely destroying the attack.

However, Astor managed to block Shang's killing blow by, ironically, jumping into the attack with his chest. The defenses of his uniform activated, and Shang's attack was stopped.

Sure, that only worked once, but it had stopped Shang's most dangerous attack.

Teacher Loran gave his feedback to all the students, including Shang. This time, teacher Loran had actually seen Shang's swordsmanship, which meant that he could give actual feedback.

Surprisingly, teacher Loran didn't criticize Shang's swordsmanship much.

He said that he could already see an initial fighting style forming, which was a good thing.

He said that Shang obviously preferred a very fast and explosive fighting style and that he should focus on that.

One sentence in particular rang true in Shang's mind.

"Don't focus on your weaknesses. Focus on your strengths and make them even stronger."

Shang's weakness was obviously defense. He had no shield or great weapon that could act as a shield. Because of that, Shang had to parry or evade attacks, which wasn't easy.

Shang could work on his defense, but that might take too much work, and it might even ruin his already established fighting style.

Working on his defenses would essentially count as a plan B. If his opponent managed to get through Shang's speed and dodges, Shang would need to defend himself.

That sounded like a good idea, but there was another way forward.

Make it so that the "if" will always stay an if.

Shang could work on his aggressive fighting style until it was so destructive that the opponent wouldn't even be able to unleash an attack.

That was what teacher Loran meant by working on his strengths instead of his weaknesses.

If no opponent ever managed to hit Shang, his defense wouldn't matter.

After giving Shang lots of feedback, teacher Loran left.

"Those were some great fights, Shang," Astor said with a wide grin. "Always fighting Mattheo can get boring since we know each other's moves perfectly. I'm glad you finally managed to reach a level in Battle-Strength that makes you a challenge."

Shang nodded. "Thanks."

But then, Shang frowned as he looked at the ground. "However, there is still a long way to go. After all, I am a full level above you, which means you are jumping levels against me."

"That's sadly the burden we have to bear," Astor said. "We students of the Caterpillar Class can't learn real techniques, which means that our powers are always lower than the powers of normal warriors."

"How strong are you in comparison to other students?" Shang asked.

"Well, in the Caterpillar Class, I'm the strongest as long as Mattheo doesn't use his Magic. That puts me at above-average for normal students. I'm still a bit short when it comes to talented students, and I'm a long way away from rivaling the actually strongest students of our Grade," Astor answered.

"Above average, huh?" Shang commented.

Astor nodded.

"How strong am I in comparison to other students?" Shang asked.

"In comparison to students of the Caterpillar Class, you are a bit below average. In comparison to students in general, you are on the lower side. If you were in the Preparation Grade, you could fight with the weaker half of the students in the Caterpillar Class," Astor said.

Shang took a deep breath.

He was still so weak when it came to fighting other students.

"Honestly, I don't get why you seem so troubled," Astor said with a raised eyebrow. "You just came here like one or two weeks ago. The other students had years of training against humans. You barely had two weeks."

"Give it time."

Shang looked to the side.

Sure, he had only been here for two weeks, but he still felt a bit ashamed of his power when it came to fighting other humans.

Fighting beasts, sure. Shang knew that he was incredibly outstanding in that department.

Fighting humans? Not so much.

And even more, fighting Mages was probably even harder.

At that point, Shang remembered something.

Wasn't there a form of practical exam or something like that for the red uniforms?

Wouldn't that be fighting other Mages?

Shang had gathered some experience in fighting warriors, but he hadn't fought any Mages yet.

At the same time, Shang remembered something else.

"Astor," Shang said. "What are these quotas the teachers have for the Day of Chaos?"

Shang remembered the Vice-Dean talk about his quota while referencing the next practical exam for the red uniforms.

"Oh? Yeah, those are popular. Everyone basically wants them," Astor said.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ "Yes, but what are they?" Shang asked again.

"It's watching," Astor said.

"Watching?"

"Mhm." Astor nodded. "On the Day of Chaos, Warrior's Paradise will be closed, and everyone retreats to the Farm Line. Only the Commander Stage warriors will remain in Warrior's Paradise, while all the General Stage warriors defend the Farm Line. That leaves the Soldier Stage warriors with nothing to do."

"Most of us just stay in the Farm Line and wait. We are not relevant to the defense."

"Because of that, every teacher gets a set number of students they can bring with them. These students will follow the teachers to the walls of Warrior's Paradise, and they can watch the Day of Chaos from there."

Shang furrowed his brows as he thought about that.

Watching the Day of Chaos from the walls of Warrior's Paradise.

He definitely was interested in that.

Not only would Shang be able to learn more about beasts, but he would also be able to watch different powerful humans fight.

It would essentially mean learning from the most powerful humans by watching.

"How do I get one of these quotas?" Shang asked.

"Oh, that's very difficult," Astor answered. "I got one from teacher Loran, but I'm also the only one in our Grade. The quotas are total and not Grade-specific. Each teacher gets three in total, and teacher Loran gave his quotas to the strongest students of the three higher Grades."

Shang scratched his chin with furrowed brows.

Getting quotas definitely wasn't easy.

Sure, Shang could fight Astor, but Astor was an entire level below him. If Astor were on Shang's level, Shang would be nearly helpless in front of him.

The quotas were essentially rewards for the most outstanding students per Grade per class.

Shang was in the Caterpillar Class, and he definitely wasn't the most outstanding student in his Grade.

This meant, at the moment, Shang wasn't good enough for a quota.

Chapter 152 Time To Learn

Astor said his goodbyes and left.

Shang wanted to talk with Mattheo, but Mattheo had already left while Shang was talking with Astor.

Before the lesson began, Mattheo had said that his father owned the Warrior's Academy. Together with his father's focus on Magic, Shang was already pretty certain who Mattheo's father was.

It was probably Duke Whirlwind.

Shang didn't think that Mattheo was the dean's son. After all, the dean probably wouldn't have pushed Mattheo so hard into the path of a Mage.

Sadly, Shang couldn't confirm his guess since Mattheo had already left.

After the lesson, Shang wasn't certain what he should do right now. He had finally reached his goal of upgrading his weapon, and he had finally managed to learn more about his swordsmanship.

Now, he could fully focus on learning.

Without a good weapon, Shang had been in a troublesome situation since he hadn't been able to work on his techniques.

'Well, I guess it's time to learn. At the moment, I don't need money or Contribution Points, and I also don't need to train against beasts.'

'For now, I should focus on accumulating knowledge, on my techniques, and on fighting other humans.'

'Seems like I'm going to visit a couple of lessons.'

Shang left the training field and went to his room to check the schedule. There was always a small break between classes for exactly this reason.

'Another lesson for beast knowledge starts soon,' Shang read.

'Alright, let's start the learning process!'

Shang quickly left his room and entered the meeting room. A couple of students looked at him with weird expressions, but they didn't interact with him.

Teacher Niria arrived rather quickly and began her lesson.

"Foreign beasts in the northwestern forest," she announced.

The last time Shang had been here, teacher Niria had talked about foreign beasts in the northeastern forest.

It seemed like the northwestern forest also had foreign species.

Teacher Niria explained that there were two problematic areas.

The south and the northwest.

The south was obviously a problematic area due to the General Stage beasts from the Wasteland.

The northwestern part was problematic due to the Ice Wyvern Zone.

Shang hadn't heard much about the invading species of the Ice Wyvern Zone since they weren't nearly as dangerous to the ecosystem in the forest itself. Yes, the species themselves were still very dangerous to the hunters, but they didn't destroy the forest.

The northeastern forest was in constant danger due to the Swamp Millipedes and the Vanishing Snakes.

In comparison to that, the only real danger to the environment in the northwestern forest was the Life Scarabs.

The beasts from the Ice Wyvern Zone sometimes came to the Wild Forest, but most of them only arrived there due to certain circumstances.

The beasts didn't need to have their children in the Wild Forest since the Ice Wyvern Zone had plenty of weaker areas. Because of that, only rarely would one see a beast from the Ice Wyvern Zone having a child in the Wild Forest.

Most General Stage beasts only came to the northwestern forest due to being driven out of the northwestern forest by a more powerful beast or if their Affinity was Wind.

There weren't that many, but there were a couple. Of course, since there weren't many invading species from the Ice Wyvern Zone, the dangerous area also wasn't as big.

However, the south was very dangerous.

The southern part of the northwestern forest was even more dangerous than the southern part of the northeastern forest.

What was the reason for that?

Vanishing Snakes.

The Vanishing Snakes killed many young beasts. Many beasts remembered the place of their birth, and they were more likely to have their children at a similar location to where they had been born.

Due to the Vanishing Snakes, not many beasts managed to leave the northeastern forest before reaching the General Stage, which meant fewer beasts had children there.

The Vanishing Snakes weren't in the northwestern forest, which meant that this was the primary spawning ground for all kinds of beasts that usually lived in the Wasteland.

Teacher Niria talked for an hour about invading species from the Ice Wyvern Zone and two hours about invading species from the Wasteland.

As the lesson dragged on, Shang got a certain feeling about the two forests.

When Shang had just arrived, the two forests looked identical. After all, they had the same trees, and they both had Pest Cats.

Shang had also learned that both forests were called the Wild Forest.

Because of that, the two forests basically felt like the same area to Shang.

But by now, Shang saw the difference.

The northwestern forest gave off a feeling of power and confrontation. There were not that many ambush predators, and there were plenty of powerful beasts walking around without hiding.

The local menace, the Life Scarab, also made it feel a bit brighter and more natural. After all, the trees definitely weren't subtle.

In comparison, the northeastern forest was basically shrouded in a dark and poisonous mist. Shang hadn't seen many powerful beasts walking around in the northeastern forest, but the ones that were there attacked with an ambush.

The northwestern forest felt brown or red.

The northeastern forest felt black or purple.

These two areas were very different from each other.

Shang had learned a lot over the last three hours. By now, he also knew several more beasts and knew if they were on the blacklist or not.

And, sure enough, there was no beast that even resembled a Spire Mire.

After the lesson was over, Shang went back to his room.

"Shang, come here."

Or, at least, he wanted to.

Shang turned around. "Yes, teacher Niria?" he asked.

The other students were confused and looked at each other. Teacher Niria had already given Shang private lessons, and now she was calling him to her in public?

Shang walked over to teacher Niria.

SHING!

A small token appeared in teacher Niria's hand. On the token was the shadow of a gigantic eagle and a blacked-out city beneath it.

Shang furrowed his brows as he looked at the token.

A gasp of shock echoed throughout the classroom as the students began to whisper to one another.

"What is-"

"Teacher Niria!" another student said with a nervous but slightly angry tone. "Would you please explain to me why he is getting the token? As far as I know, I'm the best hunter in this Grade!"

Shang looked over.

It was a girl with white hair, and a long, silver bow was on her back.

Teacher Niria calmly looked over at the student.

"Have you killed a General Stage beast before?" she asked.

The student moved back a bit. "I couldn't find a group that accepts me yet," she answered.

"So, you are not the best student," teacher Niria said.

The surrounding students had fallen into silence.

Wait, did that mean that Shang had killed a General Stage beast before?

There was a group willing to take him with them?

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ "Has he?" the student asked.

Teacher Niria nodded. "I have seen the corpse with my own eyes. It was a General Stage Vanishing Snake."

Silence.

A General Stage Vanishing Snake?

As a Soldier Stage warrior?

That was insane!

"But he isn't even in our class!" the student said.

"So? He's the best hunter amongst everyone at the Soldier Stage in the academy. If he doesn't deserve a token, nobody does."

Shang was still confused about what kind of token he got.

Teacher Niria looked at Shang. "Don't leave the city on the Day of Chaos. Gather in the middle of the academy shortly before sunrise. I will take you to watch."

Shang's eyes widened.

Chapter 153 Practice

The students slowly left the class, talking with each other the entire time.

Meanwhile, Shang slowly leaned forward and whispered.

"Is this because of, you know what?" he asked.

"No," teacher Niria answered. "You are simply the best hunter."

Shang looked with uncertainty at teacher Niria. "But I had help. The Storm Eagle young did a lot of work, and I wouldn't be alive without it."

"Could it have killed the snake without you?" teacher Niria asked.

Shang thought about it for a bit.

Yes, the Storm Eagle had injured the snake severely, but that was only possible since the snake hadn't noticed the eagle. After it had noticed the eagle, it had readied its weapons.

If the Storm Eagle had attacked again without backup, it would have been killed with certainty.

"No," Shang said, "but that doesn't change the fact that I won with help."

Teacher Niria frowned. "I don't like your dishonest behavior."

Shang's eyebrows shot up in surprise and shock. "Dishonest?" he asked.

"You are trying to fish for compliments," teacher Niria answered with annoyance.

"How am I fishing for compliments?!" Shang asked in shock. "I mean what I say! I had help, which means that the glory isn't fully mine. At most, I get 50%."

Teacher Niria looked closely at Shang.

He didn't seem to be lying.

"Have you not heard the other student?" she asked.

"I did. What about her?" Shang asked back.

"She said that no team accepted her, which is normal. Only very few students get to join a team that hunts a General Stage beast, and those students have to be the best and at the Peak Soldier Stage."

"Such a team consists of at least three General Stage warriors. Tell me, how much glory would that student get?" teacher Niria asked.

Shang blinked a couple of times. "Maybe 10%?" he asked.

"Maybe," teacher Niria said emotionlessly. "You are so caught up in your own world that you can't see the people around you."

Shang didn't say anything. He wasn't sure what teacher Niria meant.

"No one at the General Stage even thinks about hunting a General Stage beast solo as long as it isn't at least a level below them. Meanwhile, you act like it's a disgrace that you and a Soldier Stage beast killed a beast a full level above you."

"You think that you have to kill beasts alone, but that mindset is one in a thousand, and I don't mean the good kind. Your entire life depends on only yourself. If you make a mistake, you will die."

"To work with that mindset, you either have to be perfect or incredibly lucky."

Shang was a bit taken aback.

Yes, he hadn't even considered hunting beasts with a team.

It simply seemed unnecessary.

Was that so wrong?

If he hunted beasts in a team, how would he be able to push his Battle-Strength further?

If others constantly fixed his mistakes, how would he learn from them?

"You seem to finally understand," teacher Niria said with a cold tone. "So, don't annoy me anymore. Day of Chaos, before dawn, middle of the academy."

After she said that, teacher Niria left the classroom.

Now, Shang was alone in the classroom.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ He looked at the token again.

Just earlier, he had lamented that he wasn't good enough to get a quota.

However, he actually was good enough.

Shang was below average in terms of fighting against warriors.

Shang was probably only average when fighting against Mages. After all, nearly no warrior has any experience in fighting Mages.

So, in those two things, Shang basically counted as a bad student.

He counted as a weak student.

However, when it came to beasts, Shang was incredible.

Why was that?

Experience.

He had lived in the wilderness for over six months, and he had killed so many beasts.

Additionally, he had killed beasts above his level several times.

Shang had pushed himself further than any other students in the academy when it came to beasts.

Shang looked away from the token as a gleam shone in his eyes.

'If everything is up to experience, I only need to gather experience to get better. I might be weak against other humans right now, but with enough experience, that will change.'

'I need more experience, but in order to accumulate that experience, I need time and lessons.'

'Seems like there won't be any more power bursts in the short time. Now, the time to learn has come.'

'My life as a student has now officially begun.'

Shang left the classroom and went back to his room. It was night now, which meant that there were no more lessons until the next day.

Shang took out his sword. "Let's go. We should work on the techniques. Thanks to teacher Loran, I think I know where I have to go to next."

"I, help," the sword answered.

"I'm counting on you," Shang said as he looked at his sword.

After that, Shang began to practice his techniques again. It had been a while since he had tried his hands on them.

"Bad."

"Good."

"Feel, wrong."

"Maybe."

The sword gave feedback after nearly every swing.

It was telling Shang when it felt that Shang's technique felt unfitting or incorrect.

Since the sword could now actually talk somewhat with Shang, he also slowly learned where its feelings came from.

After a lot of experimentation, Shang found out that the sword's likes and dislikes had been forged by how Shang had used it in the past.

Its taste had essentially copied what Shang had wanted his swordsmanship to be like in the past.

In the beginning, Shang wanted to get rid of all the awkward movements, and the sword also wanted that.

Shang preferred very offensive moves to other moves, and the sword also preferred those.

They were essentially two people with the same likes, dislikes, and goals.

This wasn't just a man practicing his swordsmanship.

This was a man practicing together with his sword.

None of the two were teaching each other. They simply gave each other feedback on what they thought of the technique.

They were experiencing the path to sword mastery together.

They were making decisions together.

They were two minds working on one job.

After several hours, Shang felt like he had arrived at a good place to stop. Of course, with only a couple of hours of training, his strength hadn't increased by much.

However, he had become more familiar with the techniques he enjoyed using.

The more familiar he got with the techniques, the more likely his instincts were to use them.

During a fight, it was difficult to plan. A lot of things happened in a very short time frame, and many times, the instincts of a warrior decided what attack to use.

This was one of the most important things in a fight. Putting techniques into one's instinct severely lowered the needed time to unleash them.

If a person unused to driving saw someone jump in front of their car, they would take a while to react. That person knew where the brakes were, but in their mind, they first needed to find the appropriate reaction.

A person that was used to driving would immediately push the brakes.

One was a planned action, while the other was an instinctual reaction.

After stopping his practice, Shang decided to work the last couple of hours on his Affinities.

It would be a long time until he would get anything useful out of this kind of training, but it was better to alternate different kinds of training.

And before he knew it, a new day had arrived.

And Shang would join his next lesson.

Chapter 154 Learning

The first lesson of the day: Swordsmanship.

A couple of students looked weirdly at Shang when they saw him.

They had heard of him before, but they hadn't expected him to be in their Grade. After all, Shang had never shown up to this lesson.

Most other students came from the yellow and blue factions, but there were also a couple of students with black, red, and green uniforms.

There were only five people from the Caterpillar Class in this lesson, and they had vouched for Shang when everyone inevitably started questioning why someone at the Peak Soldier Stage was in their Grade.

Teacher Mervin eventually arrived, and he began the lesson.

"Closing in on spear users," he announced.

After his announcement, a student at the Peak Soldier Stage walked forward.

He was tall, muscular, and had long green hair. A mighty spear was in his right hand.

None of the other students seemed surprised that the student was a level higher than them.

The student with the spear was someone in the Preparation Grade, and they were supposed to help the students in studying. He had to be more powerful to properly control his power and techniques against his opponents.

Of course, the student would earn quite some Contribution Points for performing this service.

After the student stepped forward, teacher Mervin called the first student to the front.

Teacher Mervin didn't explain anything.

He simply sent the student against the spear user.

"Level three," the student said, obviously familiar with how the lesson worked.

After that, the two students began fighting.

In just a couple of seconds, the sword user managed to get past the spear and reach the spear user's body.

At that point, the fight ended.

The two students parted ways, and the next student stepped up.

"Level three."

While one student after the other stepped forward, Shang asked one of the other Caterpillar Class students about what was going on.

The student told Shang that there were different levels of difficulty.

Level one was the easiest, while level five was the hardest.

If a student managed to beat level five, it meant that they could close in on a spear user a level above them.

There were only two students that beat that level, and both of them wore yellow uniforms.

The highest level the people from the Caterpillar Class managed to beat was level three.

The difference in techniques was just too much.

The Caterpillar Class only had access to techniques of Soldier Stage warriors, which were themselves. The other students had access to techniques perfected over years by the most talented and experienced Commander Stage warriors.

Something like that couldn't be learned without proper guidance and a lot of time.

Shang watched the students fight the spear user time after time, and for the first time, Shang saw the power of real techniques.

One of the students had wind come out from their back, which increased their speed by a level.

Shang was a bit confused when he saw that since he was under the impression that only someone at the General Stage could release their Affinity in such a way.

However, another student explained to Shang that this was the power of a technique.

The student couldn't manipulate their Affinity freely.

They could only follow guidelines.

This was the difference between a technique and mastery.

Mages used incantations and practiced Mana movement to create a powerful attack.

However, what if they didn't use incantations?

What if they moved their Mana differently?

Someone that knew a technique could theoretically replicate the same thing again and again like a copier.

However, such a copier couldn't create a completely new piece of paper that didn't already exist.

Without the incantations, the Mage would find it very hard to manipulate the Mana appropriately.

The incantation was the guideline that showed the Mage the way.

The same thing applied to techniques.

The student in front of Shang could unleash their Affinity in this very specific way, but if they wanted to unleash their Affinity in a different way, they would need a long time and lots of practice.

If someone had mastery over their Mana, they could use it in whichever way they preferred.

But that mastery was hard to achieve, and people in the Soldier Stage couldn't achieve that.

However, with these techniques, they had a shortcut and a guiding light to attacks and movements that should be beyond their abilities.

This was the strength of techniques.

Eventually, it was Shang's turn.

"Level one," he said.

After a couple of questions to the teacher about how the student should handle someone on his level, the fight began.

Passing level one was very easy for Shang due to his stronger body. At level one, the opponent only stabbed forward without moving.

At level two, the student also swung his spear from side to side.

At level three, the student bent the spear in several attacks to make the movements of his spear less predictable.

At level four, the student was allowed to move around, which mostly meant them retreating.

At level five, the student could do whatever they wanted.

Levels one and two were very easy for Shang, but he failed level three.

Together with his more powerful body, that basically meant that Shang was essentially only on level one when compared to the other students.

Since Shang had a more powerful body, he would need to beat level five to reach the average of the other students in class.

Several other students only snorted at Shang's performance, but Shang didn't mind it.

He was here to learn.

He had only recently joined.

With time, he would gain experience, and he would become better.

Shang got several more tries over the next three hours, and he eventually managed to beat level three. He had watched how the other students managed to close the distance, and he tried to emulate some of these things.

Even just by watching, Shang had already learned a lot about fighting someone with a spear.

After the lesson, Shang walked to the next lesson.

"Fighting a Fire Mage," the Vice-Dean announced when the lesson started.

Yes, it was another theoretical lesson for the red uniforms.

After three hours, Shang went to the next lesson.

"Life in the Empress Cobra Zone," a teacher Shang didn't know said.

This was a lesson for the blue uniforms and yellow uniforms, knowledge about different Zones.

These lessons talked about the local economy, policies, wildlife, rulers, events, and many other things. It was just a general overview of different Zones.

Today was about the Empress Cobra Zone.

Shang learned a lot about the Empress Cobra Zone in this lesson, and he went to the next one.

"Let's start," Astor said with a big smirk as he looked at Shang.

It was another lesson for the Caterpillar Class.

After that lesson, Shang went to the last one for the day.

There were twelve hours of lessons during the day with a total of three hours of breaks.

The first lessons started at 7 am, and the last lesson ended at 10 pm.

"How to spot pickpockets," the unknown teacher announced.

This was a lesson for the yellow uniforms.

These lessons taught the future guards and soldiers how to do their job properly.

Shang was interested in that lesson.

Why?

Because he wouldn't always be in the academy, and it was important to protect himself. These lessons went into the behaviors of other people and many different things.

The concept wasn't fully developed in this world yet, but this lesson was basically a rudimentary version of psychology with a heavy focus on only a couple of categories.

After the lesson, Shang went back to his room to train in his techniques again.

Then, he trained his Affinities.

The next day started, and with it, the next lessons.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Swordsmanship.

Politics.

Caterpillar.

Beasts.

Then, more training.

Then, more lessons.

More training.

More lessons.

More training.

More lessons.

And before Shang knew it, the last days of lessons had ended.

The Day of Chaos had arrived.

 

Chapter 155 Monster

Shang opened his eyes deep in the night. Due to the Day of Chaos, Shang had decided to sleep again.

The last couple of days had already been a pain. The bloodied face had returned from time to time in the last couple of days. It wasn't nearly as bad as back then, but it was still very noticeable.

The last night had been horrible. Just like before, Shang felt his entire world break down as he tried to sleep. Everything had appeared hopeless and senseless.

But, eventually, Shang managed to go to sleep.

He wasn't sure what he had dreamt about, but he was pretty sure that he had dreamt of something bad.

Why?

Because Shang found spots of blood on his bed.

He guessed that he had probably scratched himself bloody during his sleep, and due to his high tolerance for pain, he didn't even wake up.

However, as a new day began, Shang felt much better.

Last night, he had felt horrible, which stood in stark contrast to how Shang felt right now.

He was alert and full of energy.

Shang stood up, showered, and shaved.

After getting dressed, Shang looked at his bed.

It was filled with dried blood, and it smelled quite badly.

He had done that.

'Moment of weakness,' Shang thought. 'I have to get used to the crueler side of the world. The more used I get to everything, the easier my life will become.'

Shang kept looking at the bloodstains.

To him, it felt like he was leaving his old self behind.

Shang dissociated from his past self last night.

"Well, doesn't matter. Let's go," Shang said to Sword.

Yes, that was the name of Shang's sword, Sword.

After they had trained a couple of times, Shang had found out that he didn't know Sword's name, which was why he had asked.

Sword simply said that it was a sword, and it wanted to be called as such.

Shang had asked why Sword didn't want a unique name.

Sword's answer was that its name would eventually be unique.

One day, if someone said the word sword, they would think of Sword.

It was not a sword.

It was the Sword!

In the end, Shang accepted that Sword wanted to be called Sword. He found it a bit weird to refer to a sword as Sword, but if that was what it wanted, sure.

Shang left his room and walked out towards the courtyard of the academy. It was still dark, but Shang could already see several students waiting.

There were about 50.

However, these 50 students represented the best of the best in each Grade.

The best hunters.

The best officers.

The best soldiers.

Some of them were the best in theory regarding one of the subjects.

Some of them were the best when it came to using their weapons.

These were the best students in the academy.

But there was one very surprising thing.

15 of the 50 students wore red uniforms.

That was nearly a third!

There were barely any red uniforms in the academy, but nearly all of them had gathered here.

However, Shang quickly realized why.

The Vice-Dean had said that he had five spots and that he could only take five people of the Advanced Grade with him.

Of course, the Vice-Dean wouldn't only look at the Advanced Grade. What about the Intermediate or Preparation Grade?

There were no students from the Beginner Grade here, which was understandable. They were still too weak and too new. They wouldn't be able to understand much.

But there were several students of the Intermediate, Late, and Preparation Grade present.

And since the Vice-Dean had five spots per grade, he was the reason why there were 15 red uniforms here.

At that moment, Shang realized something.

'The red uniforms are only very rarely amongst other students. They rarely talk, and they rarely visit other lessons. They are also the only ones that have a Vice-Dean teaching them.'

'It's almost like they are completely separate from the other students.'

'The Caterpillar Class is already special since we can't learn the actual techniques of the school, but we still mingle with other students and share lessons. But the red uniforms are basically like ghosts.'

'And now, they are the most numerous students present.'

Shang hadn't noticed it previously, but as he saw so many red uniforms, he noticed it.

The academy put special focus on the red uniforms.

It was like they were the most important students.

"Shang?"

Shang looked over at Astor, who looked at him with surprise.

"Yes?" Shang asked.

"What are you doing here?" Astor asked.

Shang took out the token he had received and showed it to Astor. "I got one."

Astor looked with shock and confusion at the token.

It was real.

But how?

Astor liked Shang, but he also knew very well of Shang's capabilities.

Shang was very young, but since he was so young, he was also far weaker than the other students.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ In order to get an emblem, one needed to be among the best.

Yes, Astor liked Shang, but he also knew that Shang definitely wasn't among the best.

Shang's Battle-Strength was very weak, and he couldn't have been here long enough to learn everything was to know about the surroundings. That meant that he also couldn't have been chosen by a teacher who only taught something theoretical.

Shang was weak.

And Shang knew basically nothing about the theoretical subjects.

So, how did Shang manage to get here?

Was he actually some hidden progeny of a foreign Duke?

Maybe he was the son of the King of the Skythunder Kingdom?

The Vice-Deans and the Dean didn't make any exceptions for anyone unless the other side could be a threat to them.

And True Mages were no threat.

"I was just as surprised as you," Shang said.

He could tell what Astor was thinking about.

He knew that Astor wasn't belittling him. Astor was an honest guy.

"How did you get this?" Astor asked.

"Teacher Niria," Shang said.

"Teacher Niria?" Astor asked. "The beast teacher?"

Shang nodded.

"Why?" Astor asked.

"I'm pretty good at hunting," Shang said.

That's when Astor's eyes widened in realization.

Right!

Shang had shown that he had gone through tons of battles. After all, his instincts were top-notch, and he had amazing control over his body.

But his strength when fighting humans was horrible.

That could only mean that Shang had exclusively fought beasts in the past!

Astor was experienced enough to feel how experienced his opponent was.

Shang felt very experienced to him, just not experienced in fighting against humans.

At that moment, Astor realized that Shang was probably a terrifyingly powerful hunter.

Now, Shang had reached Astor's level in Astor's perception.

He was also someone at the top of their class but in a different one.

After realizing all of this, Astor only had a single question.

"Have you killed a Vanishing Snake before?" he asked with wonder.

Shang blinked a couple of times. "Yeah, a couple of them."

"Wow," Astor said. "My team has never gone to the northeastern forest specifically because of them. How many people are in your team?"

Shang blinked again in confusion. "I don't have a team. I hunt alone."

Astor almost couldn't believe it.

Hunting Vanishing Snakes alone?!

Shang was a monster!

Ironically enough, Shang had always viewed Astor as a monster since Astor managed to jump a level against Shang.

That also hadn't changed.

But now, Astor was also viewing Shang as a monster.

Both of them were impressed by the other's talent.

 

Chapter 156 Protection

Shang and Astor talked for quite a while. Since Astor now viewed Shang as someone on his level, he had many questions about how Shang managed to hunt so many powerful beasts.

The same thing was true for Shang. He was interested in how Astor was able to be so powerful while having a Water Affinity.

Water Affinities were only good for healing. That was how everyone viewed them.

They had nearly no offensive capabilities.

They had nearly no defensive capabilities.

A Water Affinity was essentially only good for healing.

However, Astor managed to make his Water Affinity work. Even more, there were advantages to Astor's Water Affinity that he couldn't even show in training.

For example, Astor could gather his Water Mana to a part of his body and rapidly heal that part. During class, this power was useless since no one got injured very often.

Having a Water Affinity wasn't as useful as having a warrior's body when it came to healing, but it definitely was better than having any other Affinity.

A warrior's body healed the body automatically by directly converting Mana. A Water Affinity would need to actively be manipulated to heal the correct place, which would take time, concentration, and more Mana in total.

Of course, the tradeoff was that a warrior's body basically made it impossible to have much control over one's Affinity, to begin with.

Advantages and disadvantages.

"Is Mattheo also here?" Shang asked.

"No," Astor answered. "Mattheo is with the Mage Academy."

"The one north of the northeastern forest?" Shang asked. He had learned a lot during the last two weeks.

"Yes, that one," Astor answered.

"That's also where Duke Whirlwind lives, right?"

"Correct," Astor said. "Duke Whirlwind wouldn't want his son to be here during the Day of Chaos. After all, it isn't only the Storm Eagle Zone that goes through it."

Shang nodded. "The Empress Cobra also leaves on this day, right?"

For the last couple of days, basically all the lessons revolved around the upcoming Day of Chaos, which was why Shang knew so much about it now.

Shang had learned an incredible amount of information in the last two weeks.

For example, Shang had always wondered where Duke Whirlwind actually was. Warrior's Paradise didn't have any kind of fancy palace or something. There also weren't many Apprentices or Adepts here. Sure, there were some, but definitely not enough to create an academy.

Shang had learned that there was a big Mage Academy to the north of the northeastern forest. It was close to the border of the Empress Cobra Zone.

The Farm Line also sent their food to that Mage Academy.

However, compared to Warrior's Paradise, the Mage Academy wasn't inside a city.

The Mage Academy itself was basically its own town.

It had been built at that place because of the access to lots of natural Mana. Warrior's Paradise had a gigantic Mana Austerum in the middle, throwing the balance of Mana inside the city off.

Apprentices and Adepts needed lots of Mana around them to learn.

And that place was perfect.

They had Wind Mana from the Storm Eagle Zone, and if they traveled a bit to the east, they had access to Water and Poison Mana. There were also a couple of Ice Apprentices in the school, but they lived more towards the northwest, near the Ice Wyvern Zone.

Earth Mana was also present since the Ice Wyvern Zone had a lot of mountains.

However, Fire, Lightning, and Metal Mana were rare there.

Because of that, the Mage Academy didn't accept students with Fire, Lightning, or Metal Affinities.

But wait, didn't Mattheo have a Fire Affinity?

That's correct. However, he was also the only Fire Apprentice in the entire school.

Duke Whirlwind hired a Fire Mage living in Warrior's Paradise as Mattheo's teacher. Of course, the Fire Mage only taught Mattheo about Fire Mage-specific things.

For general things, Mattheo had the Mage Academy.

So, how good was the Mage Academy?

It was average. It wasn't amazing, but it definitely also wasn't bad.

Plenty of students graduated as True Mages.

But wait, then how was the Warrior's Academy so amazing? After all, a True Mage was on the same level as a Commander Stage warrior, and the Warrior's Academy was famous for its ability to produce Commander Stage warriors.

Well, in the end, this world was ruled by Mages.

Becoming a Commander Stage warrior was amazing.

Becoming a True Mage was also amazing, but not as much.

When compared to Earth, one could say that, for a warrior, reaching the Commander Stage was the equivalent of being a multi-millionaire. It was essentially the goal for 99% of all people.

For Mages, it would be equivalent to getting one's Ph.D. It was definitely amazing, but one still needed to find a great job and still prove themselves in their actual field.

After a while of talking, teacher Loran appeared and called Astor over.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Teacher Loran also noticed Shang, and his brows furrowed, but he didn't say anything.

He could guess how Shang had managed to get a quota.

Astor left with teacher Loran. After all, the teachers were responsible for protecting their students on this day. If a student died under their supervision, it would be the teacher's fault.

In a way, taking a student with them showed a teacher's confidence in their power. If they wanted, they could probably increase their quota, but it would be up to their confidence and power.

The Vice-Dean, obviously, had a lot of power and a lot of confidence, which was why he took a whole 15 students with him.

"Shang."

Shang looked over when he heard his name, and he saw teacher Niria.

Another student was beside her, and Shang was surprised when he saw the familiar face.

It was that one General Stage student that had told Shang about the Vanishing Snakes.

His name was Yiral.

Yiral nodded at Shang as a greeting, and Shang nodded back.

"What about the Preparation Grade?" Shang asked teacher Niria.

"You are the only one," teacher Niria said.

Shang looked with confusion at Yiral.

"He's there to protect you. I trust in his judgment and ability," teacher Niria said.

Yiral nodded again. "If I tell you to do something, you will do it. Understood?" he asked.

Shang nodded. "I will."

"Good," Yiral said.

Shang looked over at teacher Niria. "What about you?"

"I'm in the defensive team," teacher Niria said. "Today, we will be attacked by many Commander Stage beasts. As a hunter, it is my duty to protect this city."

"The other teachers are not hunters, which is why they are only marginally of help."

Shang realized that teacher Niria's words made a lot of sense, but that also threw up another question.

"Then, if they are not of much help, who's going to defend Warrior's Paradise?" Shang asked.

"The soldiers with their ballista and a couple of outstanding teams of hunters."

"However, the bulk of the work will be handled by the Mages."

"Enough talking. Let's go," teacher Niria said as she led Shang and Yiral away.

Yiral stepped behind Shang and followed him quietly as everyone made their way to the city walls.

The Day of Chaos was about to begin.

 

Chapter 157 Eternal Spires

The three of them walked towards the south of the academy. There were plenty of places to climb the wall, and one was also inside the academy. Of course, students were forbidden from climbing the walls, and the teachers and guards made sure that they followed the rules.

Surprisingly, not all the students and teachers entered from this place. Some of them went to the west or east, while Shang went to the south. It was up to the teacher to decide where they wanted the student to watch.

The southern end was the most dangerous since it directly faced the Canyon, a place filled with Commander Stage beasts.

Because of that, most teachers went to the west or east.

As they reached the southern wall, they saw a guard standing in front of the stairs.

The guard looked at teacher Niria and smiled. "Niria, I've just gotten word from the general. You will be joining the western assault team."

Teacher Niria nodded. "That's what I thought."

"Have fun out there!" the guard said with a smile, "and, don't worry, we'll take care of your two students."

"Thanks," teacher Niria said with a nod.

And then, she left the two students without a word.

"You must be Shang, right?" the guard asked as he looked at Shang.

Shang nodded. "Yes."

"Oh, come on! Don't be so stiff!" the guard said as he strongly put his hand on Shang's shoulder. "Today, you are one of us, even if you only watch. Relax a little. Have some fun."

"I will. Thanks," Shang said emotionlessly.

The guard lifted an eyebrow and looked at Yiral. "Is he always like this?" he asked.

Yiral only emotionlessly looked at the guard. "I don't know."

Silence.

"Well, alrighty then," the guard said awkwardly. "Come, I'll show you where you will stay."

The guard climbed the stairs, and the two students followed.

After a bit of climbing, the three of them entered a big room inside one of the big towers.

"Sir!" the guard shouted as he saluted.

A middle-aged man in golden armor was checking several gigantic arrows leaning on the side of the room. Obviously, these were the arrows for the gigantic ballista on the wall.

The man in the golden armor had short, black hair. Shang couldn't feel any form of Mana emanating from him.

After hearing the greeting, the officer looked over. "These two are Niria's students?" he asked.

"Yes, sir!" the guard said.

The officer nodded. "You may go."

The guard saluted once more and left. The officer didn't salute back, but the guard seemingly didn't care.

It was a stressful time, and the officer was already overworked.

"You two will be staying with me today," the officer said.

Shang's eyebrows rose in surprise.

He had already guessed that teacher Niria had some great connections among the guards, but this was even more than Shang had anticipated.

Shang had seen guards with bronze and silver uniforms. The bronze guards were powerful General Stage warriors, while the ones in silver were Commander Stage warriors.

However, gold was something new for Shang.

How powerful was this person in front of him?

"You seem quite interested in my power," the man said without looking back from the arrows.

Shang wasn't sure how he should act in front of the officer. Should he act casually? Should he salute?

"I don't care how you address me," the officer said.

Shang felt a feeling of déjà vu. Shang was reminded of his conversation with the God. The God had also answered Shang's questions before he had even asked them.

"I'm sorry if I offended you by looking at you like this," Shang said carefully. "I was curious, and this is my first time seeing someone amongst the city guards with golden armor."

"Don't overestimate your own ability," the officer said neutrally.

Shang wasn't sure what he meant.

"You don't have the ability to offend me," the officer said. "As for my power, I should be about as powerful as the Vice-Dean called Soran."

Shang hadn't seen Vice-Dean Soran in a long time.

Vice-Dean Soran wasn't teaching any lessons since he was constantly busy with administrative affairs. He was essentially doing the work of the Dean.

However, Shang also remembered that Vice-Dean Soran was very powerful. He definitely was more powerful than all the teachers. Shang also remembered that Vice-Dean Soran was the Dean's student.

"What about Vice-Dean Ranos?" Shang asked.

After two additional weeks inside the academy, Shang had learned a lot of things, and the name of the other Vice-Dean was one of them.

"Don't ask questions you already know the answer to," the officer said without looking at Shang.

Shang didn't say anything in return.

Yes, the answer was obvious.

The officer was as powerful as Vice-Dean Soran, but Vice-Dean Soran was definitely weaker than Vice-Dean Ranos.

There was no comparison.

Yiral didn't say anything this entire time. He only remained to the side as he looked at the room.

After some seconds in silence, the officer left the arrows. "Follow," he ordered.

Shang and Yiral followed the officer through a side door, which led to a spiraling staircase. The three of them climbed the stairs for quite some time until they eventually reached the top.

The staircase ended in a horizontal door, which the officer opened easily.

And then, the three of them exited the staircase.

Shang saw the sky again, and he noticed that the sky was becoming a bit brighter. Dawn was about to arrive.

However, the sky only held Shang's attention for a little bit as he looked around in awe.

For the first time, Shang saw the surrounding lands from such a high vantage point!

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Shang was on top of one of the four biggest towers in Warrior's Paradise. The only bigger building was the Mana Austerum in the middle of the city.

The walls of Warrior's Paradise were present every second of every day of every year. From inside the city, it was impossible to see dawn and dusk. It was also impossible to see the surrounding lands due to the high walls.

But now, Shang could see everything!

Shang had already seen the northern parts of the western and eastern Wasteland, but now, he could see the southern parts as well.

The Wasteland seemingly stretched on forever. Shang was certain that it stretched over 50 kilometers towards the south.

On earth, looking 50 kilometers into the distance was basically impossible due to the curvature of the Earth. But here, it was possible.

Of course, on Earth, one could also see farther into the distance if there were a huge structure, a mountain, for example.

The same thing was true here.

Far, far into the distance, Shang could see several gigantic spires coming out of the ground. Shang guessed that they were even higher and maybe even bigger than Warrior's Paradise.

The spires seemed almost unnatural. They were far too steep, and there were too many of them.

"Eternal Granite."

Shang looked at Yiral.

"Eternal Granite?" Shang asked.

Yiral nodded. "The treasure that protects Warrior's Paradise."

Shang had learned a lot in the past two weeks, but he hadn't heard of that before. "What's that?" Shang asked.

"Eternal Granite is Rank Three Earth ore and a very powerful kind at that," Yiral explained. "The Wind Mana of the Storm Eagle destroys the land, and only Eternal Granite is powerful enough to resist it."

"These spires are all made of pure Eternal Granite, and they symbolize the beginning of the Canyon."

"One unit is worth over 20,000 gold."

Shang's eyes widened in shock.

20,000 gold?!

Shang had paid 450 gold for one unit of Mid Rank Two ore!

One General Stage beast corpse was worth between 500 and 1,000 gold!

Shang looked at the spires again.

They were kilometers tall!

Each one was over a hundred meters wide!

There were innumerable spires!

How much money was that?!

"This is one reason why Warrior's Paradise manages to attract so many Commander Stage warriors and True Mages," Yiral explained.

"New Commander Stage warriors can train near the Canyon, and the most powerful warriors in the world can actually enter the Canyon and mine the ore."

"If anything attacks the ore, the surrounding beasts become agitated. Half of the beasts have an Earth Affinity, and they need the Eternal Granite since it provides Earth Mana."

"Because of that, mining the ore is extremely dangerous, and only the best hunting teams in the world can attempt it."

"The beasts attract newer Commander Stage warriors, but the Eternal Spires attract the most powerful Commander Stage warriors."

"The Eternal Spires contribute to Warrior's Paradise's prosperity and survival."

"Without them, we wouldn't even have half the number of guards."

Chapter 158 The Start

Shang looked at the Eternal Spires in awe.

They were so far away, but he could still see them.

This was what every Commander Stage warrior strived towards.

Mining from the Eternal Spire could only be done by the strongest Commander Stage warriors in the world. Without a team of extremely powerful and experienced hunters, it was impossible to survive mining from them.

"Vice-Dean Ranos is a legend amongst warriors," Yiral said emotionlessly, "and the Eternal Spires are the proof of his legacy."

Shang looked at Yiral.

"Vice-Dean Ranos is one of only five warriors in the history of Warrior's Paradise that has managed to mine Eternal Granite solo."

Shang looked at the Eternal Spires.

Solo?

That meant that Vice-Dean Ranos had managed to fight against several Commander Stage beasts at the same time!

One had to remember that beasts became more and more powerful than warriors the more they advanced.

Beasts could keep up with the Mages, while the warriors couldn't.

Could True Mages mine the ore on their own?

Probably, but an average True Mage definitely couldn't.

Vice-Dean Ranos had managed to break the mold and managed to close in on the Mages.

"What about the dean?" Shang asked.

"If the Chief needs money, he mines Eternal Granite," the officer said from behind Shang.

Shang turned around and looked at the officer, who had arrived behind him.

"The Chief is our backbone. If we need a large amount of gold, he is the one that provides it to us."

Then, the officer pointed towards the south.

"That Eternal Spire, the one that looks different from the others," he said.

Shang looked over and tried to follow the officer's finger.

It took him a bit, but after a couple of seconds, Shang noticed that one of the spires had its tip cut off.

"That was last year when a True Path beast damaged the foundation of Warrior's Paradise. Duke Whirlwind paid an Earth High Mage to fix the damage by offering him very rare and very expensive materials."

"Of course, we still need materials to fix Warrior's Paradise, and the tip of that spire was the material we used," the officer explained.

Shang listened intently and looked at the Canyon and the Eternal Spires.

These Eternal Spires symbolized the ultimate goal of all warriors in the world, but for the Mages and the dean, it was only a playground, maybe even a garden.

"Everything is prepared," the officer said as he pointed at a place at the eastern end of the tower. "You two will stay there. The walls can withstand the wind, and if a beast manages to get on the tower, it will arrive at the southern end."

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ "You will stay on that spot for the entire day. As soon as the attacks begin, you are forbidden from talking to any of my men unless they address you first."

"Any Commander Stage beast with a level nine Wind Ability will throw you two off the tower, and you will die. If you see one approach, you will duck behind the wall of the tower."

"Am I understood?" the officer asked strictly.

"Yes, sir," Yiral said.

"Good. Don't die," the officer said before he went into the tower again.

Shang knew what the officer meant with level nine Wind Ability.

For beasts, there was a ranking system for their individual abilities.

There were ten levels an aspect of a beast could reach.

For example: if a beast had level five or level six speed, it meant that its speed was average when compared to every other beast at its level.

If a beast had level one speed, it meant that it was basically a moving snail.

If a beast had level ten speed, it meant that it counted as one of the fastest beasts in existence on that level.

A level nine Wind Ability meant that the beast almost certainly exclusively fought with its Wind Affinity. Their entire strength basically relied on their Wind Ability due to its strength.

The beast Shang had heard of on his first day in Warrior's Paradise, the Spear Stork, was one such beast. A Spear Stork was a long and thin bird with a beak that resembled a spear.

The Spear Stork had a level nine Wind Ability and level ten speed.

However, its Wind Ability wasn't offensive but auxiliary. It used its impressive Wind Ability to boost its own speed to the peak.

Of course, its defenses and variety in attacks were horrible, barely reaching level two.

Sadly, even though Shang knew what the officer meant, he didn't have that much knowledge about Commander Stage beasts.

"That's why I'm here," Yiral said. "I know all the beasts in the Canyon, and I will tell you what to do."

Shang nodded.

"If I tell you to do something, you will do so. Your survival is my responsibility today, okay?" Yiral asked.

Shang nodded again. "I will."

The two of them walked to the eastern end of the tower. The tower was in the southwest of Warrior's Paradise, which meant that beasts would come from its south and west. The eastern end of the tower led to the walls, which was why it was safer there.

While walking to the eastern end, Shang inspected the actual tower for the first time.

He could see three gigantic ballistae and over 20 guards. Six of them even wore silver robes.

As Shang reached the eastern end of the tower, he peeked over at the city.

The city was basically dead.

There wasn't a single person inside the city itself.

However, Shang noticed a lot of people on the wall below him.

There were a couple of guards walking amongst the group of people, handing them different objects.

But there weren't that many guards there.

Shang immediately realized what kind of people these were.

Mages!

Shang could see several groups of Mages, and on top of that, they were all True Mages!

And there were so many!

There were probably over a hundred of them just on this wall!

'Wait, if all four walls are like this, wouldn't that mean…'

'There are more True Mages than Commander Stage warriors in this city right now?!'

Once again, Shang was reminded that Mages ruled the world.

Commander Stage warriors were extremely rare, but True Mages were not as rare.

'Sure enough, the majority of the work will be done by the Mages,' Shang thought.

After arriving near the eastern wall, the two of them jumped up on the tower wall. It was only about two meters high, but two meters was high enough when they needed to duck behind it.

As the two of them waited on this spot, Yiral told Shang about several beasts they had to keep an eye on.

As time passed, the atmosphere became tenser and tenser. By now, the Mages also stopped lazing around as they gathered near the edge of the wall.

The warriors went to their ballista and waited.

"It's here!"

Shang suddenly heard a loud shout, and he looked towards the south.

"Look closely," Yiral whispered beside Shang. "Today, you will witness power beyond human capabilities."

However, Shang barely heard Yiral as he saw something shocking on the horizon.

Wings!

Gigantic wings, which were forming a gigantic V!

Shang could see them from here!

And then, the wings moved down.

And the Storm Eagle took to the sky!

Chapter 159 True Power

Shang felt like the entire world stopped moving as these gigantic wings on the horizon lowered.

Everything was silent.

In silence, a terrifyingly gigantic bird rose into the sky. It was impossible to see its colors from such a distance since it still wasn't fully illuminated.

In seemingly an instant, the body of the bird had reached an incredible height. It had probably jumped several kilometers into the air in just a single second.

That speed was insane!

And then, the Storm Eagle stretched its wings.

They were gigantic!

Shang knew that the Crater, the place where the Storm Eagle lived, was over 100 kilometers away from Warrior's Paradise.

Yet, Shang could still see it.

It was so much further away than the Eternal Spires, but it already took up more space in Shang's vision than them.

And then, the Storm Eagle flapped its wings as it flew towards Warrior's Paradise.

For several seconds, Shang saw the gigantic wings flap, but he didn't see the Storm Eagle approach. It was almost like it wasn't moving from its spot.

And then, it grew a bit bigger.

And a bit bigger.

By now, Shang could see the green shimmer of its feathers. Like an emerald, its feathers reflected the light.

For these next few seconds, Shang felt like the entire world had fallen into silence.

And then, Shang saw something shocking.

Bodies!

Gigantic bodies!

The Storm Eagle had become much bigger in Shang's vision, and he had seen a literal wave of dust shooting across the Canyon.

And with the wave came the bodies of gigantic beasts.

One huge beast after the other was thrown around inside the Canyon.

From a distance, Shang could see the Eternal Spires vibrate as huge bodies hit them.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Many beasts died, but a lot of them also managed to survive.

"Down!"

The familiar voice of the dean echoed throughout Warrior's Paradise.

Before Shang could do anything, Yiral pulled him to the ground, behind the wall of the tower.

Shang was surprised since the Storm Eagle didn't seem to be that close, but he was mistaken.

Just one second after he had been pushed below the wall, a gigantic shadow passed over Warrior's Paradise.

For just an instant, Shang saw an enormous wing blot out the sky.

The sky had literally been hidden from Shang for just this instant.

Yet, the shadow vanished just as quickly.

And then, hell broke loose!

Everything began to shake!

It was like an enormous earthquake had suddenly taken place as Warrior's Paradise began to shake severely!

As Shang was behind the wall, his gaze was turned to the middle of the city, and that's when he saw it.

The gigantic, green dome of the Mana Austerum began to shine with a bright, green light.

Shang's eyes followed the light, and he noticed that a nearly invisible, green dome had appeared around Warrior's Paradise.

Over the next second, the Mana Austerum began to shine brighter and brighter until it rivaled the sun. It was like there was now a second sun in the sky.

Shang had to look away from the Mana Austerum since he felt his eyes burning.

But just before he looked away, he saw the shadow of the Storm Eagle in the distance.

In these short moments, it had already left behind the entire Storm Eagle Zone!

From one end to the other, the entire Storm Eagle Zone was probably over 200 kilometers long!

The Storm Eagle had flown the entire distance in less than 30 seconds!

"We have been lucky this time," the officer said calmly to the surrounding guards. "It didn't screech while it flew over the city."

The city was slowly calming down as the quakes subsided.

Meanwhile, Shang was shocked into disbelief.

That's right!

The Storm Eagle had merely passed by them!

It had simply flown past them, but it had created such destruction!

It hadn't attacked Warrior's Paradise!

The entire city had gathered its entire power just to prepare for the Storm Eagle to pass them!

Just by moving from point A to point B, the Storm Eagle had probably killed over a hundred Commander Stage beasts!

One of the strongest cities in the world, Warrior's Paradise, had gathered its entire force just to prepare for the Storm Eagle to pass over them!

Just by existing, the Storm Eagle changed nature.

Its Mana formed the environment.

Its wings destroyed the land.

Its movements killed beasts.

The Storm Eagle was literally a natural catastrophe!

The strongest people of the Storm Eagle Zone had covered behind the walls to protect themselves against the passive wind the Storm Eagle created by simply flapping its wings.

Shang looked back at the center of the city, and he noticed that the Mana Austerum was beginning to dim.

How?

The green light was seemingly siphoned out of the Mana Austerum as it bent towards its base.

Shang remembered that he had seen several huge boxes near the Mana Austerum in the last couple of days.

The people had told Shang that these were raw Mana Stones.

Mana Stones were stones used to store Mana. The raw ones were empty, which meant that they could be filled with Mana.

Mana Stones were used to power all kinds of Magic Circles and powerful spells.

It was very difficult to fill Mana Stones with a pure source of Mana.

However, purity was extremely important!

If there were impurities in them, the Mana Stone might damage or even destroy the Magic Circle.

After about half a minute, the green light vanished from the Mana Austerum.

At its base, huge boxes filled with Mana Stones now shone with a green light.

The Mana Austerum had created many tons of Mana Stones filled with pure Wind Mana.

"The Mana Austerum can only protect the city itself," Yiral said from behind Shang. "It is the very reason why the city still stands."

"The quakes you felt earlier came from Warrior's Paradise's base. While the Mana Austerum can protect the city, it can't protect the mountain on which the city is built."

"However, risks are often accompanied by rewards. A major part of the world's supply of Wind Mana Stones comes from this very city."

"Every six months, on the Day of Chaos, Warrior's Paradise is under a major threat. However, every six months, the city also earns a ridiculous sum of money," Yiral explained.

By now, the Storm Eagle's Shadow had vanished behind a couple of mountains, but Shang still looked toward the north.

At this moment, he understood two things.

First, he now fully understood what Warrior's Paradise was.

This was not simply a city that housed the best academy for warriors in the world.

No, this was a bastion.

A bastion for profit!

Humanity had built this gigantic city in such a dangerous location.

For what reason?

For money!

The city was under constant danger, but it was also unimaginably profitable!

This city was the very embodiment of two concepts.

Courage!

Greed!

But the second thing Shang understood went far deeper than that.

Power!

The Storm Eagle embodied true power!

It was true power!

Only now did Shang understand how insignificant Warrior's Paradise was in front of the Storm Eagle.

Shang knew that the Storm Eagle could destroy Warrior's Paradise if it wanted to, but only after seeing it today did he truly understand the unimaginable difference in power between the two.

Warrior's Paradise was as helpless as a baby in front of the Storm Eagle.

And everyone was only alive because the Storm Eagle didn't care about them.

Their survival hinged on the Storm Eagle's whim.

And there was nothing they could do about it.

In front of it, they were helpless.

This was true power.

Chapter 160 Boat In A Storm

For several minutes, Shang only looked towards the north.

Today, he had witnessed true power.

"Don't think too much about it," Yiral said from beside Shang. "Us humans are simply helpless in front of the Zone Beasts. The only thing we can do is survive."

Shang stood up and looked at his surroundings.

Sure enough, all the guards were standing beside their loaded ballistae with serious expressions. It was like nothing had happened.

It was like they had never seen the Storm Eagle, and they all only focused on the present danger.

Shang slowly turned around and jumped on top of the wall to look at the wilderness.

What he saw made cold sweat run down his back.

Chaos!

All the beasts had been thrown around!

All the beasts began to run around in panic, and whenever another beast met them, they either attacked or fled.

At this moment, over 50 fights were probably taking place at the border between the Canyon and the Wasteland, and all these fights were only between Commander Stage beasts.

And the General Stage beasts?

They fled in panic.

All the different, hidden beasts shot out of their burrows as they fled towards the north.

Why the north?

Because Commander Stage beasts were fighting in the south.

The General Stage beasts were afraid of the Commander Stage beasts and fled towards the north in droves.

Shang looked on in shock as an army of General Stage beasts ran towards Warrior's Paradise.

BOOOOM!

Suddenly, a huge explosion hit a cluster of beasts, and Shang felt a wave of heat hit his face.

At that moment, Shang felt an incredible amount of Fire Mana envelop his surroundings.

The General Stage beasts were blown apart as their innards and body parts scattered over the surrounding hundred meters.

BOOOOM!

Another explosion.

BOOOOM!

Another one.

Shang was reminded of the documentaries and movies he had seen on Earth.

This bombardment of explosions reminded Shang of heavy artillery.

More and more explosions occurred, and Shang looked towards the east.

There, Shang saw several Fire Mages flinging small fireballs at the beasts.

Usually, Warrior's Paradise only had a few Fire Mages, but just a couple of days ago, several more Fire Mages had arrived.

This was probably one of Warrior's Paradise's major expenditures.

They had bought the services of these Fire Mages.

And it sure as hell was showing its effect.

Every single fireball decimated several General Stage beasts as they fled towards the north.

The ones that passed Warrior's Paradise from a distance mostly survived, but the ones that ran directly at it or passed close by it were under constant bombardment.

Shang looked with wide eyes as apocalypse descended upon the beasts in the Wasteland.

The Fire Mages were massacring the General Stage beasts by the hundreds!

At this moment, Shang truly understood what it meant that the Mages would do the majority of the work.

A warrior couldn't create such destruction.

A warrior could kill one beast at a time, but they couldn't create such devastating attacks that took out several beasts at once.

As Shang watched the Mages, he realized their true power yet again.

What could he do?

If he were to fight someone like that, what could he do?

The Fire Mage wouldn't even need to hit him.

They only needed to hit the surrounding 20 meters or so.

On top of that, the small fireballs were shooting toward the ground at incredible speeds. It was almost like they were shot out of a gun, and Shang could barely see an orange streak before an explosion occurred.

'This power…'

'One single Fire Mage can already unleash more destruction than heavy artillery.'

'Even more, they don't even need a long time to prepare their next spell.'

'On top of that, they can move at insane speeds.'

'One Fire Mage would be the most dangerous weapon on Earth, except for nuclear weapons.'

'And they are only in the Third Realm.'

'There are several more after that!'

'How powerful can humans become in this world?!'

After a while, Shang's feeling of shock transformed into burning desire.

'I want to have this power!'

'In this world, I have the chance to reach powers that are unimaginable for anyone on Earth!'

'I know that there are humans in this world somewhere that are even more powerful than Zone Beasts. After all, the God said that the Mages rule the entire world. He didn't say that the beasts are the rulers.'

'How powerful would these Mages be?'

Shang couldn't imagine it.

"Down!"

Yiral suddenly pulled Shang behind the wall.

Shortly after, Shang heard an ear-piercing screech accompanied by the sound of one of the ballistae firing.

BOOOM!

The tower below Shang began to shake violently as something hit its side.

At the same time, a violent wind passed above the wall, and Shang could see the air above him distort.

"You can look again," Yiral said as he looked over the wall. "That was a Destruction Wing."

"Look," Yiral said as he pointed over the wall.

Shang also jumped on top of the wall and looked down.

Shang could see two pairs of huge wings with a small body between them fall to the ground. A huge arrow was stuck inside the body.

It was a bird with ridiculously large wings.

"This is a Destruction Wing. It has a level ten Wind Ability. It exclusively attacks with powerful cutting wind. Just being near it can be fatal to Commander Stage warriors," Yiral explained.

Shang looked at the falling corpse with awe.

This beast was at least twenty meters long!

As Shang saw the corpse, he immediately thought of the Old Ice Octopus and the Earth Fruit Hedgehog.

Those two had been at the same level as this Destruction Wing.

These two hegemons in Duke Whirlwind's garden would only count as two more spots in the sea of beasts.

Commander Stage beasts didn't count for anything in Warrior's Paradise.

Shang looked into the distance and saw that the Commander Stage beasts had come closer to Warrior's Paradise.

"Stage Two!"

Shang heard the voice of the dean echo throughout Warrior's Paradise.

Shortly after the order was given, the Mages stopped their bombardment of the General Stage beasts.

Instead, the Mages quickly gathered together into groups of three, and they all began casting together.

Each group had two Fire Mages and one Wind Mage.

In front of each group stood an Earth Mage, who would count as a defense if any beast came close.

After just a couple of seconds, a huge fireball began to hover over each group.

Shang could feel far more Fire Mana inside these fireballs than in the smaller, previous ones.

The Fire Mages stopped casting, and the Wind Mages pointed in different directions.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ An instant later, the gigantic fireballs seemingly vanished into thin air.

BOOOOOOOM!

Explosions nearly a hundred meters wide appeared in the air as the gigantic fireballs hit flying Commander Stage beasts.

The hot air washed over Shang, and he felt like his face was burning up. However, thanks to his powerful body, he didn't sustain any burns.

The shockwave of those explosions nearly threw him into the distance, but Yiral held Shang's arm.

At this moment, Shang realized that he was far out of his element.

Yiral had essentially saved Shang's life two or three times by now!

This was not a place where a mere Soldier Stage warrior should be!

This was a battlefield of Commander Stage warriors and True Mages!

If Shang were here on his own, he would have already died.

If Yiral hadn't held Shang's arm just now, Shang would have been thrown down the tower.

He wouldn't have survived such a fall.

Shang was only a small boat inside stormy seas.

His survival was not in his control.

For his survival, he could only rely on the people around him.

However, instead of feeling fear, Shang only felt awe and desire.

He wanted to become this powerful!

He wanted to reach this power!

Suddenly, Shang saw a couple of soldiers jump over the wall of the tower.

Shang's shocked eyes followed them, and he looked down.

At that moment, Shang saw an army of warriors falling down Warrior's Paradise!

All of them had a green shimmer of Wind Mana around them.

Shang could see soldiers but also hunters.

So this was where all the powerful hunters were!

They had waited until the bombardment of the Fire Mages was over to start hunting!

The ballistae were still manned, but the soldiers that didn't have much to do jumped straight into the battlefield.

Only Commander Stage warriors jumped down, and Shang quickly saw them gather in teams. After landing, the teams shot at different Commander Stage beasts.

And the real war began!