Ch. 181..190

Chapter 181 The Procedure

Shang took a deep breath and walked over to the table.

Then, he pulled down the upper part of his uniform and lay down on the icy table.

From the table, Shang saw the Dean walk over to the thing lying in the room. Shang wasn't entirely sure how the thing had suddenly lost consciousness again, but this had probably been Duke Whirlwind's work.

The Dean put the thing onto the table beside Shang. The table was easily big enough.

"Keep it unconscious," the Dean said.

"No worries," Duke Whirlwind answered from the side.

From now on, Shang couldn't see the Dean anymore since he was lying face-down on the table.

"I will create the cut now. Are you prepared, Shang?" the Dean asked.

"Go ahead," Shang said.

Meanwhile, Shang took a deep breath and mentally prepared himself.

Shang didn't see it, but the Dean took out a shining black knife, which seemed to be made of something like obsidian.

Then, the Dean put the tip of the blade on Shang's neck.

Shang felt the coldness of the blade, and his heart began to beat faster.

And then, the blade went into Shang's body.

The cut was slow and deliberate, careful not to injure the bone.

Shang felt the searing pain of a cut slowly opening above his spine.

Luckily, he could deal with something like that. It wasn't even as bad as his destroyed left arm.

On the side, Mattheo cringed in pain.

He had no idea how Shang could take something like that.

After some seconds, the Dean pulled the knife away.

There was now a cut going all the way from Shang's neck to his behind.

The Dean put his hands into the open wound and pulled it to the side.

Not many people had the luxury of seeing a human essentially being skinned. The skin and the muscles offered a lot of resistance, but the Dean's power was far beyond their ability to resist.

Shang took a deep breath through his gritted teeth.

This was way worse than the cut!

His flesh was being pulled from his very bones!

"Soran," the Dean said.

Shang heard a couple of steps and then felt a slight burning feeling coming from his back.

"Soran is using his Wind Mana to stop your flesh and skin from regenerating," the Dean emotionlessly said. "Anything that regrows will be cut away."

"How is the pain?" the Dean asked.

"Bearable," Shang answered, but his voice sounded strained.

"That's good," the Dean said. "The previous students that agreed to undergo this procedure have done way worse than you up to now. The next two steps will be the most important and most painful ones."

"Go ahead," Shang said with a strained voice.

The Dean put the knife away and took out his spear.

Shang didn't see it.

Then, the Dean put his spear on the highest part of Shang's neck.

"This will be quick but very painful," the Dean said.

Shang took a deep breath and gritted his teeth.

Then, his head nodded.

And then, the Dean's spear began to rotate like a drill.

CRRRRRRK!

In just a single second, the spear had drilled a hole into Shang's neck, and it completely severed all the nerves going from Shang's body to his brain.

At that exact moment, it was like every single nerve in Shang's entire body had been cut.

All the nerves in his body sent the most painful signals of pain they could send.

Shang stopped breathing as his vision swam.

Was this even pain?

It felt so unfamiliar.

It was like this wasn't even pain anymore.

This was a feeling of inescapable doom.

Shang could feel nothing but pain coming from his entire body, even though all his nerves had been cut.

Shang's instincts were to just directly die.

If someone got their neck broken, they very often died instantly.

The brain just became overloaded with everything and shut down.

Shang gritted his teeth and ground them down until he could feel their splinters with his tongue.

Shang's eyes were strained wide open.

Even worse, Shang couldn't breathe anymore!

"You can survive over ten minutes without air. Don't panic," the Dean said evenly. "The procedure will be done by then."

Shang only barely registered the Dean's voice.

"You are still awake. That's good. No one has managed to come this far before. You won't feel what I'm doing back here with your nerves cut," the Dean said.

"You just have to wait and survive."

Shang had difficulties hearing the Dean's voice, but he had understood the last part.

'I just have to wait and survive!'

'Wait and survive!'

'Wait and survive!'

'Every second that passes is one second less I have to wait!'

'Every second I think to myself is another second that passes!'

'Ten minutes are only 600 seconds! Every six seconds is already one percent of the time I have to wait!'

Shang tried every trick to keep himself alive and motivated.

He only had to wait!

Only wait!

As Shang tried to keep himself alive, he heard the most disgusting sound he had ever heard in his life.

It sounded slimy.

It sounded like someone was putting their ear to a tube of toothpaste being squeezed out.

The sound without context wasn't disgusting, but with the context, Shang wanted to hurl.

However, he couldn't even hurl right now.

This was the sound of his viscous bone marrow being squeezed out of his body!

Shang felt the vibrations of the sound going through his entire body, and his vision swam even more.

The sound was almost worse than the pain.

"Bone marrow removed," the Dean said after the sound stopped.

Shang saw the thing on the table vanish from within his range of vision as the Dean took it.

Shang heard several squelching and cracking sounds.

Ten seconds later, the sounds stopped.

"Shang, concentrate on your left arm! Your body is healing too quickly, and it's difficult for me to keep up!" Soran said with a strict voice.

Shang had lost his concentration, and his Mana was rushing towards his back.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Shang continued grinding his teeth as he strained his mind to focus on his left arm.

"Good! Keep it like that," Soran said.

SLAP!

"Wake up!" Shang heard Duke Whirlwind shout with a suppressed voice.

Mattheo had lost his consciousness, and Duke Whirlwind had slapped him awake.

"You have to get used to such things!" Duke Whirlwind reprimanded.

Mattheo didn't answer.

Shang's head was looking away from Duke Whirlwind and Mattheo, which was why he didn't see them right now.

After a short moment, Shang felt a vibration go through his body, and the squelching sound returned.

Shang didn't feel any more or less pain than before.

"Marrow replaced," the Dean said coldly.

"Partial bone replacement is next."

CRACK! CRACK!

Shang felt one powerful force after another vibrate throughout his body.

Clank. Clank.

Then, Shang heard the sound of pieces of bone being flung to the floor.

At this moment, the Dean was cutting off the upper part of each of Shang's vertebrae.

After many cracking sounds, the Dean put parts of the thing's vertebrae on top of Shang's vertebrae.

Then, the Dean took out a crystal filled with Light Mana and held it to these parts to fuse them.

This was the longest part, and it took over three minutes.

After he was done, the Dean looked at how Shang's spine was acting.

The smaller pieces of bone from the thing were slowly changing shape and adapting to Shang's body.

While this was happening, Shang's bones began to change color.

The thing's bones were black, and Shang's spine was also turning black now.

After the Dean saw how Shang's spine acted, he used the crystal filled with Light Mana to close everything from low to high.

A minute later, Shang's entire back looked like nothing had happened, except for the spear poking out of his neck.

The Dean also put the crystal on Shang's left arm to heal it.

Lastly, he put it on Shang's body until he had been refilled with life energy.

"Everything that happens from now is only theoretical," the Dean said as he took hold of his spear.

"Everything seems to have worked perfectly well."

"I've done all I can. The rest is up to you, Shang," the Dean said.

And then, he pulled out his spear.

Shang's skin and flesh closed.

Then, the hole in his back was repaired.

And lastly, Shang's mind came into contact with his new body.

And hell arrived.

Chapter 182 Success!

Everything was burning!

Every part of his being was burning!

The foreign bone marrow came into contact with the last bit of Shang's bone marrow that went directly into his brain.

Shang's subconsciousness was throwing out orders to repair everything, and the bone marrow complied.

The bone marrow created lots of blood by burning away Shang's Mana, but all of this was foreign blood.

As the foreign blood came into contact with Shang's body, it began to disintegrate the incompatible matter.

Shang's blood was essentially burning away all of his body!

At the same time, the Dean put many different crystals filled with Light Mana on different parts of Shang's back.

When he saw Shang's body moving, he pressed down on it. He couldn't allow Shang to move right now.

"AAAHH!"

Shang screamed in a shrill voice, and it made Mattheo and Soran feel uneasy.

For them, it wasn't easy to hear such a pained screech.

Shang's Mana and life energy were quickly used up, but the light crystals refilled it instantly.

At the side, Duke Whirlwind frowned. "Seems like this procedure only works on people with a warrior's body. The Light Mana itself isn't enough to heal everything, and it needs the supplemental Neutral Mana from the body."

Shang didn't even hear Duke Whirlwind.

The pain was just too much!

This was even worse than the procedure itself!

Over the next minute, Shang's entire body began to burn away from the inside, and Shang began to puke one mouthful of blood after the other.

His body was getting rid of all the destroyed parts of his body via his mouth. On Earth, something like this wouldn't work, but with Mana, a lot of impossible things became possible.

Shang began to puke more and more, and over the next five minutes, he had puked over ten liters of blood and gore.

Luckily, his Mana kept healing him.

Eventually, some parts of his body began to adapt to the foreign blood.

They took on the properties of the foreign blood and began to work together with it to destroy everything else.

At that point, Shang's puking only got worse.

A near-constant stream of gore left his mouth, and he wanted to do nothing else but stop and actually breathe.

Half an hour later, all the blood had been replaced.

Ten minutes later, all his organs had been replaced.

Another ten minutes later, all his muscles had been replaced.

Then, his nerves got replaced.

And finally, Shang's mind was replaced.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Shang had already lost consciousness when the foreign matter attacked his mind as pieces of brain and blood flowed out of his nose.

At this point, it was no longer important for him to stay awake.

His body had already fully changed.

And ten minutes later, everything stopped.

Near the side of the room, over ten buckets had been filled with everything Shang had thrown up.

Silence.

The people in the room walked over to Shang.

The Dean and Duke Whirlwind tested Shang's vitals and checked on his body.

"Still alive," Duke Whirlwind said with a smile. "He did it!"

"According to theory," the Dean said, "his mind shouldn't have changed. It should have undergone a gradual replacement, and the neurons should still be the same but with different properties."

"Neurons?" Duke Whirlwind asked. "Is this another word you came up with?"

"You can think of it as such," the Dean said.

Duke Whirlwind didn't know that the Dean was a soul from a different world.

The Mages of this world knew a lot about the mind, but they didn't know about the concept of neurons.

From time to time, the Dean said some words foreign to this world, which confused Duke Whirlwind.

"Everything seems to be in order," the Dean said after some seconds of probing Shang. "Jerald, I think that's everything interesting for today. You probably have other things to do."

Duke Whirlwind, Jerald, nodded. "I should return before people start to become suspicious."

"I will inform you of how things look with the boy later," the Dean said.

"Sounds good. If you need anything, tell me," Duke Whirlwind said. "And George?"

"Yes?" the Dean, George, asked.

"You've written history today," Duke Whirlwind said as he put his hand on the Dean's shoulder.

The Dean only looked at the unconscious Shang.

When he heard Duke Whirlwind's words, he felt strange.

It was almost like this couldn't be true.

20 years of research.

Twenty years of failed experiments and revisions of his procedure.

And now, it had finally succeeded?

He still couldn't believe it.

"But this is only the first step," Duke Whirlwind said. "Next, you need to find a way to make it less painful. After that, you need to find a way for people without a warrior's body to undergo the procedure."

"But today, you've taken your first and hardest step."

"You did well, old friend," Duke Whirlwind said with an encouraging and proud voice.

"You should be proud of yourself, teacher," Soran said from the side with a smile. "You've worked long and hard for this!"

"This will throw the balance of the world into turmoil," Vice-Dean Ranos said from the side. "Even more than your advancement to the True Path Realm."

"Not everyone can claim to have accomplished something like this."

Mattheo didn't say anything.

He was still white in the face from what he had seen.

While everyone was focusing on the Dean, Mattheo was focusing on Shang.

While everyone was praising the Dean's accomplishments, Mattheo was shocked by Shang's accomplishments.

How powerful must his conviction and willpower be to survive something like this?

What kind of monster was Shang?

Did the others not realize what this meant?

What could someone like Shang achieve in the future?

Had none of them realized how absurd it was for Shang to survive something like this?

At this moment, the Magic Circle in Mattheo's mind wrote down everything he knew about Shang in detail.

This could be the most important piece of information Mattheo had ever received in his entire life.

Eventually, everyone but the Dean left the room.

The Dean would wait here to wait until Shang woke up.

Soran had a school to run.

Ranos had a class to teach.

Mattheo had to learn.

Duke Whirlwind had a lot to do.

The Dean was the only one with the time to stay here.

And so, he waited for Shang to wake up.

And he waited.

And waited.

And 20 hours later, his waiting ended.

Shang opened his eyes.

And as he did so, he took in all the foreign sensations.

'I survived.'

 

Chapter 183 - Abominations

Shang opened his eyes and looked around the room.

It appeared brighter than before. However, Shang was sure that there wasn't more light in the room.

'My vision has improved,' Shang thought.

At this moment, Shang didn't regret the procedure anymore.

During it, he regretted it very much. After all, he had to go through so much pain.

But now, everything was over, and Shang would reap the fruits of his pain and suffering.

"Name?" the Dean asked.

Shang looked over at the Dean.

Then, he looked around the room and noticed that he was alone with the Dean.

"Shang," he answered. "I still remember everything."

"Tell me about your life," the Dean said.

"This one or the one before that?" Shang asked.

"This one."

So, Shang told the Dean a short summary of what had happened in the last two years to prove that he was still the same.

"What are your goals?" the Dean asked.

"Power," Shang said.

"Anything else?" the Dean asked.

"Mostly power, but I'm not against something else as long as it doesn't interfere with my goal."

"Such as?"

"Romance, friendship, that stuff, you know?"

Then, the Dean nodded. "Seems like there are no immediately noticeable changes to your personality."

After hearing that, Shang became a bit anxious. "Do you think I could have changed without noticing?"

"It's possible," the Dean said. "Your entire body has been replaced with matter created out of the Abomination. Some changes are to be expected."

"Abomination? That's what you call it?" Shang asked.

"Correct," the Dean said. "There is no more reason to keep all of this a secret. You've seen it, and you've basically become it. Not understanding what you have fused with will make things only harder on you."

Shang listened to the Dean.

"The thing you have seen earlier is what we call an Abomination. They are very peculiar monsters."

"Why do you call them monsters and not beasts?" Shang asked.

"Because, as far as we are aware, they are not beasts," the Dean answered.

"They're not beasts?" Shang asked with a raised eyebrow. "Then, are they humans? Are they plants?"

"Neither," the Dean answered. "As far as we know, they are a unique lifeform."

"How come you are so sure about that? What makes them different from beasts?"

"Their powers and actions," the Dean said.

Shang waited for elaboration.

"Every six months, these Abominations appear out of nowhere. They appear mostly at random, but their appearance also has a definite pattern to it."

"What do they do?" Shang asked.

"They destroy," the Dean answered.

"Only destroy?"

"Only destroy," the Dean said. "After they appear, they start destroying everything around them. Earth, air, life, fire, water, everything. They destroy everything that has matter."

"Why?" Shang asked with furrowed brows.

"We don't know," the Dean answered. "There are not many of them, and we can't watch them in the wild since every single second they continue to exist, they destroy more matter."

Shang remained silent for a bit.

"Why has no one ever heard of them?" he asked.

"Because they all die very quickly to us," the Dean said. "According to old scriptures, keeping them alive will draw in more of them. The more there are, the more will come."

"Who kills them exactly?" Shang asked. He had already guessed something.

"There are three levels of them," the Dean explained. "The one you saw earlier was of the weakest variety. They basically count as Soldier Stage Abominations, and a specialized force of True Mages kills them."

"True Mages?" Shang asked. "Why not Adepts?"

"Because they are terrifyingly powerful," the Dean explained. "An Abomination at the Soldier Stage can easily kill something at the General Stage, and they can even fight some of the weaker Commander Stage beings."

Shang's eyes widened in shock. "What?" he shouted.

Something at the Soldier Stage that was able to fight something at the Commander Stage?

That was ridiculous!

"How?" Shang asked.

"I'll come to that soon," the Dean said. "Let me first finish telling you about the other two."

Shang didn't say anything.

"The second variety is at the General Stage, and these things can even fight the weaker beings at the True Path Stage."

At that point, the Dean released a sigh.

"I'm helpless against them. I tried it before," he said.

It was hard for Shang to believe the Dean right now.

The Dean was helpless against something at the General Stage?

Something at the General Stage could fight something like the Exploding Mountain Turtle?

Even more…

"And the third?" Shang asked. By now, he was certain that his earlier guess was correct.

"The Zone Beasts deal with those," the Dean said. "As you might have already guessed, that's the reason for the Day of Chaos. The Storm Eagle searches the lands for the Commander Stage Abominations and kills them. From what we've heard, a couple of other Zone Beasts do the same thing."

"Of course, not every Zone Beast is needed to kill these things. Many of them remain in their Zones and just kill the Abominations that appear in their Zones," the Dean explained.

The reason for the Day of Chaos.

Every six months, the Storm Eagle left to deal with the Commander Stage Abominations.

"How powerful are the Commander Stage Abominations?" Shang asked.

"Only the five Kings have a fighting chance against them. As you already know, the five Kings are the only five Archmages in existence, and if they were to fight a Commander Stage Abomination, it wouldn't be an easy fight," the Dean explained.

"And the Zone Beasts?" Shang asked.

"A casual flap of the Storm Eagle's wing reduces them to nothing," the Dean said neutrally.

Shang took a deep breath.

The Zone Beasts were really incredibly powerful.

"Do these Abominations also appear here?" Shang asked.

"They do, but only the weaker variants," the Dean said. "If any of them appear, the Zone Beasts deal with them without you even noticing."

At that moment, Shang remembered the feeling he had felt when the Ice Wyvern had left its underground lake.

"One appeared in the battlefield, correct?" Shang asked.

"You noticed that?" the Dean asked with a raised eyebrow.

Shang nodded. "On the Day of Chaos, I suddenly felt this familiar but also scary feeling, and I looked towards the northwest, which was when I saw the Ice Wyvern flying in the sky."

The Dean looked at Shang for a bit.

"Yes, it was a General Stage Abomination with a couple of Soldier Stage Abominations."

"And you knew that it would appear there," Shang added.

The Dean looked into Shang's eyes for around three seconds.

"Quite smart," the Dean said. "However, everything about that incident is regarding politics and not the Abominations. I'm telling you about the Abominations so that you may learn of their power. After all, you might have their peculiar power now. The specifics of that incident are politics, and that's not something I will tell you."

Shang nodded, but he wasn't happy.

"So, what are their powers? What makes them so powerful?" Shang asked.

"The Abominations have a certain, unique power, which could also be called an Affinity, I guess," the Dean said.

"After you told me what He told you, I already suspected that you shared this Affinity with the Abominations."

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ "Which is?" Shang asked impatiently.

"They can turn matter into Mana."

 

Chapter 184 - Natural Mana

"Turn matter into Mana?" Shang asked in shock.

The Dean nodded.

"That's how they destroy everything around them. They turn matter and even Elemental Mana into Natural Mana around them. Of course, the degree of their power varies vastly. The weakest ones can only turn Elemental Mana into Natural Mana, but they have difficulties in destroying powerful matter."

Shang scratched his chin in thought. "And their power source?"

"That's the thing. It varies."

"Varies?" Shang asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The weaker ones get weaker as they use their powers, but the ones at the Commander Stage can already create a certain degree of destruction around them without doing anything. Sound familiar?"

Shang nodded as he fell into thought.

'Both of these things are related to how my Affinity works. Others use their Mana to unleash their Affinity, which means that their Mana is their power source.'

'Meanwhile, I technically don't use my own Mana with my Affinity. If I wouldn't get injured by my Ice and Fire Blasts, I could theoretically unleash them continuously with all their power without ever needing to take a break.'

'In a way, I'm using the Mana in my surroundings as my power source, which technically means that my power source is as powerful as my surroundings.'

'The other part is also very similar. Other people and beasts don't get injured when they use their Affinities. Meanwhile, the weaker Abominations and I do.'

'It's because the power isn't my own. I am channeling someone else's power, which is why it injures me. Someone with a Fire Affinity can unleash their own fire without any issues, but if another guy throws a fireball at them, they explode all the same.'

'Additionally…'

Shang remembered the time he had touched the antlers of the Frozen Lake Stag and when he touched the Ice Wood.

'I also absorbed Ice Mana and turned it into Natural Mana.'

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ 'However, these two cases could only happen because the Ice Mana was pure. I fought plenty of beasts with an Ice Affinity, and when they use an attack, it still hurt me.'

'Could have something to do with someone controlling the Ice Mana or not. The Ice Wood was dead, and the Frozen Lake Stag stored pure Ice Mana in its antlers.'

Shang looked at the ceiling.

'I guess I could theoretically absorb an Ice Mage's Ice Mana as long as it is stored outside their body. Of course, that won't happen.'

"My Affinity doesn't get its power from myself, and when I use it, I get injured," Shang said after several seconds of thinking.

"Correct," the Dean said. "In a way, you already had similar powers to the Abominations. Of course, there's still a certain difference between them and you."

"At least, that was how it was before," the Dean said with interest.

Shang nodded.

Then, he looked at his left arm.

"I wonder what I can do," Shang said.

"First, test if your old abilities still work," the Dean said.

Shang pointed his left arm to the side.

BANG!

BANG!

He released an Ice Blast and a Fire Blast in rapid succession.

Sure enough, Shang's arm was basically destroyed again.

"So, that hasn't changed," the Dean said.

However, Shang didn't immediately answer as he looked at his arm with furrowed brows.

Shang watched as his arm slowly healed.

The Dean lifted an eyebrow at Shang's curious actions, but he didn't say anything.

30 seconds later, Shang's arm was fully healed.

"That took longer than previously," the Dean said. "You have a warrior's body. You can heal your arm in less than a second by using your own Mana. Why is it different this time?"

Shang looked away from his arm and at the Dean.

"I didn't use my Mana," Shang said.

A gleam appeared in the Dean's eyes. "You didn't use the ability of your warrior's body?" he asked.

Shang nodded.

The Dean narrowed his eyes. "So, you managed to heal your nearly completely destroyed arm in 30 seconds without using any of your Mana?"

Shang nodded again.

"What was used to repair your arm?" the Dean asked.

Instead of answering, Shang closed his eyes and focused on his surroundings.

He had noticed something peculiar when his arm was healing.

The Dean didn't interrupt Shang and simply waited for him.

After around a minute, Shang opened his eyes with a look of pleasant surprise.

"You know how Mages and warriors with specific Affinities can somewhat feel their surroundings if that kind of Elemental Mana is very prevalent?" Shang asked.

The Dean nodded. "It's called Mana Sense. The stronger you get, the wider its range and the clearer the picture. When your mind reaches the level of an Adept, you can basically use it everywhere since every kind of Mana is present in at least some quantity."

"Well," Shang said. "I have that."

"But with Natural Mana."

The Dean's eyes widened in surprise.

"With Natural Mana?" he asked.

Shang nodded. "I didn't notice it before, but I can feel the Natural Mana all around me."

The Dean frowned. "So, your Affinity is for Natural Mana?"

"I don't know," Shang answered. "I don't think that's all of it. After all, I wouldn't have needed the different Mana Sources for that. On top of that, I can't use the Earth and Metal Mana Sources."

The Dean stroked his goatee in thought.

"In a way, this doesn't change much. I already suspected that you have some kind of Mana Balancing Affinity. Fire and Ice are opposites. Light and Darkness are opposites. Wind and Earth seem like opposites, but they actually aren't. If Fire touches Ice, one of the two gets destroyed. If Wind touches Earth, they simply don't interact with each other."

"So, your Affinity has something to do with increasing or lowering powers, and if you also received the abilities of the Abominations, you should also be able to turn everything into Natural Mana."

"However, there is still something very important," the Dean said. "If you had an Affinity for Natural Mana, you would be able to transform Natural Mana and make use of it."

"But literally everyone can do that already. That's the point of Natural Mana. It can be used by everyone and transformed into everything."

"You also can't really transform it into anything that isn't your four Affinities. Additionally, you get injured every time you use it. An Affinity doesn't injure the user, which is why you can't have an Affinity for Natural Mana."

"There are many questions and inconsistencies with your Affinity. It's almost like it doesn't even exist."

"Or," the Dean said as he looked at Shang.

"You simply haven't become powerful enough yet to resist its negative effects."

Shang thought back to what the Dean had told him.

The Commander Stage Abominations could destroy everything around them without being injured or using any power source.

What kind of Affinity was that?

Turning everything into Natural Mana.

"Did you get another new ability, except your rapid healing?" the Dean asked.

Shang looked at his left arm and tried to feel it.

Before the procedure, the visualized image of Shang's Affinity had been a rotating circle of fire and ice surrounded by a rotating circle of darkness and light.

Now, it was only black.

Even more, it didn't feel like the darkness kind of black.

It was a different black.

It felt empty.

As Shang concentrated on his left arm, he felt some kind of power.

He didn't know what it could do.

So, Shang decided to try it out.

He put his hand on the table he sat on.

Chapter 185 Antimatter

As Shang put his hand on the table, he summoned the power inside him.

He felt the power steering, but then…

He stopped.

Just before his power activated, Shang had felt a feeling of doom.

His instincts told him that he shouldn't do that.

They told him that something horrible would happen if he used it.

It was like Shang was in front of a sleeping Commander Stage beast, and using his power was akin to poking it.

In short, Shang felt like he would be killed if he used it.

The Dean looked at Shang and noticed the subtle changes on his face.

After some seconds, Shang pulled his left arm back.

"The same as the weak Abominations?" the Dean asked.

The Dean had made a solid guess, and Shang confirmed it by nodding.

"So, in short, you are still too weak to make use of your actual Affinity," the Dean said.

Shang nodded. "I wanted to test it, but before I could, I felt a feeling of death approach. It told me that I would forever regret using it."

The Dean nodded. "The weaker Abominations are the same. Nearly all of them died in battle, but a couple of times, the teams that came to kill them arrived too late."

"Too late?" Shang asked.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ The Dean nodded. "We can't be everywhere at once, and sometimes, the teams arrive too late. In the case that they are too late, they find a big crater…"

"And no Abomination."

"No Abomination?" Shang asked, and he quickly realized what this meant. "You said that the weaker Abominations get weaker with every use of their power. Do you mean to say that when they get weaker, they stay weaker? There is no way to replenish their energy?"

The Dean nodded. "The weaker Abominations destroy everything around them until they themselves don't exist anymore. They are essentially a star. Their fire destroys many things, but with every second they burn, they use up their fuel."

"On top of that, the stars in our old world also lose a considerable portion of mass as they burn. Their mass doesn't completely transform from hydrogen into helium. In the process of nuclear fusion, something below 1% of the mass is transformed into pure energy. Not sure if you knew, but matter is also a form of energy."

Shang looked at the Dean with surprise.

"How do you know such stuff?" he asked. This didn't sound like something a normal fighter or normal person from Earth knew.

At that moment, Shang also realized how crazy it actually was that the Dean could come up with something like the procedure and even transform it from theory into practice.

And then, Shang noticed that he actually didn't know anything about the Dean's old life on Earth.

At that point, Shang's mind went to the God.

The God's purpose for choosing the Dean was so that he could create something that made warriors more powerful in general.

Who was the perfect person for such a purpose?

"I had a Ph.D. in biology," the Dean answered. "Physics wasn't my field, but you learn a lot about physics if nearly your entire social circle is filled with different kinds of scientists."

"Of course, I had to throw away a lot of my knowledge after realizing that this world is very different."

"Anyway, back to the topic," the Dean said. "The weaker Abominations essentially burn up their own life to destroy everything around them. In a way, you could even say that they convert their mass into energy, which is basically the strongest form of Energy generation possible. You should, at least, have heard of antimatter."

That surprised Shang. "Wait, how do you know about antimatter? You should have been here for decades already."

"I asked my predecessor the same thing," the Dean said. "Based on context clues, we came to the conclusion that barely a couple of days had passed since he and I had arrived in this world."

This threw Shang for a loop. "Just a couple of days?"

The Dean nodded. "So, in turn, between my arrival and your arrival, not much time should have passed. I guess the God finds the current period on Earth very suitable for creating the kinds of people he wants to send to this world, which is why the time is probably moving much slower on Earth."

It was difficult for Shang to wrap his mind around these things, but he had already seen the God's power.

Inside his palace, he had basically done whatever he wanted.

The rules of physics were unimportant to him.

But making the time move thousands if not millions of times slower was still a scary thought to Shang.

"But as I've said, back to the topic," the Dean said. "I suspect you can probably do the same thing. You can turn matter into Neutral Mana, but you need to use your own power for that."

"So, in exchange for destroying the thing you want to destroy, you destroy a part of yourself."

"And I don't think this will just be an injury that you can easily heal from."

Shang looked at his left arm.

With the Dean's explanations and hypotheses in mind, Shang could visualize his Affinity way better.

In a way, Shang could transform his own matter into antimatter, except that it wasn't as destructive as antimatter and that it didn't make a huge explosion.

"So, I can't use it yet," Shang said.

"You can, but you will probably have to pay a hefty price," the Dean said.

Shang frowned. "How powerful do I have to become?" he asked.

"Not sure," the Dean said. "The General Stage Abominations still use their own power to destroy everything around them. I've only heard that the Commander Stage Abominations can destroy everything around them passively, but I haven't seen it myself. It's also possible that the degree of their passive destruction doesn't come close to their actual combat power."

Shang continued looking at his left arm. "So, I basically have to advance two Stages to even consider using my Affinity."

"One Stage," the Dean said.

"One Stage?" Shang asked.

"You've already reached the Initial General Stage."

Chapter 186 The Second Question

Shang's eyes widened in surprise.

He was already at the General Stage?

Shang looked at his body and clenched his fists a bit.

He did feel a bit more powerful, but it was difficult to assess his current power without properly testing it.

"When did that happen?" Shang asked.

"During the procedure," the Dean said. "The complete destruction of your body pushed you beyond the Soldier Stage, and you are now officially a warrior in the General Stage."

Shang looked around, and he now also knew why the room appeared brighter than before.

His eyesight had improved due to the increase in his Realm.

"So, that means I should have gained access to my second question and the separate space?" Shang asked.

"You should," the Dean said. "Try to remember your talk with the God."

Shang tried to remember his interaction with the God, and sure enough, after the first question and answer, Shang now found new information.

Back in his memory, Shang stood in front of the smirking God, who sat on his ridiculously huge throne.

"For my second question," the Shang in the memory sequence said.

"How do I make the best use of my three gifts?"

In the present, Shang's eyes shone.

'That's a great question!'

Back in his memories, the God only smirked.

And then, something confusing happened.

A second God appeared in front of Shang's memories.

It was incredibly weird.

It was like someone had paused a movie just to talk in front of a scene to explain something.

"Surprised?" the God asked with a wide smirk. "Wonder how that works, don't you?"

Shang, indeed, wondered what was going on.

"You see," the second God said, "due to my change of plans later down the line, I had to retroactively change my answers to your questions. Otherwise, the answers wouldn't perfectly conform with your new Affinity."

"So, don't be surprised when I am suddenly talking about things that shouldn't have happened yet. You don't need to understand that stuff. Time is complex and lots of fun!"

"Now, onward with the show," the second God said before stepping away from the "screen".

Then, the scene resumed.

"Quite a smart question, Shang," the God said with his constant smirk.

"The three gifts are the very key that allows you to become powerful. Knowing how to utilize them properly is important!"

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ The Shang in the memories didn't move. It was like his time had stopped.

"First, let's talk about your weapon," he said. "You want to upgrade that as soon as possible. To get the optimal power, you need to feed it with Element Specific ore for Fire, Ice, Light, and Darkness every Realm."

"Of course, it only has to happen every Realm, not every level. As long as it doesn't increase a level, it's fine if it only absorbs element-neutral ore."

"I'm going to show you an example."

"When you upgrade it to the General Stage, you want to feed it a balanced diet of Fire, Ice, Light, and Darkness Mana. Your next goal is to get it to the Peak General Stage, which you can do by simply feeding it normal ore. That's far cheaper."

"Then, when you want to upgrade it to the Commander Stage, you will want to give it Fire, Ice, Light, and Darkness ore again, and so on."

"Of course, at this point, you might have already realized that there is more to your Affinity than just these four things," the God said with a smirk.

"Yes, there is also a way to get your weapon to harness a part of your special Affinity's power. For that, you need special, rare ore."

"However, due to the peculiarity of your Affinity, unleashing the power of that ore doesn't come easily."

"If you use the power, your sword will become permanently weaker, and the only way to make it recover is to purchase more ore and re-upgrade it. You could say that it will fall by a level by using that power."

"But hey, it's a funky little trump card, isn't it?" the God said with his constant smirk. "You can't control anything, and at some point, someone much more powerful than you will target you, and that's when you want to have that ability."

"Also, you should communicate with your sword a lot. It is a reflection of your inner fighting instincts. You can look at it as a mirror that shows you your true self."

"And that's about it for the sword," the God said. "Now, onto the questions."

"The questions completely depend on your goal, but as you are now, you probably don't even have a goal. Additionally, when you remember this answer, it would already be too late to change your questions."

"You can only trust in your past self. Hope that your past self wasn't an idiot," the God said with a loud laugh.

"Imagine asking a worthless question and not even knowing that you asked a worthless question. You get all excited for your new answers and realize that you asked a stupid question in the past."

"That would be fucking great!" the God shouted with a laugh.

"Let's get to the last gift, the separate space," the God said. "When you remember this answer, you should have already gained access to it. It's not difficult to get there. Just wish to go to your own little world."

The God chuckled. "Of course, this question is about how to perfectly use your gifts."

"Your question is actually a bit funny since you will inevitably learn about the uses of your separate space. Not only will you meet someone that will tell you all about it, but I even put the rules and uses of the thing on a stone tablet in the middle of your own little space."

"In a way, this question is useless," the God said with a smirk.

Five seconds of tense silence passed.

"But I can't just let you go empty handed," the God shouted with a loud laugh.

"So, how about I tell you about a unique usage of your own space that nobody knows about?"

"Not even your predecessor knows of it."

"Be sure to tell him, okay? I want to see the regret in his eyes," the God said with a smirk.

Chapter 187 The Important Secret

Shang's eyes focused again after he had gone through his memories.

And then, Shang frowned.

'That secret might make the difference between getting something good and getting something great,' Shang thought.

Then, he looked at the Dean, who only looked back.

"I'm willing to share my question and the answers with you, but I want to know something from you first," Shang said.

The Dean's expression didn't change. "As long as it's not something I can't talk about," the Dean said. "I'm also interested in what the God said."

"I want to know how your first trial in your separate space went down," Shang said.

When Shang said trial, he was referring to the test they could take once per Realm inside their separate space. The Dean had already said that this was how they could get inheritances and techniques from before the Mages' purge.

"I can answer that," the Dean said.

"There are three categories for the trial, and the scores you achieve in the categories are added together to create a final score. The higher the final score, the better techniques you get."

"First, you need to fight beasts."

"The first level is to fight an untalented beast at the Initial General Stage."

"The second level is to fight an average beast at the Initial General Stage."

"The third level is to fight a talented beast at the Initial General Stage. These beasts can win against nearly any other beast on their level."

"The fourth level is to fight a weak beast at the Early General Stage."

"And the fifth level should be to fight an average one," the Dean explained.

"You said should," Shang said. "That means you didn't try the fifth level?"

"Correct," the Dean said. "It was uncertain if I could win or not. In the end, I decided not to try the fifth level."

"The next category is to fight warriors. The levels are designed in the same way as with the beasts."

"I also barely managed to beat the fourth level, and I didn't try the fifth one."

"As you might have guessed, the third category is against Mages."

The Dean paused.

"I didn't even attempt the third level. The average Adept was already too terrifying, and I barely managed to win."

"In the end, I got a score of ten, and with it, the very techniques that you practiced."

Shang's eyebrows rose in surprise. "The ones I practiced?"

The Dean nodded. "The booklet you received on your first day. I wasn't the one that created them. They were the reward I've received from the trial. They might appear simple, but they do something incredible."

"They give you a guiding light without interfering with your potential to reach the True Path Stage."

"Something like that is only something I would be able to create at my current level after several years of hard work."

"As you have also already realized, these techniques can be used as a basis to create much more powerful techniques. You used these techniques to create your own fighting style that's already equal to the fighting style of someone at the Mid General Stage."

"They are the foundation of the future warriors," the Dean explained.

Shang nodded. "Thank you for answering my question."

"Now, tell me about your question and answer," the Dean said.

Shang quickly recounted what he had learned from the God until he arrived at the last, crucial secret.

"He said I will regret it?" the Dean asked with a slight bit of nervousness.

This was the first time Shang saw the Dean show anything akin to fear or nervousness, but it was also understandable.

After all, this was a God! ꜰʀᴇᴇwᴇʙɴovᴇʟ.coᴍ

Even the Dean counted as nothing before him.

Shang took a deep breath.

"The secret regarding the separate space…"

"While undergoing the trial, you can't die," Shang said. "Even if the enemy in the trial kills you, you will simply reappear in your world again."

Silence.

The Dean grimaced.

Why had he not attempted the higher levels?

Because there was a very real possibility that he might die.

He had had, at most, a 50% chance of victory against these opponents.

Only very few people would put their lives on a coin toss.

But if he couldn't die in the trial, he wouldn't be gambling with his life.

He could have attempted the next levels without any worries.

Even if he failed, he would have gained a ton of valuable combat experience.

And what if he managed to win?

How much better would his reward be?

Then, the Dean remembered his next two trials, the ones he took at the Commander and True Path Stage.

So many wasted opportunities.

If he had put his life on the line, he would have found out.

However, that was also stupid.

Knowing when a fight was unwinnable or when the odds were stacked against one was also an important skill.

The God effectively rewarded reckless stupidity.

It was like the God encouraged them to play with their lives.

At this moment, the Dean felt deep regret.

If only he had been braver, or stupider, depending on one's viewpoint.

Sadly, it was already too late.

He would most likely not take part in another trial in his life.

Shang watched as the Dean looked at the ground with a frown.

After hearing about the Dean's trial, Shang could confirm how valuable this secret was.

This took the trial to a completely new level.

Several seconds of silence passed in which Shang said nothing.

"Let's talk about your upcoming trial for now," the Dean suddenly said as he looked at Shang.

The Dean didn't even say anything about how the secret made him feel, but Shang could imagine.

"Go ahead," Shang said. He and the Dean weren't very close, and if the Dean didn't want to talk about it, it was not Shang's place to ask.

"If the rewards you get are useful for the academy, I would like to purchase them," the Dean said.

In the end, Shang's rewards were still his own, and he could decide what he wanted to do with them.

"I intended to do so regardless," Shang said. "We aren't close, but you have given me several pure Mana Sources and allowed me to undergo the procedure, which increased my power by a lot. Sharing my reward with you counts as repayment."

The Dean nodded. "I am me, and you are still you. If the reward is on the same level as the reward I received back then, you can count all your debts as repaid. If the reward is worth even more, you can tell me if you need something."

"Thanks," Shang said with a slight smile, which was rare for him.

The Dean had always felt very distant to Shang, and the Dean basically acted like he wanted nothing to do with Shang whenever he talked to him.

However, the Dean had still helped Shang a lot, and Shang felt indebted to him.

The Dean nodded. "After reaching the General Stage, you have a month to become familiar with your new powers. You can start the trial whenever you want during that period."

"For now, you should take a look at your separate space."

"After that, we will prepare you for the trial."

Chapter 189 Preparations for the Trial

"Become your disciple?" Shang asked.

Shang remembered the Dean's other two disciples.

One was Vice-Dean Soran, and Shang knew him very well.

Then, there was that other girl. Shang had only seen her once, which was when she had watched Shang's exam.

If Shang remembered correctly, her name was Viera, and he also remembered that she had a crush on Soran.

"Yes," the Dean said. "To give you help more easily, you have to become my disciple. Of course, this won't just be a means to an end. I take my disciples seriously, and it is my duty to help them reach the True Path Stage."

Shang remained silent for a bit as he mulled over the decision.

Become the Dean's disciple?

…

"I agree," Shang said.

"Good," the Dean said with a nod. "Then, you are now my disciple."

Silence.

"That's it?" Shang asked.

"That's it," the Dean said. "I'm not one for procedures. Your status will be updated in the academy register soon. From now on, you have free access to the fifth floor of the main building, but don't try to abuse that privilege."

Shang nodded. "I won't."

"Then, for my first action as your master, I'll give you a gift."

SHING!

A green uniform appeared in the Dean's hands.

"You are now officially part of the special training program," the Dean said. "This is your new uniform. It can protect you from one deadly strike of a Mid General Stage beast or a Late General Stage warrior. In comparison to your current uniform, this uniform also extends its protection to your head."

"After blocking a deadly strike, it needs several minutes to refill its Mana, which means it only works once per fight. Keep that in mind," the Dean explained.

The Dean handed the uniform to Shang, and Shang's arms sunk by a lot.

It was heavy!

"Usually, this is only a uniform the Early General Stage students get since it would hamper the mobility of Initial General Stage warriors. The uniform weighs around 700 kg."

Shang looked with surprise at the uniform in his hands.

700 kg.

This didn't feel like 700 kg at all!

Had his power reached such a level that he could easily carry something this heavy without any issues?

"Thank you… master," Shang said.

"I'm not one for formalities," the Dean said. "You can just call me teacher."

Shang looked a bit awkwardly at the Dean. "Alright, teacher," he said.

It still felt weird to address the Dean simply as teacher.

"Now, let's talk about how we will prepare for your trial," the Dean said.

"First, you will move to a bigger room further down the hall. For the next month, I don't want you to leave the basement of the academy."

"Why?" Shang asked.

"We need to keep watch over you in case there are any side-effects. There might be something different about you that we haven't noticed yet."

"Then, how am I supposed to prepare for the trial?" Shang asked. "I need opponents."

"The opponents will be delivered to you," the Dean said. "There are two sides to your preparation. First, you need to get familiar with your body, and you will achieve that by fighting a couple of guards from Warrior's Paradise."

"That shouldn't take more than a day, after which the second phase of your preparations will begin."

"Fighting Adepts," the Dean said.

Shang's eyes narrowed.

For the past couple of months, Shang had watched the red uniforms fight the Apprentices every week. Vice-Dean Ranos had ordered Shang to watch the fights.

By now, Shang knew how nearly every Mage fought, and over the last year, he had also learned all about their Spells.

And now, he only needed to actually put all his knowledge into practice.

"Over the next month, I will send a wave of Adepts your way. You will have to fight several different Adepts each day with only minimal breaks."

As Shang heard that, a fire appeared in his chest.

Finally, he could fight the Mages!

For the past year, the academy had put more and more information into Shang to prepare him for this moment.

Shang's ability to fight beasts was absolutely outstanding.

Shang's ability to fight warriors was also very impressive.

The only thing holding Shang back was his ability to fight Mages, and that would be rectified very soon.

Shang had never fought a Mage before, even though he had been sent to this world specifically to fight against the Mages.

Why hadn't he fought a Mage before?

Because Shang hadn't been outstanding enough.

Now that everything else was outstanding, it was time for Shang to start on his actual purpose.

The purpose the God had chosen for Shang was to make the warriors in the world more powerful, and he would have his first opportunity to do so by getting an outstanding score in the trial.

But the God's purpose wasn't Shang's purpose.

Sure, Shang would help the warriors, but his highest priority was to become as powerful as possible.

'You intended for me to theorize the fifth Realm? How about I do you one better? How about I actually achieve the fifth Realm?'

'How about I achieve the sixth Realm?'

'How about I kill a Zone Beast?'

'And then, I will search for the truly powerful Mages in this world!'

'You didn't give me gifts to only push me to the fifth Realm. No, all your gifts are useful even until the very point when I will become the strongest human in this world.'

"Get changed," the Dean ordered. "I will wait outside."

The Dean left the room, and Shang quickly changed into his new uniform. He was unused to wearing something so heavy, but he would get used to it soon.

Then, he left the room and followed his teacher down the hall.

After walking for a while, the two of them entered a big, empty room.

"This will be your room from now on, but you won't be in it for long. Follow me," the Dean said before leaving the room again.

After walking for a while, the two of them entered another big room, but this one had two doors leading out of it, and there was also a reception desk in it.

"This is the entrance for people that want to enter the academy's special shop. The auction only happens once a month, and the next one is in 17 days. For now, this will be your training arena."

Shang nodded.

"Your opponents will come from there," the Dean said as he pointed at the other door in the room. "This leads to a shed in the academy's north."

"I'm going to leave now and arrange everything. Expect the judge for your matches to arrive in a couple of minutes and your first opponent in, at most, an hour."

Shang nodded.

SHING!

Then, something appeared in the Dean's hands, and Shang quickly understood what this was for.

This was a faceless, black mask. In fact, there weren't even holes for the eyes or nose in it.

"We will have to keep your identity a secret. This mask has several Magic Circles on it that cloaks your entire body in a haze of forgetfulness."

"Haze of forgetfulness?" Shang asked.

"Anyone below the Third Realm that sees you while you're wearing the mask will quickly forget your most significant characteristics. For example, they will forget what kind of weapon you were using, your hair color, the color of your uniform, and your height."

"They will only remember that they fought a warrior that had an aggressive battle style."

"But be sure to be careful of what you say. While the effects work for your appearance, it doesn't work for what you speak."

Shang took the mask and nodded.

Then, he put it on.

As soon as the mask touched his face, it seemingly vanished. Just now, Shang had seen the mask covering his vision, but just an instant later, it was like it wasn't there at all.

However, on the outside, the Dean saw a young man with black hair and a black, featureless mask.

Then, the Dean looked at the green uniform with a frown.

The Dean put his finger on Shang's shoulder, and a moment later, the uniform transformed into a red color.

Then, the Dean nodded. "That looks much better. For the next month, you can wear red uniforms. It might also help in further making your identity a mystery."

Shang didn't answer, and the Dean couldn't see Shang's expression.

'I don't know if I like this look or not,' Shang thought.

And then, the Dean left the room.

And just a couple of minutes later, the judge for the fights appeared.

Chapter 190 Viera

Shang looked at the brightly smiling face of Viera, the Dean's second disciple.

Shang had just thought about her, and now she appeared.

"Congratulations, Little Brother!" Viera said with a bright voice, her long red hair covering half her face.

"Little brother?" Shang asked.

Viera nodded excitedly. "As teacher's third disciple, you are now officially my younger brother!" she said.

Then, she walked over and pulled Shang into a bear hug.

Viera was a bit smaller than Shang, but the sheer power of her body made Shang helpless.

When Shang got lifted from his feet without a way to resist, he felt awkward.

He had only talked to this woman once before, and she was hugging him like he was her best friend.

Or little brother?

"Nice to meet you," Shang said awkwardly.

Viera put him down and inspected his entire body.

Then, she nodded.

"You have a very dangerous aura! Many girls like that," she said with pride.

"Dangerous aura?" Shang asked in confusion.

Viera nodded several times. "Yep, very dangerous. As soon as I saw you, I felt like you were an aggressive beast, which is surprising. I mean, you're only at the Initial General Stage."

"Aggressive beast?" Shang asked as he looked at his body.

'I didn't feel angry or aggressive. Also, I only just stood there with nothing on my mind. Why would Viera think that I'm an aggressive beast?' Shang thought.

Then, Viera excitedly walked over to the reception desk and sat on it.

BANG!

And the reception desk broke apart.

Shang only awkwardly looked at Viera, his expression invisible due to his mask.

Viera became red in the face and quickly stood up.

"Stupid cheap wood!" she shouted as she kicked one of the pieces away.

BANG!

The piece of wood exploded on the wall, the splinters shooting all across the room.

Shang didn't say anything.

The chair was obviously not made to be sat on, and the body of a Commander Stage warrior was incredibly heavy. Just Shang's uniform alone weighed 700 kg. If one added the weight of Shang's body, he would probably weigh nearly two tons.

Meanwhile, Shang was surprised that Viera was so very different from Soran.

Soran appeared very adult and responsible with a lot of morals.

And Viera?

She seemed like a carefree girl.

Sure, her appearance was that of a woman in her twenties, but she acted like she was 14.

After dealing with the offending wood, Viera summoned two chairs from a Space Ring.

'She keeps chairs in her Space Ring. Talk about having too much money,' Shang thought.

Viera patted one of the chairs while looking at Shang. "Come! Sit down! Let's talk a bit!" she said with her bubbly, excited voice.

Shang slowly walked over and sat down.

"Tell me, Shang. What's your goal? What makes you, you? Who are you?" Viera asked.

"Directly starting with the hard questions, huh?" Shang asked.

Viera giggled. "I'm not one for small talk. Come on, tell me!" she said with an excited smile.

"Well, I want to become the most powerful being in the world," Shang answered.

"Oh, that's great!" Viera said with an excited smile. "Why?"

"Because I like bettering myself," Shang said. "Training every day and seeing my progress is something that pushes me forward and motivates me."

"That's it?" Viera asked with a confused expression. "I thought you wanted to take revenge or wanted to achieve something."

"What do you mean?" Shang asked.

"Like, wanting to kill all Mages or killing the powerful noble that killed your family or similar stuff, you know?" she said.

"No, I don't have something like that," Shang said. "I only want power for power. I don't necessarily have a use for that power, but I want it."

"You can say I only want it to have it."

Viera scratched the side of her head in thought.

"What if you could become that powerful at this very moment?" she asked.

"Excuse me?" Shang asked.

"You know. What if some super powerful God or something came down and offered to grant you supreme power. You said that you wanted to have power to have it. So, according to that, you would accept that offer, right?" Viera explained.

For a while, Shang remained silent.

He hadn't thought about that.

If he could become supremely powerful at this very moment, would he accept it?

Silence.

"No, I don't think I would," Shang said.

"Why not?" Viera asked in surprise.

"I think it's more about the journey and less about the goal," Shang explained. "On top of that, I want to achieve it on my own. If someone else were to hand me something, that something wouldn't have any value. I want to achieve my goal on my own. I want it to be something I can work towards."

"Oh," Viera uttered. "That sounds noble."

"Noble?" Shang asked with a snort. "I don't think that's noble. After all, if I were to get my power handed to me, others wouldn't have to die."

Viera blinked a couple of times in confusion. "Could you explain that?" she asked.

"Well, you know how the world is," Shang said. "Lots of people and beasts want to kill you because you have something valuable. Sometimes, people just hate you, and when they see that you become more powerful, they might fear that you would be going against them."

"I think all of that is inevitable. So, if I want to become powerful, many lives will probably be lost. Now, don't get me wrong. I don't feel empathy for my enemy, but if I simply gained supreme power, I wouldn't even have an enemy to begin with."

Viera looked at Shang with interest. "That's a very interesting and unique perspective, Shang," she said.

"What about you?" Shang asked.

"Me?" Viera answered with surprise.

"You asked me what makes me, me. It's only fair that I get to hear what makes you, you."

Viera lightly scratched the side of her head with an embarrassed smile as her face became a bit red.

"Well, I guess so," she answered vaguely.

"You don't have to tell me if you feel uncomfortable," Shang said after seeing her reaction.

"No, it's fine," Viera said.

Then, Viera looked to the side with an embarrassed expression. "Well, my goal is a bit special," she said.

Shang could already guess what it was. After all, he had seen how infatuated Viera was with Soran.

"You see," Viera said. "I kind of…"

"Want to kill all beasts."

Silence.

"Excuse me?" Shang asked.

Viera hid her face behind her hands. "Oh, I hate that look! Whenever I tell someone my goal, they look at me with this face. It's like you all think I'm crazy!"

"Eh, no," Shang quickly answered. "But why do you want to kill all the beasts? What's the reason for that goal?"

Viera looked at Shang and noticed that he didn't seem to judge her for her goal. At least his body didn't show any signs. His face was kind of hidden at the moment.

"I mean, think about it," Viera said. "If you were to replace the actions of the beasts with a human, you would believe that human to be a danger to everyone."

"Beasts just randomly walk around, and anything living and weaker than them becomes their target."

"Imagine a True Mage does that! Imagine a True Mage kills every single human that's weaker than them as soon as they see them. That guy would be labeled as insane!"

"Sure, beasts can't help themselves, but that doesn't excuse them from their actions!"

"They attack villages!"

"They attack random animals!"

"They attack any human they see!"

"Are we just supposed to take all of that? Are we supposed to just give up whenever a beast grabs a young girl from a village? Are we just supposed to say that they can't help themselves?"

"Well, if they can't be helped, then we have to deal with the threat!"

"If the beasts kill every human they see, every human should also have the right to kill every beast they see!"

"And that's why I want to kill all the beasts in the world! As long as they exist, many weak people will become their victims!"

Shang didn't say anything as his featureless face only looked in Viera's general direction.

Shang had no idea what he should say.

He obviously didn't agree with her goal, but even more, he was shocked at the sudden change.

Initially, Viera seemed like a nice and innocent girl, but then she said that she wanted to kill all the beasts.

Was Shang supposed to disagree with her?

Was he supposed to lie and say he understood her?

But then, Shang was saved.

Someone new entered the room.

It was Shang's first opponent!