Ch. 211..220
Chapter 211 Gulf of Power
The man charged at Shang with a huge and bloodthirsty grin on his face as Shang only walked toward him with a neutral expression.
A moment later, the man reached Shang and lifted his gigantic club.
BANG!
Shang exploded forward with more speed, parts of his back being injured due to the absence of life energy.
The man struck down.
The attack was incredibly fast.
The speed of Shang's opponent was far faster than his speed, and the club had an incredible reach.
Shang couldn't evade the strike.
Shang let go of Sword.
And then, he angled his head to the side.
CRACK!
The club hit Shang's left shoulder and didn't stop. It destroyed the entire shoulder, severed the arm, and pushed Shang's broken ribcage down. It was almost like he was shaving off an entire half of Shang's body.
The man only smiled widely.
Pack!
Shang's right hand touched his opponent's left hand.
A nearly-dead Shang hung from the man's arm.
The man only smirked with arrogance at Shang.
And then, the man's arm began to atrophy.
The man's expression changed, and panic appeared in his eyes.
He violently shoved Shang away.
CRK!
Shang pulled the atrophied arm with him.
BANG!
Shang's right foot hit the ground and exploded with ice.
The fear-filled eyes of Shang's opponent only watched as Shang touched the man's chest with his right arm.
In panic, the man let go of his club and punched Shang with his other arm.
BANG!
However, just before he could reach Shang's head, a regenerating stump intercepted the man's punch at his elbow. Shang was still hit a bit, and parts of his skull broke, but he managed to keep hold of his opponent.
The man began to scream in terror as he saw the muscles of his chest vanishing.
Shang's left arm had regenerated, and he also grabbed the other arm of his opponent, absorbing more life energy.
"AAAAHHHHH!"
The man screamed in unending pain as his body thrashed around in panic.
And a moment later…
BANG!
Shang's fist exploded on the man's neck, destroying it.
Silence.
Shang slowly stood up from the corpse of his opponent and moved his regenerated shoulder.
Why had Shang not looked at the wheels?
Because he knew that he would win.
There was a big difference between how a beast fought and how a warrior fought.
Over 90% of a beast's power came from their inherent abilities and their powerful body.
In comparison, a warrior's power mainly came from their techniques, which worked in tandem with their body.
How could Shang fight beasts above his level even though his body was much weaker than theirs?
It was technique.
Technique was the power of a warrior.
Technique was the very thing that decided a warrior's power.
Because of that, the gap between the weakest and the strongest warrior on a given level was many times wider than the gap between the weakest and the strongest beast on a given level.
Beasts couldn't fight across their level unless the most powerful beast of the lower level fought the weakest beast of the next level. After all, they relied on their physical powers.
Meanwhile, it was much more common for warriors to fight across levels.
One shouldn't forget Mattheo and Astor. Both of them had completely destroyed Shang when he had just appeared in the academy, even though Shang's body was far more powerful.
That was because Shang's techniques and battle experiences regarding humans had been horrible back then.
And the same thing was true with Shang and his current opponent.
The man with the club had nearly no experience, and he was obviously used to only striking with his club once to end the fight. In essence, the man had fought like a beast. He was using the power of his overwhelming offense to overwhelm his opponents.
Sadly, that only worked against people weaker than him.
Any decent warrior could counter such a one-dimensional battle style.
An average Early General Stage warrior could have equally fought this man.
As for a talented warrior?
Well, the woman with the bow would have decimated this man.
And Shang knew that he could do the same thing.
The difficulty curve of the beast category and the difficulty curve of the warrior category were very different.
The beasts became stronger and stronger with each level as their main source of power became stronger.
However, when it came to warriors, it was different.
Fighting a weak Early General Stage warrior was far easier than fighting a weak Early General Stage beast.
However, fighting a strong Early General Stage warrior was far more difficult than fighting a strong Early General Stage beast for Shang.
At least, it was like that at Shang's current level.
As soon as warriors and beasts reached the Peak General Stage, things would change.
At that point, beasts would outclass all warriors.
And things only got worse at the Commander Stage.
But for now, Shang could easily take care of the weaker Mid General Stage warrior.
The cheering returned, and the corpse vanished as Shang cleaned his uniform. Luckily, as long as the core of the uniform wasn't damaged, it would regenerate itself.
Such a uniform was expensive, and it would be a waste if it became unusable due to some random strike.
The two wheels returned.
Shang looked at them, filled with Mana and life energy. He had completely recovered to his peak during the fight.
"Level eight: Average Mid General Stage warrior."
The wheels began to spin.
'The next fight won't be easy,' Shang thought. 'A talented Early General Stage warrior can fight an average Middle General Stage warrior. However, being able to fight one is different from winning against one.'
The first wheel stopped at fist weapons.
Shang readied himself as he looked at the second wheel.
'An average Middle General Stage warrior should be about as powerful as an average Early Adept. I never won against someone with such power.'
The second wheel stopped at the Fire Affinity.
After a short beam of light, Shang's opponent appeared.
It was a man with short, red hair, and he wore a uniform similar to what Shang was wearing right now.
'Let's see if I win this time.'
The jester lifted his hammer and struck the bell.
And then, Shang's opponent opened his eyes.
Chapter 212 Waiting
The man looked at Shang with interest and readied his weapons.
The man wore shoes and gloves made of red metal, and Shang could feel their power.
Shang had gained a lot of experience, and he knew that these weapons were made of Late General Stage materials. Apparently, even average Middle General Stage warriors had access to these materials.
And that wasn't even everything.
'He's wearing a uniform similar to mine, which probably means that he also has a one-time protection of a killing blow.'
Shang readied his sword.
BANG!
The man exploded forward, leaving a trail of fire behind him.
Shang exploded forward with an explosion of ice.
Both of them were charging at each other, but Shang's opponent was quite a bit faster.
As soon as they met, Shang's opponent punched forward with a fiery fist.
Shang pointed his left arm at the enemy's fist.
BOOOM!
An explosion of ice came out of Shang's left hand, coating the enemy's glove, but the enemy also hit Shang's left arm.
The front of Shang's left arm was burned to a crisp, only leaving a charred stump that ended at the elbow.
However, Shang's right arm swung at his opponent's fist with his sword.
The man was faster than Shang and could react very well to the sword slash. He easily blocked it with his extended hand.
CRACK!
The man's eyes widened, and he jumped back as he looked at his right hand.
His glove was damaged, and a deep cut went through his wrist!
His wrist was actually broken!
Fire and ice didn't necessarily need to cancel each other out. With a bit of control, the ice could somewhat evade the fire and penetrate it. Of course, the ice would be weakened by quite a bit in that process, but it was still useful in some cases.
Shang knew how these weapons worked by fighting Mattheo several times.
The gloves didn't actually heat up. After all, if they heated up, the user's hand would be seared.
Instead, the gloves were coated with a layer of Fire Mana, and they only needed to not heat up too much after an explosion.
After a warrior with the Fire Affinity punched with their gloves, the explosion would heat them up by quite a bit, but it wasn't so much that the hand beneath them would be damaged.
By infusing the gloves with Ice Mana, Shang could achieve the same effect as when his own body got damaged by his Affinity.
The gloves had become brittle, and the explosion had damaged them.
Of course, the gloves wouldn't break because of that, but they would become unstable.
And that was enough of a difference for Shang's sword to show its power.
But it was a heavy price.
Shang had damaged one of his opponent's weapons and injured his hand, but Shang had lost his entire left arm.
Shang exploded forward again and unleashed another strike.
BANG!
One of the guy's boots exploded with fire, and he was thrown to the side, sidestepping Shang's slash.
By now, Shang's left arm had regenerated.
The man unleashed a kick as Shang put his left arm on his sword.
Then, Shang blocked the kick with the edge of his sword.
BANG!
Shang was thrown away by the explosion, several burns appearing all over his body. The back of Shang's sword hit his chest heavily due to the knockback.
Shang's sword had two edges, but since it couldn't cut Shang, no wound appeared on Shang's chest.
Clink!
The man grimaced and moved his leg in a peculiar way. Due to that movement, his shoe left his foot and fell to the ground beside him.
The grass where it landed turned black due to the resulting heat.
Shang had loaded Sword with Fire Mana, which resulted in the shoe receiving two explosions at once.
The metal of the weapon could withstand such heat, but the foot it protected couldn't.
The sole of the man's left foot was black and filled with blisters.
The injuries Shang had received from that clash were light, and he decided not to use his Mana for now. His passive regeneration would deal with these light injuries in just a couple of seconds.
Shang and the man jumped toward each other again.
The man released a kick, and Shang blocked it again with Sword.
BANG!
However, a moment later, an explosion of fire appeared beside the man, pushing him and his kick slightly to the side.
Shang's attack missed, and the man's kick transformed into a roundhouse kick. Obviously, he had already planned on doing that previously.
BOOOM!
The kick hit Shang's right arm and exploded.
Shang's arm flew away along with his sword.
At that moment, Shang's eyes narrowed, and he jumped forward, his nearly frozen left arm touching the man's outstretched leg.
The man was in a bad position, and Shang could regenerate a lot of life energy before he would be able to react.
There was nothing he could do about that!
But then, Shang's eyes widened.
Out of nowhere, a small ball of fire left the man's free hand, and it shot directly at Shang's head.
Shang was stunned as he saw the approaching fireball.
This obviously wasn't a Spell.
But it definitely acted like a Spell!
And then, the fireball hit Shang's head.
BOOOOOM!
The Magic Circle appeared on Shang's head, and he was thrown into the distance.
As Shang flew away, his right arm regenerated, using up the last of his Mana and life energy. Any additional injury would stay until his passive regeneration kicked in.
Sword jumped back to Shang's newly regenerated right arm as Shang was close to landing.
BANG!
But another explosion stopped Shang's thought process.
The man appeared directly in front of Shang, a fiery fist shooting toward Shang's chest!
Shang's mind went into overdrive to find a solution.
Sword was too far away.
His Magic Circle had already activated.
A blast from his left arm wouldn't be fast enough.
There was nothing he could do.
Shang gritted his teeth and pointed his left arm towards his opponent.
Shang's arm turned into dust as his entire body atrophied.
Silence.
Shang landed on the ground, breathing heavily.
Thunk!
Two solitary legs fell to the ground.
There was no torso attached to them.
The man's uniform hadn't been even nearly powerful enough to block this attack.
Shang breathed heavily as his body tried to absorb as much Mana as it could.
Staying alive wasn't easy, but Shang knew that he wouldn't die.
He only needed to rest for a while.
The last time he had used his ability, he had been able to absorb the corpse of his opponent, but this time, Shang was too weak, and there was basically nothing left of his opponent.
The two legs of Shang's opponent began to vanish, but there was no cheering this time.
Sword returned to Shang.
"Are you ok?" it asked.
Shang barely squeezed out a yes, before he coughed up some blood.
It was painful, and Shang felt close to death, but his body would heal with enough time.
A moment later, the two wheels returned.
"Level nine: Powerful Middle General Stage warrior."
The two wheels began to spin while Shang only looked at the sky, breathing heavily.
The first wheel stopped at the image of a spear.
Shang only looked at the sky.
The second wheel stopped at the Wind Affinity.
After a brief burst of light, a man with long green hair appeared in the distance, a charismatic smile on his face.
Shang didn't look over.
The jester lifted his hammer and struck the bell.
The man opened his eyes and looked at his nearly dead opponent.
Shang only looked at the sky.
He knew that he would soon feel the most horrifying feeling in the world again.
Shang was waiting for his death.
Chapter 213 First Mage
The young man opened his eyes, and when he saw his opponent, he lifted an eyebrow with a confused smile.
Then, he looked around and didn't see anyone else.
He looked back at the nearly-dead Shang lying on the ground.
After some seconds, the young man put the butt of his spear to his head and scratched it in a mix of helplessness and confusion.
And then, he simply walked over to Shang.
Shang continued to breathe heavily. His entire body was beyond exhausted, and his passive regeneration wasn't nearly powerful enough to heal it in a short amount of time.
Shang could only barely manage to stay alive. Sure, if given enough time, he could recover, but he wouldn't get that time.
Shang only heard the sounds of light footsteps slowly coming closer.
He didn't even look at this executioner.
After some seconds, a face with long green hair entered Shang's vision.
"Man, that last opponent sure did a number on you," the green-haired man said with a smile.
For a second, Shang was surprised that his opponent could speak, but he quickly remembered that his opponent was a human. It wasn't actually strange for him to speak.
"I lost the last fight," Shang said with difficulty.
The man scratched his head in confusion. "But you won, right? Otherwise, I wouldn't be here."
Shang tried to chuckle helplessly, but he had to cough violently.
"I cheated."
"Cheated?" the man asked. "In what way?"
"I used a power I wouldn't normally use," Shang said. "My power permanently cripples me, but since I will die in this trial, I will resurrect without any lasting damage."
"If the drawback of my power were real in here, I wouldn't have used it."
"Therefore, I cheated."
The man hummed a bit.
Silence.
"Eh, it's too much to think about," he said with a chuckle. "It's definitely a grey area, but I can't be bothered to find out if it is blacker or whiter."
"Anyway, I should do my job," the man said as he readied his spear.
"Can I ask you a question?" Shang asked.
The man smiled.
"No."
BANG!
The man's spear penetrated Shang's brain, killing him instantly.
Then, the man vanished with a smile.
…
Shang slowly opened his eyes.
For a while, Shang only looked at the sky.
"Dick," he muttered.
Surprisingly, the feeling of death wasn't as bad this time, mainly because it had arrived without warning.
Shang had expected that he would live for a bit longer, but the man had suddenly ended his life without forewarning.
Shang hadn't even been able to feel the approach of death before it was over.
"I'm fine," Shang said as he sat up. Sword was already beside him.
Sword didn't answer as Shang took hold of it again.
Shang stretched a bit and noted that his left arm was back.
"That's 16 points," he said. "Teacher only managed to get ten, and I still have the Mage category ahead of me."
At that moment, a new wheel appeared.
This one only had Affinities, nothing else.
"But I probably won't get very far," Shang said.
"Level one: Weak Initial Adept."
The wheel began to spin.
"I definitely won't win against a powerful Early Adept without my ability."
The wheel slowed down.
"And as for average Early Adepts, it's up in the air. No idea if I will win or not without it."
The wheel stopped on the Fire Affinity.
"So, at best, I will earn 24 points. At worst, I will earn 23."
After a brief flash of light, Shang's opponent appeared in the distance.
It was a young man with a beautiful face and long, flowing hair. A charismatic smile was on his face.
His red hair reminded Shang a bit of Mattheo, but when it came to power, these two couldn't be further apart.
Mattheo was a hardworking genius.
This guy?
The jester lifted his hammer and struck the bell.
The man slowly opened his eyes and looked at Shang.
A smile of disdain appeared on his face.
A warrior?
Why did he have to fight a peasant?
BANG!
Shang exploded forward with all his speed.
The Adept was a bit surprised by Shang's speed, but he wasn't worried.
This was only a warrior.
This was only a peasant.
Peasants couldn't touch him.
The Adept summoned his Mana Shield without hurry.
By now, Shang was only 40 meters away.
Then, the Adept began to create his first fireball.
He wouldn't even need to use Mana Step. He only needed to take one attack and shoot a fireball into his opponent's face.
It couldn't be easier.
Shang put his left arm onto his sword, and his arm atrophied.
BANG!
Then, Shang exploded forward with even more speed, his back burning.
Usually, it would be a stupid idea to injure oneself at the beginning of a long gauntlet, but Shang would very quickly regain his health soon.
Shang's sword hit the Mana Shield.
BOOOOM!
Darkness came out of the sword, and for a split second, one could see Mana gushing in to counter the black bolt.
The Adept didn't pay any attention and focused on his Spell.
Then, Shang pulled back his sword and attacked the Mana Shield again.
'Almost done,' the Adept thought with arrogance.
But then…
His Spell was interrupted.
The Adept's eyes opened widely.
Had he failed his Spell?
No! He had cast this Spell thousands of times! He wouldn't fail such a simple Spell!
And that was when the Adept realized that he no longer had any Mana left.
Pack!
At that moment, a hand grabbed the Adept's neck and lifted him up.
For the first time, there was fear in the Adept's eyes as he looked into Shang's eyes.
He wanted to say something, but his words were interrupted by a shout of pain.
He felt like flesh was being ripped out of his being!
The Adept struggled in Shang's grip, but Shang's body was far more powerful than his.
Without Mana, the Adept wasn't more dangerous than a common guard from some random town.
As the Adept screamed, his entire body transformed into a desecrated husk.
And three seconds later, he was dead.
Shang threw the husk to the side, and the cheering returned.
Surprisingly, the life energy he had absorbed from the husk was barely enough to recover Shang's superficial burns.
'What weak life energy,' Shang thought with a frown.
As the corpse vanished, the wheel returned again.
At that moment, Shang had killed his first Mage.
Shang had been in this world for nearly two years.
He had killed uncountable beasts, and he had also killed the odd warrior.
But he had never killed a Mage.
"Level two: Average Initial Adept."
The wheel began to spin.
Shang looked around as he waited for his next opponent expressionlessly.
His mind went back to all his fights in the warrior category.
The wheel stopped at the Wind Affinity.
Shang remembered that every warrior he had killed was a sentient being.
'My power is more important than their feelings,' Shang thought.
'However, if I can avoid killing someone, it may be for the better.'
At that moment, Shang's opponent appeared.
It was a young woman with long green hair, a scepter in her hand. She wore beautiful green robes, which reminded Shang of an academy's uniform.
'But, you know, killing Mages…'
The jester lifted his hammer and struck the bell.
Shang readied his weapon.
'Actually doesn't feel that bad.'
Chapter 214 Genius
'I wonder why that is,' Shang thought as he threw the Adept's desecrated corpse to the side.
The once beautiful woman was nothing more than a husk of what she had once been.
The cheering returned as her corpse slowly vanished.
'Why does it not feel as bad to kill Mages as killing warriors?'
'Maybe it has something to do with belonging, privilege, and power? I mean, lots of normal people on Earth don't have sympathy for a millionaire.'
The wheel returned.
"Level three: Powerful Initial Adept."
Then, the wheel began to spin.
'I'm not sure,' Shang thought, 'but I think I'm on to something here.'
Shang scratched his chin as he waited for the wheel to finish spinning.
'Mages have thousands of years of advancements that make it easier for them to become powerful. On top of that comes the fact that some Mages don't view warriors as equals. I mean, I think I didn't speak to one of those before, but I did notice some odd stares from some Mages.'
The wheel stopped at the Lightning Affinity.
'A lot of people from poorer countries have an inherent dislike for people of richer countries, which I can understand. After all, the people of richer countries automatically have it easier in life just due to the simple fact that they had the luck of the draw during birth.'
'They didn't work for their privilege, which could create some anger in some people. Why do they have to work so hard to earn enough money to buy the few scraps of food that keep them alive while others get help from their country?'
After a short burst of light, Shang's opponent appeared in the distance.
It was a young man with short, silver hair. A serious expression was on his face, and he wore spiky, silver robes.
'I mean, I am in an inferior position in life, which could mean that…'
As Shang looked at his opponent, his thoughts stopped.
And then, Shang threw everything he was currently thinking about out of his mind and fully focused on the battle.
What had prompted this change in priorities?
In the man's hand was a floating crystal, and a circlet was slowly and peacefully spinning around it.
'A Focus,' Shang thought as he narrowed his eyes.
'This might be more difficult than I anticipated.'
The jester slowly lifted his hammer and struck the bell.
The Mage opened his eyes, and he looked at Shang with a solemn expression.
BANG!
Shang exploded forward with his full speed. With his opponent having a Focus, Shang couldn't take this battle lightly anymore.
A Focus was exactly one of these many advantages that the Mages had over warriors.
The procedure only closed the gap that the Mana Sources created, but Mages also had other advantages.
A Focus could use the Mana in the environment to cast a Spell, but that wasn't all it brought to the table.
On top of not needing any Mana, the Focus could also cast Spells on its own, albeit with only 50% of the speed.
But that was already terrifying enough.
After all, this meant that having a Focus gave a Mage a free Spell every two seconds or so, and they didn't even need to spare any concentration for it.
As Shang charged forward, the Adept activated his Focus and created his Mana Shield.
Then, he began casting a Spell that didn't sound familiar to Shang.
After fighting so many Mages, Shang became familiar with nearly every Spell, but he hadn't heard of this one.
'This is probably a self-created Spell,' Shang thought. 'Sure enough, this is a very powerful and talented Adept.'
Just when Shang reached a distance of twenty meters from the Adept, the Adept suddenly began to float in the air.
For an instant, Shang was shocked.
Only the most powerful High Mages could fly!
But then, Shang noticed that his opponent wasn't actually flying.
Several bolts of lightning were coming out of his Mana Shield, which connected it to the ground.
The Adept was using the force of lightning to float about half a meter away from the ground.
'That must cost a ton of Mana,' Shang thought.
Shang reached his opponent and slashed forward with his sword.
BZZ!
Some lightning came out of the Adept's Mana Shield and hit Shang's sword.
Shang felt his muscles cramp up, and he felt some searing pain shoot throughout his body.
If his sword had been made with Lightning Affinity ore, it would have absorbed the Lightning Mana. However, since it wasn't, it only conducted the lightning.
The lightning went through Shang's entire body and entered the earth.
And his opponent?
Just like how the Mana Shield hovered above the ground, when the lightning hit Shang's sword, the Mana Shield was thrown into the distance.
Because of that, Shang's strike had missed.
'So that's why he used that Spell,' Shang thought with narrowed eyes. 'His Spell repels all forms of matter, which makes it a counter to warriors and beasts.'
Like a ball floating on a pool of soapy water, the Mana Shield glided away from Shang and into the distance.
Shang quickly charged after his opponent.
A moment later, the lightning on the surface of the Mana Shield became brighter, and Shang couldn't see his opponent anymore.
'He's hiding his Focus so that I can't anticipate his attack!'
Shang kept charging at the bright ball, his mind taut with stress.
The Focus should have finished creating its first Spell now, and the Adept could unleash it whenever he wanted.
Even worse, Shang didn't know what kind of Spell the Focus had created.
Luckily for Shang, a Focus could only store one Spell, and not several, like a Mage. In comparison to a Mage, a Focus didn't have the advantage of a Mana Source and a mind.
But that was only a Focus.
It was very possible that the Adept had also already created a Spell.
As Shang got closer, his nervousness rose.
The Spells of Lightning Mages weren't known for being slow.
'I don't think that he has had the time to create two custom Spells, which means that he will probably use one of the standard Lightning Spells for Adepts.'
Shang had fought his fair share of Lightning Adepts, and he knew all the basic Spells.
Suddenly, the Mana Shield became even brighter with a flash.
But Shang only continued running.
An instant later, the flash had passed, and the Mana Shield returned to normal.
'Now, I know what you have prepared,' Shang thought.
BANG!
Suddenly, a violent bolt of lightning shot toward Shang's abdomen.
At that instant, Shang knew that his opponent knew that Shang knew what Spells he had prepared.
'But you are not the only one with unknown powers. You also don't know mine!'
Shang pointed his left arm to the sky and unleashed an Ice Blast.
BANG!
Shang's body was violently thrown to the ground, and the concentrated bolt of lightning barely passed over him.
An instant later, Shang put his sword into the ground in front of his head.
WHOOOOOM!
Not a moment too soon.
A wave of lightning washed over Shang's entire body.
The skin that came into contact with the wave of lightning became charred as the lightning traveled through the skin into the ground.
However, the lightning that would have hit Shang's head got attracted by the sword instead, which redirected it into the ground.
If Shang had remained standing, all the lightning would have gathered around his entire body, and it would have traveled into the ground via his legs.
This meant that his feet would have to resist 50% of all the lightning each, which would have resulted in them turning into crisps.
But as it was right now, only a tiny part traveled across Shang's entire body before entering the ground.
This was exactly what Shang had predicted.
When the Mana Shield had lit up, the Adept had attempted to make Shang dodge prematurely.
Essentially, it was a feint.
This meant that the opponent had a spell prepared that needed to directly hit Shang, which would most likely be the Lightning Bolt Spell.
However, such an experienced Mage wouldn't put all his money on only one kind of Spell.
No, he would definitely also have a safety net prepared, which was the Lightning Net Spell in this case.
The Adept had shot at Shang's abdomen since he had guessed that Shang had seen through his bluff. So, if Shang knew what Spell the Adept had readied, he would do the most logical thing and jump to the ground.
And he was right. If Shang had normally jumped to the ground, the Lightning Bolt Spell would have hit his head.
But the Ice Blast made Shang fall faster to the ground than the Adept had anticipated, which resulted in him dodging the Spell.
In the end, Shang managed to completely avoid one Spell and minimize the impact of the second.
The ground around Shang exploded as he charged forward again.
Chapter 215 Destruction
Shang quickly reached the Mana Shield again.
Shang put his left hand to his sword, and his left hand quickly atrophied.
The Darkness Affinity was the perfect counter against Mages.
Shang's arm quickly healed due to the absorbed life energy he had absorbed from his last opponent.
Then, Shang's sword struck forward.
BZZZT!
Lightning came out of the Mana Shield, and just as before, it struck the sword.
Shang's body began to burn again, but this bit of unconcentrated lightning wasn't that big of a deal.
As the Darkness Mana came into contact with the Lightning Mana, the Lightning Mana became weaker, and Shang's sword advanced.
BANG!
Shang's sword hit the Mana Shield, and it got shot into the distance again.
Shang couldn't see his opponent's expression, but he was certain that his opponent was surprised.
This strike should have eaten up a lot of the Adept's Mana.
Shang quickly charged after the fleeing Mana Shield.
When Shang reached a distance of 20 meters again, he quickly thought of a way to avoid the next two Spells.
It was an impossibility that the Adept would only release one Spell. He had to release two for a good chance of success.
And, in reality, enough time had passed for three Spells to be created.
Two from the Adept and one from his Focus.
'He has three Spells prepared, but I have no idea which ones.'
'The problem is, I can't just stand here and wait. If I wait, he will just create a fourth one followed by a fifth one.'
'I have to go in, no matter what.'
'I have to take a risk!'
'I need him to release his Spells when I want him to release them!'
And then, Shang jumped.
His left arm pointed down and unleashed an Ice Blast.
Shang was now several meters in the air, and, sure enough, this was the perfect opportunity for his opponent to unleash a Spell.
A Lightning Bolt Spell left the Mana Shield and shot towards Shang.
BANG!
Shang unleashed a Fire Blast, destroying his left arm.
He barely managed to avoid the Lightning Bolt Spell.
An instant later, Shang's arm healed by consuming all of Shang's Mana.
Any injury from now on wouldn't be healable during the fight.
BANG!
The second Lightning Bolt Spell shot at Shang's new location.
BANG!
Shang shot himself to the side with another Ice Blast, barely avoiding the Spell.
Then, Shang put his burning arm to his Sword, which made the burning arm atrophy into a husk of its former self.
'I can't risk my legs. Without my legs, I can't reach my opponent, and distance is the most important thing when fighting a Mage!'
Shang readied his sword in the sky.
BANG!
Another Lightning Bolt Spell came out of the Mana Shield, but this time, Shang didn't evade.
CRRRK!
Shang threw his sword towards the Mana Shield!
The lightning hit the sword and scattered in all directions.
Shang's sword was powerful enough to withstand such an intense avalanche of lightning.
Some stray bolts hit Shang, but they didn't deal much damage.
The sword buried through the lightning bolt and hit the Mana Shield.
Clink!
However, the force of the lightning bolt had severely weakened its force, and it fell to the ground harmlessly.
Shang pointed his atrophied arm to his back.
BANG!
After a Fire Blast, Shang's atrophied arm turned into dust. It wasn't just destroyed. This time, it was completely gone.
The knockback from the blast also wasn't as powerful since Shang's arm had lost a lot of power before using it, but it was enough to throw him towards the Mana Shield.
Shang stretched his arm towards the Mana Shield while flying towards it.
Clink!
Suddenly, Sword stood up and jumped into Shang's outstretched arm.
Shang felt that the Darkness Mana was still stored inside Sword.
Shang saw that the Mana Shield tried to move away, but the custom-made Spell wasn't made to accelerate quickly.
Shang reached the Mana Shield before it could leave.
And hit it with his sword.
BZZZZZT!
Lightning hit the sword, searing Shang's body again.
BANG!
Shang hit the Mana Shield, throwing it into the distance again.
Shang landed and charged at the Mana Shield again.
And then, a fire appeared in Shang's eyes.
In the distance, the Mana Shield had vanished, and Shang's opponent stepped on the ground again.
His opponent was gritting his teeth in stress, and he was glaring at Shang.
He was nearly out of Mana, and he had to conserve the remaining Mana he had.
Shang saw that the Focus had prepared another Lightning Bolt Spell.
Shang heard the end of his opponent's Spell and knew that this one was also a Lightning Bolt Spell.
However, Shang hadn't been able to hear the first Spell, which meant that it could be any Spell.
'This should be his last offense. After that, he can only rely on his Focus!'
As Shang ran closer, the Mage readied his Focus.
And when the Focus shone, Shang's feet exploded with Ice Mana.
A Lightning Bolt Spell passed just beneath him.
Then, Shang heard the ending words of the first Spell.
Shortly after, a Lightning Net Spell flew towards the flying Shang.
Shang gritted his teeth.
BANG!
Shang's body was drowned by lightning. Several black spots appeared all over his body, and his organs became severely burned.
The pain was intense, but Shang managed to withstand it.
Shang's body became heavily injured, but he was still alive.
Then, Shang heard the ending words of the Lightning Bolt Spell.
Shang's mind had already come up with a plan.
If Shang used his legs to evade to the side, they would become useless. At that point, the Adept could just outrun Shang while bombarding him with his Focus.
Because of that, Shang released a Fire Blast from his legs to shoot at his opponent.
His legs became destroyed and useless.
This would be the last attack.
The Lightning Bolt Spell shot directly towards Shang.
Shang pulled his sword to the side and charged into the Spell headfirst.
BANG!
The Magic Circle of Shang's uniform activated and blocked the Lightning Bolt Spell.
The Adept's face turned into horror.
Shang readied his sword.
And a moment later, Shang arrived like a rocket.
CRACK!
Shang cut off the arm holding the Focus and crashed into the Adept.
Several bones in the Adept's body broke as Shang's heavy body landed on him.
Then, Shang threw his sword to the side, slapped the Focus away with his now free hand, and then put his hand around the Adept's neck.
The Adept tried to punch and kick Shang from his position, but his body was just too weak.
The Adept began screaming in horror as he felt his essence being drained by Shang's right hand.
The body of this Mage wasn't actually that weak. He actually had a body at the Peak Soldier Stage, which was commendable for an Initial Adept.
But because of that, he also had more life energy, which was now helping Shang in recovering a huge part of his wounds.
Some seconds later, the Adept stopped screaming, and his lifeless husk only lay on the ground beneath Shang.
Shang had recovered the usage of his legs and stored the remaining life energy to replenish his Mana.
He would let his passive regeneration deal with his left arm.
Right now, Shang wasn't filled with life energy, but his Mana was fully recovered.
Shang slowly stood up, and the corpse started to vanish.
And at that moment, the cheering returned.
"This wasn't easy."
Chapter 216 Fear
Shang took a deep breath as his nerves and body relaxed.
"That was way too difficult," Shang said.
"But you won," Sword answered.
"Yes, I won," Shang said.
Shang glanced at his left arm and saw that it was slowly regenerating.
"A Focus truly is terrifying," Shang said.
"And even more, he was only an Initial Adept."
Silence.
"I fought thousands of Early Adepts already, but this guy's skills and experience were far beyond every single one I've fought."
"If he had been an Early Adept…"
Shang imagined how the fight would go.
There was a high likelihood that Shang wouldn't even have hit his opponent once.
His opponent would have been far faster in casting Spells, and he would have already had two spells prepared by the time Shang would have reached him for the first time.
With the increased power and speed of the Spells, Shang could have very well died on the first barrage.
This wouldn't even be a fight.
It would just be a Mage swatting a fly away.
"We have to increase our power," Sword said.
Shang nodded.
Sure, Shang managed to overcome the gap between the Mages and the warriors this time, but the advantages of the Mages would only keep increasing as their level of power increased.
Right now, Shang could beat a very talented and powerful Adept on his level, but that didn't mean that it would remain so.
Shang had to work even harder and become even more powerful if he wanted to keep his current Battle-Strength.
This time, the wheel took longer to return.
'I guess I got some time to rest because of my arm,' Shang thought as he looked at his fully healed left arm.
Right now, Shang was at his normal peak. He didn't have an excessive amount of life energy stored, but his Mana was full.
Eventually, the wheel returned.
"Level four: Weak Early Adept."
'This should be manageable,' Shang thought as he looked at the spinning wheel.
Some seconds later, the wheel stopped.
Shang narrowed his eyes.
What Affinity did it land on?
Shang didn't know!
For some reason, the wheel had stopped at one of the spots that were so tiny that Shang couldn't even discern them.
According to Shang's guess, the chances of that happening were probably below 0.01%.
'An unknown Affinity!' Shang thought.
'I have no idea how this will go.'
After a short burst of light, Shang's opponent appeared.
It was a young woman with grey hair.
'Grey? But she doesn't have a Metal Affinity,' Shang thought.
Her robes were also grey, but they weren't luxurious in any way.
In her right hand, she carried a scepter with a colorless gem on top of it.
For some reason, Shang found this gem familiar.
And then, it hit him.
'That's a Sparren!'
'Then, does that mean that she…?'
The jester lifted his hammer and struck the bell.
And then, Shang's opponent opened her eyes.
Shang immediately exploded forward.
When she saw Shang's eyes, she became scared.
Shang was running at her with an intense killing intent, and she became scared of the madman charging at her.
She didn't want to fight!
She was horrible at fighting!
The Adept quickly lifted her scepter and started to cast a Spell.
The words were completely unfamiliar to Shang. This was a Spell he had never heard of.
A moment later, she unleashed her Spell.
Suddenly, the distance between Shang and his opponent widened.
Shang immediately confirmed his suspicions.
'A Space Affinity!'
'That actually exists?!'
Shang hadn't thought that it was possible for someone to have an Affinity for Space.
How would that even work?
Did Space have a certain temperament?
Shang hadn't even heard of a beast with a Space Affinity!
About 30 meters of distance had been created between Shang and his opponent.
Shang only continued running.
The Adept panicked again, and she quickly cast another Spell, but in a different direction.
The space behind her pulled together.
And then, she released a quick Mana Step.
In just an instant, the Adept moved several hundred meters away.
Just as Shang exited the first area of manipulated space, both areas returned to normal.
Shang continued running at his full speed.
The Adept had gained enough distance and time to think of a plan.
She was horrible at fighting, and her Affinity was nearly useless in a fight.
Eventually, she began to cast several Spells.
Shang couldn't see which Spells she was casting from such a distance.
A couple of seconds later, Shang could finally make out which Spell she was casting currently.
Mana Push.
Eventually, Shang reached her.
The Adept pointed her scepter to the sky and finished her Mana Push.
A forcefield made of Mana appeared around her scepter, and she moved it down quickly.
Shang lifted his sword and angled it as it hit the Mana Push.
CRRRK!
Due to the angle, Shang was pushed to the side by the Mana Push.
Then, the Adept quickly finished her second Spell.
She lifted her scepter again and struck down.
This time, Shang couldn't evade.
BANG!
A second Mana Push threw Shang to the ground, the earth around him cracking due to the power.
Then, she finished her third Spell and lifted her scepter again.
Another Mana Push.
BANG!
She hammered into Shang's body on the ground, pushing him further into the earth.
Shang's entire body shook, and he received some bruises, but they were quickly taken care of by his Mana.
Then, the Adept finished another Mana Push and slammed it onto Shang.
The crater around Shang widened, and Shang felt some of his muscles and organs bleed.
But to someone like Shang, such an injury was considered rather light.
The Adept looked at Shang with fear.
Was he dead?
Shang quickly stood up, and terror appeared in her eyes.
"No, please!" she screamed.
"I've never done anything to you!"
Shang quickly reached her and grabbed her throat.
At this moment, Shang felt horrible.
This Adept obviously didn't want to fight Shang.
She only wanted to run away.
Sadly, she had been chosen by the God.
The God wanted two of his playthings to fight.
And sadly, Shang couldn't afford to forego his reward.
'My power is more important than your life,' Shang repeated to himself.
In the end, Shang looked away as he activated Darkness Absorb.
If he could, he would have killed her quickly, but he needed the added life energy for his next fight.
Shang heard the most horrible scream he had ever heard in his life.
The scream went throughout his entire body, and Shang felt like a part of his soul had been torn out.
When the scream stopped, Shang threw the corpse to the side.
He didn't look at it.
Shang could deal with killing people that wanted to hurt him.
But this Adept had never tried to hurt him.
Her first action was to flee.
And only when Shang had still come after her with the intention of killing her did she helplessly use some Spells to deal with him.
Right now, killing Mages didn't feel as great anymore.
Shang's insides shook as he felt like he had lost a part of himself.
Eventually, the corpse vanished.
Then, the cheering returned.
At this very moment, Shang hated the cheering more than ever before.
He hadn't done anything that was worthy of cheering.
Chapter 217 I Have to Kill!
Shang hated the cheering more than anything right now.
Shang had been put before a choice.
Either kill the Adept and gain more rewards or leave with his current rewards.
Shang could kill his enemies.
He could kill people that wanted to hurt him.
Hell, he could even kill people that wanted to steal from him.
But the Adept had done nothing.
She had only run away from the very beginning.
In the end, Shang had decided that his power was more important than the life of someone innocent.
Yet, he still regretted it.
Why had the God put him before such a choice?
Was this all only for entertainment?
At that moment, the wheel returned.
"Level five: Average Early Adept."
Shang looked at the wheel as it began to spin.
'Of course it's only a game to him.'
'He already told me that this entire world only exists to entertain him.'
'The purpose of everyone's existence in this world is to entertain him.'
'That's it.'
'That's all there is to it.'
The wheel slowed down.
Shang clenched his fists.
Shang had been ambivalent towards the God until now. If he wanted to play with lives, that was his thing.
But now, Shang had felt how it was to be his toy.
At that moment, the night with the bandits shot through Shang's mind.
Shang remembered what he had thought back then.
"Not killing everyone made the death of the ones I killed meaningless."
This was what he had repeatedly said to himself.
What about the Adept?
What about all the other warriors and Mages that had appeared in this trial?
Were they here of their own volition?
Were they forced to be here?
Had they just been created by the God?
What about their deaths?
Did their deaths have any meaning?
'Just like back then, their deaths become meaningless if it doesn't affect the overall situation.'
Eventually, the wheel stopped at the Wind Affinity.
After a brief burst of light, Shang's opponent appeared.
It was a young man with long, green hair. He wore robes that one would find in an academy.
This time, there was no Focus. For just a bit, Shang had anticipated that the average Early Adept would already be using a Focus, but that wasn't the case.
Shang looked at his opponent with narrowed eyes.
'If I want their sacrifices to have meaning, I have to change the situation.'
'That means that I have to reach supreme power!'
'I only have the power to change things if I have supreme power!'
'I have to kill every being that stands in my path!'
'If I die to my enemies, all my past fights would have been for nothing!'
The jester slowly lifted his hammer and struck the bell.
At that moment, the Adept opened his eyes and noticed Shang with a serious expression.
BANG!
Shang exploded forward with all his speed.
'I can't lose!'
'I have to kill him!'
The Adept didn't waste any time and immediately activated his Mana Shield. After that, he began to cast a Spell.
Shang recognized the Spell, but his approach didn't change.
Just before Shang reached his enemy, the Adept changed his Spell.
Shang readied his sword.
Then, the Adept lowered his scepter and pointed at the bottom.
Shang jumped.
The Adept slashed upward with his scepter.
Mana Push!
Shang's legs were hit by Mana Push, but the force wasn't powerful enough to injure him.
However, Shang was thrown over ten meters into the sky.
At this moment, Shang stopped high in the sky, looking down.
Shang touched his sword with his left arm. The arm atrophied, but Shang immediately used his gathered Life Energy from the previous fight to recover it.
An instant later, the Adept finished his first Spell and pointed at Shang.
Shang's eyes narrowed.
BANG!
Shang kicked to his right, releasing an Ice Blast.
An instant later, the space beside Shang warped as the sound of a blade echoed inside his ears.
This had been the Adept's Spell, Wind Blade.
Just as the name suggested, the Wind Blade Spell generated a concentrated blade of wind, which would shoot into the distance.
Shang kicked backward with his other leg and released another Ice Blast, making him shoot toward his opponent.
'He didn't take me seriously!' Shang thought as his heart beat wildly.
'I have a chance!'
The Adept quickly casted a Mana Step, but he hadn't been prepared to cast one this quickly.
Because of that, Shang managed to hit the Mana Shield with his sword.
A black bolt of Darkness Mana went across the Mana Shield before it vanished.
The Adept seemingly teleported a hundred meters away as he had used the fastest Mana Step he could use.
'I have a chance!'
BANG!
Shang pointed his left arm backward and released an Ice Blast to accelerate to his top speed instantaneously.
As Shang charged at the Adept again, the Adept resumed his Spell casting.
Shang left behind a stream of steam as his legs, and left arm began to cool, thanks to the wind.
This time, the Adept was faster, and he finished his first Wind Blade when Shang had reached the halfway point.
Just when Shang reached the Adept, the second Spell was finished.
Their eyes met at this moment.
Shang was dangerously close to the Adept, but the Adept had two Spells prepared.
The Adept pointed at Shang with his scepter.
BANG!
Shang released a small Ice Blast with his right leg to shoot to the left. It wasn't very powerful, but it made his movements unpredictable.
The Adept's scepter followed Shang's movements as he very closely circled around the Mana Shield.
CRRRRRRK!
Shang let his sword grind on the Mana Shield as he ran around it, slowly chipping away at its Mana.
In a tense instant, the Mage suddenly targeted the place where Shang would soon be.
BANG!
Shang's feet exploded with just a little bit of fire. It wasn't very much, but it allowed him to jump over the Mana Shield while grinding his sword against it.
The Adept reacted very quickly and pointed at the location where Shang would land.
BANG!
A small Ice Blast later, and Shang landed on a completely different side than the Adept had anticipated.
BANG!
Another small Fire Blast, and Shang charged around the shield again with his sword grinding away.
The Adept gritted his teeth in frustration.
Then, he spoke the word for a Mana Step.
BANG!
Shang struck the Mana Shield as it shot past him.
BANG!
Shang released another Ice Blast from his feet and exploded forward.
By only releasing small explosions, Shang had been able to stabilize the temperature of his legs, allowing him to use another big explosion.
These small explosions weren't useful for increasing speed, but they weren't bad when it came to altering one's direction.
Of course, if Shang had to evade a Spell, these small explosions wouldn't be fast enough.
The Adept finished two more Wind Blades as Shang reached him.
BANG!
One Mana Step later, the Adept was in the distance again. He had retreated before Shang could even reach him.
However, at that moment, the Adept's Mana Shield vanished.
This meant that he had used up all his Mana.
The fight seemed short, but the Adept had used an insane amount of Mana in that short time.
Three very fast Mana Steps, one Mana Push, Five Wind Blades, several seconds of grinding with a sword, a strong hit with the sword, and a strong hit with the sword loaded with Darkness Mana.
All of these things had resulted in the Adept losing all his Mana.
If he hadn't underestimated Shang at the beginning, he would have received one hit less, and he wouldn't have already wasted a Wind Blade.
At that moment, the Adept pointed at Shang.
Shang's gaze focused.
'I have to survive four Spells!'
Chapter 218 Affinity
Everything hinged on this moment!
Shang was around eighty meters away from his opponent, and he was prepared for the four Spells.
Then, the first Wind Blade was released.
Shang pointed to his left and unleashed an Ice Blast.
BANG!
Shang managed to avoid the Wind Blade.
The second one came immediately after.
Shang hadn't been able to regain his balance yet before the second one arrived.
BANG!
Shang pointed down diagonally and shot upward again, barely evading the Wind Blade.
However, his left arm was turned into nothingness.
Shang's arm quickly regenerated, but before he could get it into the position, the third Wind Blade arrived.
BANG!
Shang headbutted the Wind Blade, activating the Magic Circles on his uniform.
BANG!
Shang used another Fire Blast, rising even higher into the air.
Yet, no Wind Blade came.
The Adept hadn't released his fourth Spell!
Their eyes met again as the Mage pointed at Shang with his scepter.
Then, the fourth Wind Blade came.
BANG!
Shang's left arm exploded as he released a Fire Blast, turning his arm into splinters.
He had managed to avoid all four.
And then…
A fifth Wind Blade came.
For a moment, Shang felt like time had stopped.
Five?
Where did that fifth one come from?!
A blast with his legs wouldn't be fast enough to evade that Spell.
His Magic Runes had already activated.
At that moment, Shang made a decision.
BANG!
A Fire Blast wouldn't be fast enough to evade the Spell, but it would be enough to rotate his body!
Just before the Wind Blade hit Shang, he managed to put his legs in the way.
BANG!
The Wind Blade cut through Shang's calf.
Then, it cut through Shang's femur.
Then, it cut through Shang's abdomen.
And then… it stopped.
After cutting through so much of Shang's muscles and bones, the Wind Blade had lost all its power.
However, Shang had no more Life Energy or Mana.
An instant later, all his organs would fall out of his body and rain down on the floor in pieces.
Shang's intestines, liver, and lower back had been completely decimated.
Even if he managed to reach the Adept, he wouldn't be able to kill him.
The Adept still had his legs.
Shang didn't.
Shang gritted his teeth as he put his sword at the gigantic cut on his abdomen.
The sword kept his organs from falling out as his body rotated towards the Adept.
BOOOOM!
A huge explosion of fire left Shang's lower abdomen!
The Adept's eyes opened as he saw a sword quickly approach him.
The sword passed through his head without any issue.
BANG!
Shang's body barreled over the Adept and kept rolling on the ground.
A moment later, the smoke from Shang's abdomen lifted.
Shang's entire abdomen was severely burned.
And his organs?
Still inside!
He had cauterized the wound with the Fire Blast!
Shang threw his sword to the side, grabbed the ground with his remaining arm, and threw himself at the corpse.
Then, he absorbed the life energy that was leaving the body with Darkness Absorb.
There wasn't much left, but Shang managed to gain enough to regrow his organs.
A moment later, Shang felt an irresistible and painful urge to puke.
He did so, and a river of blood and guts left his mouth.
However, Shang had never been so happy to puke blood in his life.
It meant that he had survived!
After puking out several liters of blood, Shang collapsed to the side and only looked at the sky.
Silence.
And then, cheering.
"I won," Shang said while breathing heavily.
Sword slowly slid back to Shang and rested in his right hand.
"We won," Sword said.
Shang looked at Sword.
"Yes, we won."
The dried-up corpse of the Adept vanished shortly after.
Just like the last time Shang had been this injured, the wheel took some time to return.
A minute later, Shang stood up, his body having completely recovered.
The damage had been severe, but it was still far easier to repair than the damage caused by using his mysterious ability.
'We won against our first average Early Adept.'
At that moment, the wheel returned.
Shang looked at the wheel, and just for a second, he considered forfeiting.
He didn't want to die again.
The feeling of death was horrible.
He already had 21 points.
Did he really need 22?
"Level six: Powerful Early Adept."
Shang could have also only just used his ability to get this point.
Shouldn't he get some break?
Shouldn't he get some reward?
The wheel began to spin.
Shang closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
'No.'
'I have to!'
'How can I expect to become the strongest if I don't give it my all?!'
'I can't make the deaths of my previous enemies become useless!'
Then, Shang opened his eyes and looked at the wheel with fire in his eyes.
'So what if I die?! It's only a moment of horror, which will quickly pass!'
A moment later, the wheel stopped at the Ice Affinity.
After a brief glimmer of light, Shang's opponent appeared.
It was a beautiful, young woman with long, icy-blue hair.
She carried an azure gem in her right hand, which was orbited by a circlet.
It was a Focus.
Shang took a deep breath and looked at his left arm.
Then, he looked at his opponent.
The jester lifted his hammer and struck the bell.
The girl opened her eyes, and she looked at Shang.
Shang exploded forward with all his speed.
He didn't believe that his ability had infinite range.
From what he had seen, the destructive area of his ability was a cone. At least, the hole in the porcupine had been cone-shaped.
If Shang didn't get close, his power might be too scattered to kill his opponent.
The girl quickly cast her Mana Shield.
And then, an icy light appeared above her.
She began to speak mystical words, and an icy stream of Mana left her mouth and entered the icy light above her.
But that wasn't everything.
Her Focus was also sending Ice Mana towards the light.
When Shang saw that, his eyes widened.
'Focus Fusion?! An Early Adept can do that?!' Shang thought in horror.
When Shang was still 40 meters away, his opponent had finished creating her Spell.
A two-meter-long icicle appeared above her.
When Shang saw the icicle, a shudder went through his being.
'That Spell has the power of an attack from a Late General Stage beast!'
'It will break through my uniform in one strike and kill me!'
There were still 40 meters between him and his opponent.
Would his scattered power be enough to kill her?
Shang's left arm pointed forward.
Then, his left arm turned to dust.
But that wasn't all.
Both his legs also turned to dust.
And lastly, one of his eyes turned to dust.
The Adept released her icicle, which shot at Shang with surreal speed.
An instant later, Shang's body atrophied, and he hit the ground.
Silence.
Shang felt pain come from his entire body, weakness gripping his being.
With all his power, Shang managed to lift his body a bit with his right arm to look at what had happened.
And then, his remaining eye opened widely in shock.
Destruction.
Nothingness.
A cone-shaped crater stretched out from Shang's position.
Meters of earth had been consumed by the attack.
At that moment, Shang remembered what his teacher had told him.
General Stage Abominations could be a danger to High Mages.
This attack…
This was an attack that only a High Mage could unleash.
However, Shang had paid dearly for unleashing it.
If he had used this attack outside the trial, he would become a useless cripple with no chance of recovery.
On Earth, one could still live a fulfilling life with such a disability, but in this world?
No.
WHOOOOM!
And then, a storm of Mana assaulted Shang.
Shang felt like his entire being was being bathed in the purest of Mana in the world.
A couple of seconds later, everything calmed down.
His world returned to its previous, lifeless self.
There was no wind.
There was no movement.
There might as well be nothing.
Shang was the only living being here.
At that moment, Shang looked at his world.
It still had matter.
Then, Shang looked at the crater of destruction in front of him.
But there was nothing.
Shang remembered the ability of the Abominations.
Shang remembered the fact that there could also be exotic Affinities like Space in this world.
Shang remembered his Ice and Fire Affinities.
Less heat, more heat.
Less energy, more energy.
Shang remembered his Light and Darkness Affinities.
Life energy was essentially mass or matter. With more life energy, one could regrow one's body parts. With too much, one's body would become too big and would explode. With too little life energy, one's body would vanish.
Less matter, more matter.
Less energy, more energy, less matter, more matter.
What if everything was put together?
It would just become neutral.
It would become the same.
Then, Shang thought of something.
What if his Affinity interacted with the entire world?
All the matter would vanish and be converted to Mana, which was basically energy.
And every spot in the world would have the same amount of energy.
There would be no movement.
There would be no matter.
There would be no life.
And lastly, Shang remembered a concept from earth.
In many, many, many, many years, every piece of matter will be transformed into energy. At that point, the universe will cease to be relevant.
It was the heat death of the universe.
Shang looked forward in shock.
"My Affinity is Entropy."
Chapter 219 Jester
Shang had just finished his last match.
The long trial was finally over.
After 22 fights, excluding the executions, Shang had finally finished the trial.
But at this moment, Shang didn't even think about the trial.
He only thought about his Affinity.
'Entropy?' Shang thought as his last eye looked at his remaining arm.
Silence.
'What kind of Affinity is this?!'
What did Shang think about when he realized his Affinity?
The power?
The potential?
The uses?
No, Shang was thinking about something else.
Shang had tried to convince himself that all his opponents had to die for his goal.
They all had to die!
Yet, why was Shang even trying to convince himself?
If he truly thought that, he wouldn't need to convince himself.
He would just accept that everyone had to die and would do it.
Why put so much energy into convincing himself?
It was hard to acknowledge, but right now, Shang realized that he hadn't truly believed that sentence.
Otherwise, he wouldn't be feeling as he was feeling right now.
Just mere moments ago, Shang felt like he had a choice.
It had been his choice to act this cruelly towards everyone opposing him.
But now that his choice had been taken away, he felt a feeling of regret.
'How am I supposed to interact with anyone when I am the very antithesis of their existence, their goals, and dreams?'
'Fire can destroy, but it also leaves behind nutrients that plants use. Additionally, we couldn't even survive without the sun.'
'Water and Earth can destroy, but they are the very basis for life.'
'Wind brings movement into the world. Additionally, oxygen is also important for life.'
'Ice? So what if it's cold? There are enough animals that can live in a tundra.'
'All our bodies use lightning to function.'
'Metal? Who doesn't need iron and magnesium for their body?'
'Light is just life, and darkness can also protect.'
'Entropy?'
'What can Entropy do?'
'Entropy is the antithesis of everything we know.'
'In Entropy, nothing is relevant anymore.'
'Without movement, space has become meaningless.'
'Without change, time has become meaningless.'
'Entropy means that there is no life.'
'Entropy means that there is nothing.'
'There is just nothing!'
Shang remained silent as he looked at the ground with his remaining eye.
'What if I become more powerful? What then?'
'Will I start destroying everything around me?'
For a while, Shang wasn't sure what he was thinking about.
He was thinking about something, but he didn't know what he was thinking about.
He only knew that he was thinking.
Maybe he was trying to untangle this web of emotions?
Maybe he was trying to make sense of his situation?
He didn't know.
But, eventually, Shang sighed.
Shang flipped himself over to lay on his back as he held his last arm towards the sun in his world.
Shang only looked at his arm.
This arm couldn't create.
It could only destroy.
'How would my rise to power affect the world around me?'
'I don't know.'
Shang just looked at his arm for a while.
Then, Shang sighed again.
'Maybe I'm overthinking all of this. I don't know.'
'I mean, I can still help others, right?'
'But is that something I want?'
'I think it is? Not sure. I mean, I am thinking about these things right now. If I didn't care, I wouldn't think about these things.'
Silence.
Shang only looked at his hand.
'I don't know.'
"Finally done moping around?"
Shang heard a squeaky noise and barely managed to move his weak body to look at the source.
It was the jester!
The one that always struck the bell with his hammer!
Right now, the jester was standing beside Shang, hammer still in hand.
Even now, it looked like a cheap machine.
"Hey! I put a lot of work into this puppet! Don't call it a cheap machine!" the jester shouted with a snort.
Shang's eye widened in surprise.
He didn't say that.
He only thought-
'Oh. It's him.'
"Sure enough, it's me," the jester said with a wide and creepy grin. "I always had a fond spot for jesters. They're funny."
Shang did his best not to disagree with the God in his thoughts.
"Why are you here?" Shang asked.
"Why can't I be here?" the jester asked with a smirk. "This is my world. I can do whatever I want in it."
Shang remained silent for a bit.
"I noticed," Shang said.
There was a definite implication in the way he said these words.
"Oh, someone's mad," the jester said as he walked around Shang's atrophied body, every step making squeaky noises.
"You're mad that you have to entertain me? Is that it?" the jester asked with a wide grin.
Shang didn't answer.
"So what?" the jester shouted as he loudly laughed. "Then be mad! It won't change reality!"
Shang's jaw tightened, but he didn't even think about disagreeing with the jester.
There was nothing Shang could do.
The God was just like the Storm Eagle.
Warrior's Paradise only existed because the Storm Eagle didn't want to destroy it.
Why did Shang exist?
Why was Shang in this world?
What was Shang's purpose here?
Entertainment.
His entire existence, his entire being, his purpose, his everything only existed for entertainment.
That's it.
If Shang weren't entertaining anymore, all of this would vanish.
Shang's destiny was to dance for the God.
As Shang looked at the jester, only one sentence went through his mind.
'It's like I'm the jester's jester.'
"Ahahahaha!"
The God broke out into laughter.
"The jester's jester," he repeated as he presented his body by hopping from one leg onto the other. "The jester," he said.
Then, he pointed at Shang with his hammer. "The jester's jester."
"I should have called you Chester!" the jester said with a loud laugh.
Shang didn't find it funny.
"Why did you force the name Shang on me?" Shang asked.
The jester only grinned. "It means entropy in Chinese. Well, not entirely. I kind of had to change the pronunciation of the a. Shahng just sounds weird as a name."
Shang remained silent for some seconds.
"That's it?" he asked.
"Why?" the God asked as he bowed around Shang's head to look him in his remaining eye. "Did you expect more?"
Shang remained silent.
The question of why the God had forced the name Shang upon him had been a mystery for a long time.
Why did Shang need a new name?
Shang had thought that there was a greater reason for it.
Maybe there was some significance to his name?
But no.
It was only the God having fun.
"Why Entropy?"
The grin never left the jester's face.
"Because of your last question," he answered.
Shang wanted to ask what his question was, but he stopped himself.
The God wouldn't answer.
At that moment, Shang thought of a different question.
He had been confused about this thing for a long time.
Why not ask the God?
He would know.
"You don't have to ask," the jester said with his grin. "I already know what you want to ask."
"Will you answer?" Shang asked.
The jester's grin became even wider, which hadn't seemed possible just a second ago.
"I already answered that question."
"Why don't you wait until the Commander Stage?"
Chapter 220 Entertainment
Shang remained silent for a while.
'So, this is the next question I have asked.'
'I think it makes sense that I would ask that question next.'
Shang took a deep breath.
Hearing that this would be Shang's next answer made Shang relax.
The God wouldn't go back on his word if Shang had asked this question as part of one of his three gifts.
This would mean that he would get a serious answer, which is what he needed and wanted.
"So, what now?" Shang asked.
"I don't know," the jester said with a wide grin. "I haven't decided yet."
For some reason, Shang didn't like that answer.
"What do you think I should do?" the jester asked.
There was something up with the God's mood, and Shang had a good guess.
"Send in the next opponent," Shang said.
The jester continued grinning as he slowly spun his hammer.
"Quite a smart answer," the jester said. "But I make the rules, and if I want to change the rules, I can do so."
Shang didn't like that answer.
"You know what?" the jester said as he retreated a bit. "Congratulations! Your results were so great that I won't force you to die! You hate that feeling, right? So, there you go! Well done! You don't have to die!"
As Shang heard that, a cold shudder went down his back.
Shang was currently a cripple.
If he didn't die and resurrect, his body would stay in this state.
What then?
Shang gritted his teeth.
"Do you want to see me kill myself?" Shang asked.
The jester kept spinning the hammer in his hand. "Why don't you try it?"
Shang's mind went wild.
Waiting for death was something else from consciously killing oneself.
"What if I don't resurrect?" Shang asked.
"You're right," the jester said. "You won't be resurrected."
"But why won't you try it anyway? It would be fun to see you kill yourself."
At this moment, Shang felt very similar to the other two times he had been killed in the trial.
However, this time, Shang knew that he wouldn't resurrect.
Then why should he kill himself?!
But then, if the God didn't kill him, how was he supposed to live like this?
What if he refused to kill himself?
The jester just continued spinning his hammer as he watched Shang struggle.
He loved the complexity of the situation.
Both options were an incredible risk.
What would he do?
Several minutes passed.
Shang continued debating with himself.
What was he supposed to do?!
Suddenly, a timer appeared above Shang.
"I'm getting bored. You have one minute to decide," the jester said with a laugh. "If the time runs out, your outcome will be worse than any choice you can make."
Shang started to breathe heavily as his mind struggled to come up with an answer.
What was he supposed to do?!
Die?!
But then what?!
Survive?!
But then what?!
It didn't matter what he did!
The timer started to go down second by second, and Shang's mind began to drone.
Shang had never been under so much stress in his life.
Die?!
Survive?!
The timer ticked down.
It felt like 50 seconds had passed in a flash.
Shang's bloodshot eye kept focusing on the timer.
'What do I do?!'
'What do I do?!'
'What do I do?!'
5.
4.
Shang gritted his teeth as his eye looked away from the timer.
3.
BOOOOOM!
An explosion of Fire and Ice came out of Shang's head, scattering it across the surroundings.
Shang had chosen death.
Everything in Shang's mind halted as he waited for death.
And waited.
And waited.
Then, Shang began to panic.
His head was scattered over multiple meters!
He didn't even know where he was or what he was right now!
Why wasn't he dead?
A broom appeared in the jester's hand as he began to sweep up all the different parts of Shang's head.
The sensations Shang was feeling right now were indescribable.
Shang couldn't wrap his mind around what was happening right now.
After some seconds, the jester was done with sweeping up all of the fragments of Shang's head and dumped them in a bucket.
Then, the jester put both his hands in the bucket and kneaded them like they were dough.
Some seconds later, the jester lifted a brand-new head out of the bucket with a grin.
However, one thing was different about this head.
Shang now had his second eye back.
The jester only looked into Shang's eyes with a grin.
"Do you think you have the power to die under my watch?" he asked slowly.
Shang didn't answer.
"Your body doesn't matter. Your soul doesn't matter. Your mind doesn't matter," the jester said. "If I want you to exist, you will exist."
"Even if I turn you into dust, you will still exist."
"If you die, I can recreate you."
"I can make a second one of you."
The jester pulled the head closer to his face.
"And if I want to, I can stop your existence."
Shang didn't answer.
He had never felt this powerless in his life.
A deep fear and pain appeared in Shang's mind.
At this moment, Shang truly felt worthless.
He couldn't do anything.
"Now, now, we can't have that," the jester said. "If you lose all your motivation, watching you will be boring."
"Look!"
Shang felt a sting on his face and rubbed it with his hand.
'Hand?'
Shang looked down and noticed that his body had recovered fully.
At that moment, Shang felt like he had gained a new lease on life.
"You chose correctly," the jester said as he jumped away from Shang.
"A bit of biting back is fun, but I have use for you. Don't forget, you are supposed to make this world fun, and for that, I need more stuff. Only Mages are boring."
"If you disobey me too much, you might decide that you don't want to help the warrior's path anymore."
"You see, I want my world to be fun. If it isn't fun, I will become bored."
The jester turned to Shang and grinned at him.
"Do you want to see what happens when I'm bored?" he asked.
Shang felt a shudder go down his back.
"No," Shang said.
The jester's smirk transformed into a smile.
"You know why all of this is happening," he commented.
Shang nodded.
"Because I used Entropy to win against three enemies I shouldn't have won against," Shang said.
This had been Shang's guess from the very beginning.
The biggest indicator had been the lack of cheering after Shang had won these fights.
If Shang had been willing to carry the drawbacks of his ability, the God wouldn't have minded.
However, Shang had essentially used the God's power to resurrect himself, essentially ignoring the drawback.
And the God didn't like that.
"Do you want 22 or 19 points?" the jester asked.
This seemed like an innocent question.
However, Shang felt like the answer to this question would have long-reaching consequences.
Shang knew that this question was important.
"What would I need to do if I want 22 points?" Shang asked.
The jester spun his hammer again.
For a couple of seconds, he remained silent.
"I would only want you to do one thing in the real world," the God said.
"I will give you the means to do it, and it won't take more than a couple of minutes."
"However, you won't like it."
"You will have to kill someone."
"So, what will it be?"
"19 points and a reward you get without needing to do anything…"
"Or 22 points where you have to kill someone you don't want to kill."
"What will it be?"
Shang felt like a hole had opened in his chest.
It was like he had been put in front of that one Adept again with the Space Affinity.
But this time, Shang would have to kill someone he didn't want to kill, which could only be someone he knew.
And the choice wouldn't be up to him.
What if the God wanted to kill Shang's teacher?
What if he wanted to kill Astor?
Viera?
Yiral?
Mattheo?
Duke Whirlwind?
Could Shang kill someone like that for three measly points?
Weren't 19 points already enough?
Shang took a long time to decide.
He had to decide between a slightly bigger increase in power for killing someone innocent or a normal increase in power with a clear conscience.
After a minute, Shang made his choice.