Ch. 241..250
Chapter 241 Underestimated
Shang charged toward the officer with quite a lot of speed as everyone looked at him in shock.
Was Zero suicidal?!
Why was he attacking a Late General Stage warrior?!
Sure, he was being accused of being a traitor, but at least he still had a chance of survival if he complied.
But by directly attacking the officer, he was throwing his last chance of survival out of the window!
The officer readied his spear, and he looked into Shang's eyes.
He knew that Shang wasn't weak, and he knew that he shouldn't be too relaxed in the fight.
That guy's sword had bisected a Mid General Stage beast. Sure, he had had some help, but that destructive power was no joke.
Of course, the officer also knew that Zero had traded off his agility, speed, and flexibility in exchange for this overwhelming offense.
In the officer's mind, Zero was simply too slow.
In comparison to Zero, the officer specialized in these three things.
Without saying anything, the officer charged at Zero.
On top of the hill, One looked at Zero, his expression unreadable behind his mask.
The other soldiers only looked at the fight.
Why should they get involved?
Their officer was stronger than all of them combined. He didn't need any help.
On top of that, some of the soldiers harbored suspicions.
Why would Zero suddenly attack One and Two?
This didn't make any sense.
But they kept themselves out of the conflict. Right now, many soldiers weren't sure which side they should believe, especially after Shang had said that the officer had already dealt with Shang's four colleagues.
Where were these four?
Why weren't they here?
BANG!
Suddenly, green wind appeared behind the officer, and he accelerated a lot.
In just an instant, he reached Shang, thrusting his spear forward.
When Shang saw the attack, his eyes lit up.
'He's underestimating me,' he thought at that moment. 'Seems like this fight won't be a problem.'
The officer had thrown all his power and speed into this one thrust without holding anything back.
This made the attack harder to evade or defend against, but it also didn't give him any opportunity to do a follow-up.
Shang was right. The officer really underestimated him.
Yes, Shang had an insane offense, but that wasn't enough for the officer to really take him seriously.
Why?
Because Shang was two levels below the officer.
This meant that Shang needed to jump two levels.
No warrior could jump two levels.
It was simply impossible.
The difference in speed and power was just too overwhelming.
Unleashing a fully powered attack was already overkill for dealing with an Early General Stage warrior in the officer's mind.
Zero wasn't fast enough to evade, and if he blocked the attack, he would be thrown into the distance.
Of course, all of this was only how the officer imagined the fight to go.
Sadly, it wouldn't go his way.
Shang lifted his colossal sword, touching the side of its blade with his left hand.
BANG!
The spear hit the side of the sword.
CLINK!
But then, the sword suddenly angled, and the spear passed the sword, now piercing towards the ground.
The officer's eyes widened at this moment.
A parry?!
How could an Early General Stage warrior parry his fully powered attack?!
An Early General Stage warrior didn't have enough power to change the trajectory of his spear!
This would be difficult even for Mid General Stage warriors!
This was impossible!
Sadly, the officer didn't know about the procedure.
Back when Shang had still been at the Initial General Stage, his body had already been one level higher than his level.
However, the advantage that beasts had in terms of physical power only became greater as they became more powerful.
And since the power of Shang's procedure was determined by the power of beasts, his power also increased, just not as much.
At the Initial General Stage, Shang had a physical body equivalent to an Early General Stage warrior.
And now, at the Early General Stage, Shang had a physical body slightly more powerful than a Mid General Stage warrior.
In the past, one could say that Shang's power had received a +1.
Now, it was more like a +1.2.
Fighting the officer didn't even count as jumping an entire level.
CRRRRR!
As the spear was diverted downward, Shang's sword ground against the side of the spear.
And then, it stopped.
BANG!
Ice Mana shot out of the sword's blade, freezing the flexible but tough spear shaft beneath it.
At that moment, Shang's left foot touched the back of his sword's blade.
An instant later, Shang's leg released an icy mist.
BOOOOM!
As Shang's left leg pushed down, fire exploded out of the sword's blade, and the shaft beneath it broke.
At that moment, time seemingly froze.
Everyone was looking with shock at the broken weapon.
How?!
But just an instant later, an icy explosion appeared behind Shang, and he was catapulted forward.
Due to his shock, the officer couldn't react.
This simply defied all logic!
When the officer recovered, he only saw a knee.
BANG!
Shang's knee exploded with fire, burning the officer's face and blinding him.
The officer fell back, letting his spear go as Shang's body continued forward. Shang had too much momentum to be stopped by just hitting the head of someone.
When Shang was above the officer's head, he pointed his left arm to the sky.
He had never pulled his sword up for another strike, which meant that it was currently below him.
In short, it was between Shang and the officer's neck.
Shang's left foot stepped on the back of his sword's blade again.
BANG!
After a fiery explosion, Shang was thrown down.
BOOOOM!
A cloud of dust appeared around the place Shang and the officer had just been, making them invisible from everyone else.
They still couldn't come to terms with what they had just seen.
One's expression wasn't visible behind his mask, but his tensed body gave it away.
He certainly wasn't calm right now.
Some seconds later, the cloud of dust vanished, and the soldiers saw what had happened.
The officer lay on the ground, face upward. Buried in his neck was Shang's sword with Shang's left foot on top of it.
A big part of the sword's blade was inside the ground, and surprisingly, even the hilt was in the ground.
But the most shocking thing of all was the officer.
He was still alive!
But not by his own choice.
At this moment, the officer was essentially nailed to the ground at his neck. The hilt entered the earth on his left, and the blade entered the earth on his right.
A stream of blood flowed out of the part of the officer's neck where it touched the blade, but this wasn't enough to kill a General Stage warrior.
However, if Shang decided to put some weight on his left foot, the officer's neck would be severed.
Silence.
Nobody said anything.
Suddenly, Shang bowed to the side.
CRACK!
Shang broke one of the officer's fingers and retrieved the Space Ring on it. The officer tried to scream, but the blood and pressure in his head made it nearly impossible.
Shang looked through the Space Ring, and some seconds later, he summoned something.
Shang dropped something besides the officer.
Everyone looked over, and their eyes widened.
The Communication Crystal!
"Call your superior," Shang said coldly.
Everyone became confused, including the officer.
"I was framed, and I want a higher-ranked, neutral party here to investigate everything that happened."
"If I kill you now, I don't have enough evidence to convict you."
"Of course, if you refuse to contact your superior, I might accidentally slip and fall on my sword."
"You don't want that, right?"
Chapter 242 Superior
The soldiers looked with shock at Shang.
Call his superior?
So, Zero truly was framed?
Why else would he call for someone even higher-up in the chain of command?
If Zero were a traitor, he would only make it even harder for himself to escape if a Commander Stage warrior arrived.
The officer on the ground almost couldn't believe what he had heard.
Zero wanted him to call his superior?
At this moment, the officer felt like the world wanted him to survive.
He still hadn't come to terms with the fact that he had lost against an Early General Stage warrior, and now he had to come to terms with the fact that he survived after losing?
This entire situation was just too surreal.
The officer tried his best to move his hand to the Communication Crystal, but it was just out of reach.
Shang lightly kicked it into the officer's free hand with his free foot.
The officer quickly activated the Communication Crystal and held it up in an awkward position.
"Report," came the annoyed voice of the superior.
The officer had trouble formulating words due to the blade buried partially in his neck.
"Hello, sir," Shang said. "This is Zero, one of the soldiers under the sergeant. We require your help and judgment on a matter."
"What? Why are you talking to me? Where's Lance?" the superior asked with surprise and annoyance.
"The sergeant can't talk right now since my sword is partially buried in his neck, sir," Shang said.
Silence.
For several seconds, the superior didn't say anything.
"What do you want?" the superior asked through the Communication Crystal.
"I was framed for treason," Shang said. "The sergeant judged me to be a traitor without an investigation, and, well, you saw how that turned out."
"I would like to request a neutral party to investigate this matter."
For a while, nothing came out of the Communication Crystal.
"I'll be there in ten minutes. Do not, under any circumstances, injure anyone else. Everyone will remain where they are currently standing until this situation is resolved," the superior commanded.
"Understood," Shang said. "We are east of the outpost."
"I know where you are," the annoyed voice of the superior came. "Everyone, stay where you are!"
And with that, the superior hung up.
The officer put his hand down again and let the Communication Crystal fall to the side.
"I… called him," he said with a lot of difficulty. "Can you… please… move?"
"And give you an opportunity to attack me again without underestimating my strength?" Shang asked with a snort. "No chance. You heard your superior. Everyone will wait exactly where we currently are."
The officer wanted to grit his teeth, but that only caused him more pain.
Shang looked over at the masked One. "You didn't think it would end like this when you killed Two, did you?" he asked.
One didn't say anything.
Shang knew that One was a traitor, and One knew that Shang knew that.
So, how did One feel at this moment?
Extremely nervous.
But not for the reason one might believe.
In fact, shouldn't One be excited deep inside? After all, the superior of the officer was also a traitor, right? Shang was essentially digging his own grave with this action.
Sadly, that was just it.
One remembered the conversation he had with Shang about half a day ago.
One and Shang had talked about the fact that the superior of the officer might also be a traitor.
So, obviously, Shang knew that.
But then, why was he calling him?
It made no sense!
One refused to believe that Shang didn't suspect the superior to be a traitor.
But if he were a traitor, wasn't Shang essentially committing suicide by calling him?
A less experienced person than One would think Shang to be stupid, but One didn't believe Shang to be stupid.
'Zero must have some assurance with dealing with a traitorous Commander Stage warrior. I refuse to believe that he's throwing his life away!' One thought.
For the next minute, nobody moved, and the soldiers only looked at each other with confused expressions.
They had no idea who was a traitor and who wasn't.
BANG!
Suddenly, the ground below One exploded, and he charged towards the north.
The other soldiers looked with shock at his rapidly retreating figure.
Shang only snorted. "Quite smart. I can't leave from this spot," he said.
"Believe me now?" Shang asked.
A second later, the soldiers recovered from their shock.
"Catch him!" one of them shouted.
After that, four soldiers charged after One with the intention of capturing him.
The others remained at their positions, but their expressions had become less guarded against Shang.
The innocent didn't fear investigations, while the guilty ones did.
It was clear to them who the traitor was.
By now, the soldiers had calmed down, and they were talking with each other again. Most of them were talking about the fact that their officer and One had been traitors.
In their mind, the officer's and One's guilt had already been proven by One's sudden retreat.
Ten minutes after the superior had been contacted, someone new arrived at the hill.
It was that one Commander Stage warrior they had met before they went to the outpost, the leader of the closest town.
The soldiers all saluted while Shang looked at the superior with a hidden sneer.
'He came alone,' Shang thought. 'Which sane high-ranking officer would come to such a situation without any backup?'
This could have been a ploy to lure the superior out of the protection of his town. Nobody in the superior's position would go to such a meeting alone.
Unless they intended to hide the evidence and deal with the witnesses.
The superior's cold eyes inspected the surroundings and stopped when they saw Shang.
It was clear who had been the one speaking to him on the Communication Crystal.
At that moment, something appeared in Shang's hand, and he showed it to the distant superior.
Everyone looked over, and their eyes opened in shock.
It was an emblem with two green wings on it.
Some of the soldiers knew what this meant, and their last doubts vanished.
This was one of Duke Whirlwind's personal emblems, and it was proof that the owner of the emblem was a personal friend of the Duke.
Someone like that couldn't be a traitor!
The superior's eyes widened in shock for a second, but they returned to their previous cold very quickly.
"I need to check if it is real," the superior said coldly as he extended his hand towards the distant Shang. "There are a lot of fakes."
Shang only smirked behind his mask.
"Here you go," he said as he threw it over.
The superior caught it and looked at it for a while, his fingers caressing the design on the emblem.
He inspected it for over five seconds, just looking at it with an entranced expression.
"It's real, right?" Shang asked with a smirk.
The superior glanced at Shang.
Then, he put the emblem into his Space Ring.
"Why are you asking such a stupid question?" the superior asked.
"It's obviously fake."
The soldiers looked with shock at the superior.
"Even if we ignore this entire situation," the superior said, gesturing to the officer beneath Shang's blade, "faking such an emblem is already a crime worthy of death."
Then, the superior took out a long sword.
"I will carry out the sentence right now."
At that moment, the sheer power of the Commander Stage warrior filled the surroundings, and the soldiers found it difficult to breathe.
Shang only smirked.
Chapter 243 Inquisitor
The other soldiers became shocked and confused again. Too many twists had happened in the last hour.
First, Zero was outed as a traitor.
Then, Zero defeated the officer.
After that, Zero proved his innocence.
And now, Zero was a traitor again?
Some of the soldiers became fearful. They weren't stupid, and they knew that something didn't make sense here.
Was this Commander Stage warrior a traitor?
Then, wouldn't they be killed?!
Shang only looked at the superior with a smirk.
The superior took out his sword.
And then…
The superior fell to the ground, unconscious.
Once more, the soldiers became shocked.
What was going on?!
A second later, the soldiers noticed that a new person stood beside the unconscious superior.
This person was an older man with grey hair and grey robes. A grey Focus with two circlets was floating beside him as he looked at the unconscious superior.
Most of the soldiers didn't know who that was, but a couple of them could guess his identity.
"An Inquisitor?!" one of them whispered in shock.
Right now, everything was silent, which made the soldier's whisper echo throughout the surroundings, surprising the others.
An Inquisitor was here?!
What was an Inquisitor?
An Inquisitor was a True Mage loyal to Duke Whirlwind. The requirements to become an Inquisitor were stringent, and they had to go through many evaluations to make sure they weren't traitors before they could get that role.
To become an Inquisitor, one first needed to be a very talented Early True Mage, at least.
Second, one needed to have great knowledge of Mind Magic, which was a category of Magic that didn't require an Affinity since it dealt with pure Mana and the mind.
The job of an Inquisitor was to find traitors and extract information from their minds, and they were very good at it.
A second after the superior fell to the ground, his Space Ring left his finger and flew over to the Inquisitor.
The Duke's emblem was taken out of the ring, and the Inquisitor looked at it for about two seconds.
Then, the emblem floated back to Shang, who put it away. "Thanks," he said.
Shang had known that an Inquisitor would be watching.
Why?
Because he had called them.
Shang's job was to root out traitors and to inform the relevant authorities, which were the Inquisitors.
Shang's job was never to kill the traitors.
When Shang had won against the officer, he had taken out an emblem filled with Magic Circles from his world.
Luckily, he didn't need to summon it into his hands to activate it. As long as he destroyed it, it would send a signal to any Inquisitor in a radius of about 100 kilometers, who would then communicate with each other.
Because of that, Shang summoned the emblem into his boot and simply stepped on it, which was enough to destroy it.
Duke Whirlwind had told Shang that about two to three Inquisitors were always on standby on the battlefield. As long as Shang broke the emblem, one of them would arrive in, at most, ten minutes.
But most of the time, they would only take three to five minutes.
The Inquisitor looked at Shang. "You can step away from him," he said.
Shang looked down and noticed that the officer below him had also lost consciousness.
Shang grabbed his sword and stepped to the side.
"Are there any other traitors?" the Inquisitor asked evenly.
"One masked guy fled to the north a couple of minutes ago," Shang said. "He is also a traitor."
"Finding him won't be a problem. I marked him with the Inquisitor's Dust earlier."
"We know," the Inquisitor said. "He should have already been apprehended."
Shang nodded.
Before Shang had met with One and Two, he had stealthily taken out a small bit of dust, which he had then put on himself.
The Inquisitor's Dust acted like a beacon for Inquisitors. Nobody else would notice it, but the Inquisitors could feel it.
And the best part, as long as anyone came into contact with one person covered in Inquisitor's Dust, the surrounding people would also be contaminated by it.
This meant that every single person that had been on or near the hill for the past 30 minutes was now trackable by Inquisitors.
At that moment, the quiet sound of something being pulled along the ground could be heard, and the people looked over.
At the foot of the hill was another man with grey robes and a grey Focus. In comparison to the first Inquisitor, this one looked much younger.
Surprisingly, the second Inquisitor was pulling a chain with three unconscious people attached to it.
Shang looked over and saw that One was one of them. The other two were two of the soldiers that had been chasing One to apprehend him.
"I found two corpses of Early General Stage warriors on my way," the second Inquisitor said.
When the soldiers heard that, a pit appeared in their stomachs, and they glared at the three unconscious people.
It was obvious what had happened.
One had fled, and two other traitors acted like they wanted to chase him so that they could also flee.
However, two innocent soldiers followed them. They only wanted to help apprehend One.
Sadly, as soon as they left everyone's field of vision, the two traitors dealt with the two innocent soldiers before fleeing with One.
The soldiers almost couldn't believe that there were so many traitors!
About a quarter of all the soldiers stationed here were traitors!
That was insane!
"A Pest Queen will fill her nest with Pest Cats," the older Inquisitor said as he glanced at the superior lying beside him.
Shang also glanced at the superior.
The superior was probably the one that had command over the northeastern region of the battlefield, and with his authority, it wasn't very difficult to allow more traitors to join.
His plan had probably been to slowly kill off all the loyal soldiers at the northeastern part of the battlefield and get more traitors to replenish the ranks.
Like that, they could destroy the land and deliver resources to Duke Mithril.
"Are there any more traitors?" the older Inquisitor asked Shang again.
"There is one I suspect, but I'm not sure if he actually is one or not. It's just a feeling," Shang said. "I leave it to your discretion on how to proceed on this matter."
The Inquisitor kept looking at the gathered soldiers. "You were the one stationed here. You know these people far better than us."
"If you are not certain, you can ask for a Mind Read of that person. However, if the accused is proven to be innocent, you will have to pay an expensive fine," the Inquisitor explained.
Shang hesitated for about two seconds, but in the end, he decided to trust his feelings on this one.
"I would like to request a Mind Read on this person," Shang said as he gestured to a bald man amongst the soldiers.
The soldiers looked with shock at the bald man.
This was the leader of the Idealists!
The bald man looked with shock and anger at Shang. It was like Shang had just accused him of being a traitor, which was actually exactly what Shang had done.
Chapter 244 Excellent Work
The soldiers stepped away from their leader, who only gritted his teeth.
"What is the meaning of this?!" he shouted. "I don't consent to this."
Then, everyone heard the sound of scraping bodies on the ground, and without anyone noticing, the younger Inquisitor arrived behind the leader, who quickly turned around to face him in fear.
"Your consent isn't relevant," the young Inquisitor said as his hand threateningly stretched towards the bald man's head.
At that moment, Mana gathered around the man's head.
He was trying to kill himself with his Affinity!
But, of course, he didn't even have the power to kill himself in front of an Inquisitor.
The Inquisitor's hand reached the man's head in an instant, and he became unconscious.
The soldiers looked with shock and fear at the Inquisitor.
And then, two other soldiers tried to kill themselves.
But, just like the bald man, these two also became unconscious as soon as they showed an inkling of resistance.
None of them could escape.
Inquisitors were very good at their job.
After that, everyone became silent out of fear. One comrade after the other had become unconscious, and the soldiers feared that they would also fall victim to the Inquisitors if they showed any sign of resistance.
To these soldiers, these Inquisitors were some of the most terrifying existences they had ever seen.
People just became unconscious in their mere presence!
Over the next five minutes, the younger Inquisitor's hand remained on the bald man's head, both their eyes closed.
The older Inquisitor kept watch while his younger colleague was doing his job.
Eventually, the younger Inquisitor opened his eyes and stood up.
"There is a barrier in his mind," he said.
"Follow protocol," the older Inquisitor said.
The younger one nodded and summoned several more chains, which he then put on every other unconscious person, including the superior and the officer.
In the end, eight people were attached to the chain.
"Anyone else?" the older Inquisitor asked, glancing at Shang.
"No," Shang said.
The older Inquisitor nodded. "The Grand Inquisitor has been informed. The Inquisition officially assumes command over the northeastern region. All soldiers are to be stationed inside their outposts and towns. Any soldiers leaving the confines of their outposts or towns will be killed or apprehended."
"Three Circles have been sent to isolate the nearest town. Nobody is allowed to leave or enter. Every other outpost will also be guarded by one Circle each. You all will comply with the orders of said Mages."
The Inquisitor looked at all the soldiers. "You will enter your outpost immediately."
The soldiers quickly saluted out of fear and ran to the outpost they had built just two months ago.
"You will come with us," the older Inquisitor ordered Shang.
Shang nodded.
After that, the two Inquisitors lightly stepped forward, but their speed was already quite impressive.
Shang charged after them in silence.
A couple of minutes later, they arrived at the nearest town.
Shang could already see several Mages stationed around the town in a big circle, and he could also see three corpses lying between the Mages and the town.
The Mages obviously weren't joking around.
The older Inquisitor looked at Shang. "I will be responsible for investigating this town. You will follow him back to the Storm Eagle Zone," the older Inquisitor said, gesturing to his younger colleague dragging the eight unconscious people.
"The Grand Inquisitor has ordered for your return. Your mission ends here."
"He also told me to tell you that your work has been exceptional and that you have been a great help to Greenwind County."
The older Inquisitor's voice didn't sound happy or excited. He only relayed the words with a robotic voice.
Shang only nodded.
Then, without saying anything, the older Inquisitor entered the town, and the people inside the town would learn to fear him.
"Follow me," the younger one said as he accelerated towards the south.
Shang didn't say anything and only wordlessly followed him.
Obviously, these Inquisitors weren't the talkative kind, which was why Shang didn't annoy them with questions.
As Shang traveled towards the south in silence, he had time to replay his two-month stay in the battlefield in his head.
By now, the plan of the traitors also became clear.
The superior had, over many years of hard work, managed to assume command over an entire region.
In order to steal all the resources and make the land useless, he slowly added more and more traitors into the ranks.
Two of these traitors had been the officer, Lance, and a masked man, One.
On the surface, their job was to build an outpost and to make the land habitable and rich in opportunities to earn money.
But, in truth, their job was to eliminate all the loyal soldiers and slowly fill the ranks with traitors.
If all the traitors had been sent to this place at the same time, some questions would have been brought up. After all, traitors often had an unknown history.
Filling an entire outpost with only people with unknown histories?
That would have been too suspicious.
Because of that, they had to do it slowly, one wave at a time.
The first innocent soldier they had killed had been one of the students that had accidentally attacked a Mid General Stage beast.
The officer had given the command with the reason of teaching the students a lesson, and One had enforced it by assuming command of the group and stopping them.
The second innocent soldier had been one of the Scumbags. He had reported something, and the officer had killed him. According to him, the Scumbag had lied.
Next, three soldiers died while delivering the goods to the town.
The group consisted of one traitor and three innocent people.
The person with the Space Ring had been the traitor, and he had stealthily put resources into the innocent soldiers' pockets.
The soldiers had no idea how these resources got there, but the guards of the town, which were probably also traitors, didn't care and killed them.
After that, it was time to deal with Zero and four other soldiers.
The traitorous leader of the Idealists picked four innocent soldiers to go with Zero to a place that would soon be attacked by Duke Mithril's hidden forces.
As insurance, One gave Zero a way to contact him. Like that, One would gain the trust of everyone around him. After all, he had done more to save his comrades than necessary.
The lower timeframe with the new signal wasn't actually important. The chances of this bit of time making a difference in the outcome were minuscule, and the additional payoff was worth the added risk.
The reason why Shang had suspected the leader of the Idealists of being a traitor was that four loyal soldiers had been sent with him.
If the leader were innocent, he wouldn't know who was and who wasn't a traitor, and with the number of traitors, the chances were high of at least one person betraying Zero during the attack.
But all four soldiers had resisted.
When the officer and One noticed that everyone had returned, they realized that they couldn't be as subtle anymore.
Several people were already suspecting the officer, and if one traitor fell, everyone could fall.
So, they concocted a scheme to deal with Zero and Two, two of the most powerful loyal soldiers.
After dealing with those two, the officer and One could slowly whittle down the remainder.
Sure, the officer would have been sent somewhere else to keep up appearances, but that didn't matter.
The superior would have simply given someone a temporary leadership role.
And which two people would everyone want as their new superior?
One or the leader of the Idealists.
Both were good choices.
Everyone else would believe that all the traitors were gone. After all, so many had already died, right?
On top of that, they now had a leader everyone trusted. They voted them into the position themselves, after all.
And like that, the outpost would have been slowly overtaken by the traitors.
Sadly, Shang had ruined their plan by luring every traitor into a trap.
All of them had gathered, and the most crucial and important person, the superior, had shown in front of the eyes of the Inquisitor that he was a traitor.
How?
Duke Whirlwind's Emblem.
Shang had thrown it to him.
Someone of the superior's standing could tell the difference between a real and fake one.
If he said it was real, he couldn't get rid of all the witnesses. If he said it was real and killed Shang, everyone would have scattered, fleeing for their lives, and if only one of them survived, everything could potentially crumble around the traitors.
This was a huge risk.
So, of course, the superior said it was fake. He would execute Shang, let the officer heal himself, and lastly, they would all kill the surrounding soldiers.
With all of them working together, nobody would be able to escape.
Then, they would simply frame everything to look like they had died to some random Late General Stage beast that found its way here.
The superior had been called to deal with it, but when he arrived, over half the soldiers had already died.
How tragic.
But, in the end, Shang had outsmarted them.
It wasn't easy, and there had been a lot of unknown factors, but Shang had managed to get the best result possible.
All traitors survived, and they all were in the Inquisitors' custody.
Shang hadn't killed even a single traitor.
He had only done his job.
Find the traitors and report them to the relevant authorities.
That was it.
Chapter 245 Back to Warrior's Paradise
Shang followed the young Inquisitor for about two hours until they reached the border to the actual Ice Wyvern Zone. With the Inquisitor present and with Shang not needing to slow down his speed, the journey didn't take as long as the first time.
When they entered the Ice Wyvern Zone, the Inquisitor stopped and turned to Shang.
"We passed the border now," the Inquisitor said. "This is where we part ways. You are to report back to whoever gave you your job."
Shang nodded. "I will. Thanks for escorting me."
Shang wasn't stupid. Even though he hadn't seen any guards at the border, it didn't mean that there weren't any.
The entire battlefield was probably under a strict lockdown, and without the Inquisitor accompanying him, someone would have probably stopped Shang.
The Inquisitor nodded. "The Lead Inquisitor isn't someone that praises people," the younger Inquisitor said. "However, I want to iterate that your work has helped us a lot. You managed to personally root out eight traitors, with one of them being in a high position, and you indirectly unmasked maybe dozens more."
"You did an excellent job."
"Thanks," Shang said. He had thought that he would feel great when hearing praise from someone so powerful, but for some reason, Shang didn't feel as much.
It was like the praise didn't really matter to him.
"I wish you luck on your future journey," the Inquisitor said before charging into the distance. His speed was far faster than earlier.
Shang only nodded absentmindedly since his mind was occupied right now.
'I wonder why getting praised didn't feel as good as I've imagined. Isn't it normal to feel proud of myself when someone much more powerful than me tells me I did a great job?'
'Why didn't I feel like that?'
For a while, Shang only remained on the same spot, deep in thought.
'I think it's my goal,' Shang thought. 'My goal is far beyond the power of anyone in this place, which is why I don't really care for their praise.'
At that moment, Shang got reminded of his old struggle with his attitude.
Be brutal to others?
Help others so that they help him?
Which one was better for reaching supreme power?
How did the Mage Emperor become so powerful back then?
What was his personality like?
Shang sighed. 'There's no use thinking about that. According to the God, I asked exactly that question as my third one. Making any decision right now is pointless since I will get the right answer later.'
'I just have to wait and become more powerful.'
After thinking that, Shang's mind returned to the present, and he looked for an isolated place.
Shang searched around for something specific, and a couple of minutes later, he found it.
Shang found the nest of a Pest Cat and killed it.
Then, he entered its nest.
SHING!
A green academy uniform appeared before Shang together with a long spear. The spear was made of Mid General Stage Rank materials and was green in color.
Shang dumped his armor into his inner world and changed into his academy uniform.
Then, Shang took off his mask and also put it into his inner world.
Now, Shang's face was finally revealed.
He had a chiseled jaw and a messy, unshaven beard. One would think that he looked like an athlete that neglected their appearance due to a slump.
Shang grabbed Sword and shaved.
Back at the academy, Shang hadn't been able to use Sword for shaving since it had been too stupid to communicate with. It instinctively refused to hurt Shang.
But now, Sword was smart enough to see what Shang wanted and complied.
After a good shave, Shang used Sword to cut off his long hair, its length returning to the usual.
Shang looked at Sword. "I'll have to put you into my world for a couple of hours. You're too conspicuous. As soon as I reach the academy, I'll get you back out."
"I understand," Sword answered.
Shang nodded and put Sword and all his other belongings back into his inner world.
Lastly, he summoned a long black coat, which hid his entire body.
After putting it on, Shang charged out of one of the side entrances of the nest.
This had been why Shang had searched for a Pest Cat nest. If someone were following Shang, they would only need to keep watch over one entrance if Shang entered a cave.
But with a Pest Cat nest, they would need to watch several entrances at once, which would force them to go to a more conspicuous location.
As Shang charged out, he quickly scanned his surroundings.
He didn't see anyone.
Right now, Shang looked completely different from his old persona, Zero.
Shang wore a green uniform, wore no mask, carried a spear on his back, and hid everything about himself in a black cloak.
The only connection to Zero some people could draw would be Shang's height and frame, but there were several warriors that would fit these criteria.
Shang traveled through the entire Ice Wyvern Zone. Thanks to his studies, he knew which places he had to avoid.
If someone just blindly ran through the Ice Wyvern Zone, they could very well meet a Commander Stage beast.
However, Shang's journey wasn't entirely safe. In order to avoid watching eyes, he mainly traveled through General Stage Wildernesses.
Shang could kill Early General Stage beasts by using his spear.
If he wanted to kill a Mid General Stage beast, he would need to get out his sword.
Shang wasn't able to kill a Late General Stage beast, but he could escape from them.
The only problem would be Peak General Stage beasts, but they also didn't really care about some Early General Stage warrior.
…At least, that's how it would have been.
Sadly for Shang, it had become apparent that beasts hated him.
Back during the trial, the beasts had become irrationally angry when they had seen him, and that phenomenon hadn't stopped after Shang had left the trial.
Over the last couple of months, it had become apparent that every beast that saw Shang wanted to kill him.
So, if Shang actually met a Peak General Stage beast, he would be in trouble.
But that was why he was wearing the cloak.
As long as the beasts didn't see his eyes or got a chance to look at his body for a while, they wouldn't really pay much attention to him.
They only got aggressive if they could actually look at him for some seconds.
The Dean guessed that this was due to Shang's mixed nature.
He wasn't a pure Abomination, but he also wasn't a pure human.
This confused the beasts for a while.
If any beast saw an Abomination, they would immediately attack it in a blind rage.
Shang met a couple of General Stage beasts, but most of them ignored him when they saw his speed.
That thing was too small and fast. It would be too much work to chase it.
There was one Mid General Stage beast that became interested, but by "flying" away with a couple of Ice and Fire Blasts, Shang managed to get rid of it.
Two hours later, Shang reached the Storm Eagle Zone, entering through the northwestern Wild Forest.
From that moment on, Shang wasn't in any danger anymore.
Only Soldier Stage beasts were here. Yes, there could also be some General Stage beasts, but they were very rare and oftentimes also on the weaker side.
Before Shang reached the Farm line, he unbuttoned his cloak, allowing it to flow behind him in the wind.
He did this to show his academy uniform.
If someone in a black cloak shot through the Farm Line, the guards would probably become suspicious and interrogate him.
But with his academy uniform, they would ignore him.
At this moment, only Shang's head and back were hidden by the cloak.
As Shang charged through the Farm Line, he saw a couple of dogs sniffing in his direction.
Shang remembered the first time he had gotten here. Back then, the Farm Dogs had been unfathomable monsters to him.
Now, Shang was theoretically powerful enough to run on a rampage in the Farm Line as long as no other human got involved.
'Times change.'
After some time, Shang reached the gates of Warrior's Paradise.
For just a moment, Shang looked at it.
'It's been about two months since I've been here.'
'Glad to be back home.'
Chapter 246 Return
Right now, it was in the middle of the night. The ploy to kill the officer had begun at nightfall, and just a couple of hours had passed since then.
Shang walked over to the side gate since the main gates were closed during the night.
"Space Ring," the guard said with boredom.
Shang put his Space Ring on the table.
After that, the guard took out a crystal and moved it all over Shang's body.
This crystal was a smaller version of the bigger crystals above the gate. The big crystals had the ability to penetrate a Space Ring's defense and scan the insides, but the smaller one didn't.
However, it could see if someone wore a Space Ring or not.
This crystal was basically there to stop people from smuggling any illegal goods into the city.
The crystal didn't show any alarm, and the guard put it away.
Then, the guard looked through the Space Ring.
There was just some random stuff in there. Nothing special.
The guard handed it back to Shang and opened the side gate for him.
Shang nodded and entered the city.
Just like the first time Shang had arrived in Warrior's Paradise, it was deathly silent.
Shang immediately went to the main square and then to the academy.
In front of the academy gates, Shang saw a sleeping, middle-aged man.
'Isn't that a familiar image?' Shang thought as he looked at teacher Loran.
Shang ignored teacher Loran and went to the gate.
"Wait a second," teacher Loran said as he suddenly opened his eyes.
Shang didn't look at him.
"I don't know you," teacher Loran said. "Who are you?"
Shang deepened his voice. "My identity doesn't concern you."
Right now, basically everything regarding Shang was a secret, even in the academy.
The last time anyone had seen Shang had been about a year ago, during the Day of Chaos.
After that, Shang had completely vanished.
Shang had been underground for a month preparing for the trial.
Then, another eight months had passed in preparation for Shang's new job.
Lastly, a bit more than two months had passed while Shang had been on a mission.
In short, it had been nearly a year since anyone had seen him, and he had changed tremendously during that year.
It was no surprise that teacher Loran didn't recognize him.
When teacher Loran heard Shang's words, he snorted. "Doesn't concern me?" he asked. "I'm the guard. I'm responsible for only letting in people that are allowed to enter."
"You will tell me who you are."
At that moment, teacher Loran's eyes narrowed.
WHOOOM!
Shang felt an incredible pressure appear around him.
Right now, Shang felt like he was in front of an incredibly powerful Commander Stage beast.
The pressure teacher Loran gave off was even higher than the pressure the superior had given off.
Teacher Loran was definitely more powerful than the traitorous superior.
'He's truly powerful,' Shang thought. 'If he wanted to do something to me, I wouldn't even have the slightest ability to resist.'
At that moment, something appeared in Shang's hand, and he pointed it to teacher Loran.
It was the Duke's emblem.
Teacher Loran narrowed his eyes when he saw the emblem, and his pressure lessened.
However, it didn't completely vanish.
"We might be in Duke Whirlwind's territory, but the warrior's academy is politically neutral," teacher Loran said. "I can let you in, but I still need to look at you in case you do something we don't want you to do and escape."
This put Shang in a troublesome situation.
No one was allowed to see his identity, but he also had to enter the academy.
"Fine," Shang said as he put the emblem away.
Teacher Loran waited for Shang to take off his cloak.
However, Shang simply turned around and walked away.
"Where are you going?" teacher Loran asked with furrowed brows.
"I will return during the day. You won't let me in, but Soran will," Shang said.
Shang hadn't met his disciple brother Soran very often in the last couple of months, but as the Dean's student, he had still gotten the privilege to refer to Soran with just his first name.
Soran and Shang didn't get along very well, which was why they avoided each other most of the time.
However, Soran and Shang still knew that they had to work together at least.
Teacher Loran looked at the leaving Shang with a bitter expression.
This was suspicious!
However, he also couldn't stop him from leaving. After all, he hadn't tried to forcefully enter the academy.
"You're back."
The two stopped suddenly as a third person appeared in front of Shang.
It was the Dean.
"Yes, I'm back," Shang said.
The Dean nodded. "Let's go inside. The city can defend itself for a night without me."
Then, the Dean looked at teacher Loran. "Good work."
Teacher Loran stood up respectfully and bowed a slight bit. "Just doing my job."
Teacher Loran had handled the situation perfectly.
One had to remember that, at this moment, Shang represented Duke Whirlwind's faction.
The academy was inside Duke Whirlwind's territory, but just as teacher Loran said, the academy was politically neutral.
Letting a political figure enter the academy just like that was bad.
However, the academy also had to show respect to Duke Whirlwind's faction.
Because of that, teacher Loran had said that Shang could enter, but he would need to show his identity.
Additionally, he would have probably also been followed around during the night until one of the Vice-Deans returned in the morning.
Teacher Loran's job was only to deal with visitors during the night and only as long as no one higher ranked than him was available. After that, it would be their job.
In short, teacher Loran did his job the same way Shang did it.
It wasn't his job to judge the visitor, but it was his job to keep everything in order while the superiors weren't available.
Shang and the Dean jumped over the gate and entered the academy.
The academy was mostly empty during the night, but there were still the occasional students training during the night.
The two of them entered the main building and went into the secret basement.
After walking for a while, they entered Shang's old room.
Shang put his cloak and spear away before summoning Sword.
"I'm back," Sword said to Shang.
Shang smiled a little. "You are."
Surprisingly, this had been the very first time the two of them had been apart without being able to see each other.
Ever since Shang had entered the world, the two of them had always been in each other's presence.
"How did the job go?" Shang's teacher asked.
"I met with a group of about 30 warriors in the morning of…"
Over the next hour, Shang told the Dean everything he had done during his job.
The Dean listened and commented on a couple of things Shang could have done better.
Shang listened to everything his teacher told him. After all, the Dean had a lot of experience.
After Shang was done retelling everything, the Dean nodded. "You did well."
And then, something surprising happened.
When the Inquisitor had praised Shang, he hadn't felt anything.
But now that the Dean said it…
Shang didn't feel so bad.
Chapter 247 - The Ore
The Dean and Shang talked for about two more hours, and the Dean also told Shang about his progress.
In the last two months, the Dean had managed to perform another successful procedure. This was now the third successful procedure the Dean had managed to perform.
Shang had been the first.
The second one had been performed about three months ago on someone with a warrior's body and good resistance to pain.
The newest one had been completed a couple of days ago, and it had been performed on someone with a weak resistance to pain but with a warrior's body.
"This means the procedure is now safe for everyone with a warrior's body?" Shang asked.
The Dean nodded. "Correct. Jerald managed to create a Spell that suppresses the Mana of someone with a warrior's body, which means that the patient doesn't need to be awake anymore during the procedure, making resistance to pain irrelevant."
"It isn't completely safe, but I don't have to follow the draconian restrictions regarding medicine from Earth in this world," the Dean said. "It's not a big issue if some patients die."
"The Spell can be performed by any True Mage, and the procedure can also be performed by Soran and Ranos. It's no longer necessary to have Jerald and me present during the procedure."
As Shang listened to the Dean, he realized that the day when every warrior could undergo the procedure was not far into the future.
The world was about to change.
"I will let Ranos and Soran perform one more procedure each to see if they can be trusted with it. And then…"
"We can go public."
Shang nodded. "Do you need me to do anything?"
"For now, you can return back to your school life. You don't need to hide anymore. Of course, you need to change your weapon first. Otherwise, people might connect you to your persona from the mission."
"For that, you can use this."
Then, something appeared in the Dean's hand.
It was a black pedestal, about one meter high.
And on the pedestal…
Was nothing.
Shang furrowed his brows. "There's nothing on it."
"That's it!" Sword said to Shang.
"What?" Shang asked.
"The ore! That is the ore I need!" Sword said.
Shang looked at the pedestal, but he couldn't see anything.
"I'm talking about the pedestal itself," the Dean said.
"The pedestal?" Shang asked as his eyes widened. "That's the ore?"
The Dean nodded. "This ore is virtually useless. It's very brittle, and it can't absorb any Elemental or Neutral Mana."
"For all intents and purposes, the ore is worthless. The only interesting aspect is its incredible rarity."
"The Old King kept it due to its rarity, and he used it as a pedestal for the actual prizes in his trial. It wasn't a prize in and of itself."
"Jerald tested it. Apparently, it counts as being at the Initial Commander Stage Rank."
The Dean put it in front of Shang, and Shang looked at it.
That was a lot of ore!
Shang guessed that this was about 100 units!
"This is all yours," the Dean said.
Shang looked at it for a while, but he was interrupted by Sword jumping onto the ore.
"Can you absorb all of it like that?" Shang asked. "I don't want you to become even bigger."
"Don't know," Sword answered.
Shang only looked at it with a raised eyebrow.
Over the next seconds, Sword rapidly absorbed about half of the pedestal before it stopped.
Then, Sword jumped into Shang's hand.
"That's as much as I can take," it explained. "My abilities didn't increase, but I managed to transform the composition of myself. I can now destroy parts of myself to unleash a powerful attack."
Sword was made up of about 50 units of ore, and it had absorbed 50 units of ore from the pedestal just now.
Shang quickly made the connection in his head.
"How powerful is the attack?" Shang asked.
"Not as powerful as when you use it yourself, but still quite powerful," Sword answered.
"Aren't you heavier and harder than me?" Shang asked. "Shouldn't your attack be stronger?"
"I am, but I'm pretty sure it isn't," Sword answered. "I don't know why."
"How can I use it?" Shang asked.
"Just tell me when you want to use it," Sword answered. "I can use it whenever. But you also need to tell me how much you want to use. If I use everything, I will die."
Shang nodded.
Then, he looked back at the Dean. "You want me to use the attack to change Sword's appearance?" he asked.
"Yes," the Dean answered, "you told me of what you can do with your Affinity, and if your weapon follows the same principle, it should be able to change its shape by sacrificing part of itself. It's better to have the weapons forge themselves than to interfere with their appearance."
"Also, I want to test how powerful the attack is," the Dean said as he stood up.
Shang looked at his teacher. "You want me to use it on you?"
The Dean nodded as he stopped on the other side of the room. "If I feel any danger, I will evade."
Shang didn't feel good about this, and he became a bit nervous.
The Dean noticed Shang's expression and lifted an eyebrow in skepticism. "Are you actually afraid that you might accidentally injure the most powerful warrior in the world while being at the General Stage?"
Shang became surprised, and his nervous expression transformed into an embarrassed chuckle. "Sorry. I think I forgot myself."
After that, Shang and Sword talked about what they wanted Sword to look like in the future. The only reason why Sword had become so big was to disguise Shang.
Sword needed a new appearance.
Initially, they wanted to return Sword to its initial appearance, but then Shang got an idea.
After sharing his idea, they both decided that they wanted to make Sword a bit bigger, but not as big as its current appearance.
Some minutes later, Shang readied his sword again. "I will start."
The Dean only nodded.
"Let's go!" Shang said to Sword.
Shang slashed forward.
Suddenly, black smoke covered Sword, making it appear like it was on fire.
As the sword moved through the atmosphere, a black streak was left behind. It was almost like the atmosphere had stopped existing.
The Dean's eyes kept looking at Sword.
BANG!
The Dean caught the edge of Shang's sword with his left hand.
Shang felt like he had hit a wall, and his body shook due to the vibrations.
The smoke lifted, and a shining black, straight blade was unveiled in the Dean's hand.
Sword's appearance had changed.
Sword had a similar form to its original one, but there were some differences.
The original form was thin and straight, almost like a nail.
Its new one was a bit longer but several times thicker and wider.
However, it wasn't as big as its earlier form when Shang had acted as Zero.
The original version had been comprised of seven units of ore.
The Zero-version had been comprised of about 60 units of ore.
And the newest version was comprised of about 30 units of ore.
It was about four times as voluminous as its original version, mainly due to the increased width.
Now, Sword was about 1.5 meters long and 15 centimeters wide.
Shang looked at Sword and nodded in appreciation.
This was exactly what he had in mind.
His sword was now a smaller version of Astor's sword.
Then, Shang looked at the Dean.
"How strong was the attack?"
Chapter 248 - New Shang
"The attack has the power of a Spell from a Peak Adept," the Dean said.
Shang nodded. That was about what he had expected. Sacrificing a bit of General Stage ore to unleash an attack at the Commander Stage would have been too good to be true.
Yes, it definitely wasn't even nearly as strong as when Shang used Entropy himself, but the cost was far more manageable.
Using Entropy himself would cripple Shang permanently, while this attack only cost a bit of ore.
On top of that, a Peak Adept could release terrifying power, enough to severely injure a Peak General Stage beast.
All of this sounded great, but there was one issue.
"The attack doesn't become faster," Shang said as he scratched his chin.
The Dean nodded. "You need to hit your opponent with it. "
The speed was a big issue. Theoretically, Shang could seriously injure a Peak General Stage beast, which was three levels above him, but in practice, Shang wouldn't be able to injure a Peak General Stage beast at all.
Beasts had terrifying instincts, and they would feel the danger coming from Shang's attack.
With their incredible speed, they would easily be able to avoid the attack just by jumping back.
'However, the attack still gives me a chance to win against a Late General Stage beast,' Shang thought.
'If I had that ability during the trial, I could have killed that porcupine. It wasn't as fast and was focused on defense. I should have been able to hit it.'
At that moment, Shang remembered something else.
Hadn't he had that thought once before?
Wait, could he…?
At that moment, Shang furrowed his brows, and after a while, he smirked.
'It should work.'
'It seems like my power has increased yet again!'
At that moment, something appeared in the Dean's hands, and Shang looked at it.
It was a small, green pill.
"This will undo the effects of your disguise," the Dean said.
Shang nodded, grabbed the pill, and swallowed it.
Moments later, Shang's body began to ripple like it was water, and his body began to thin.
About a minute later, the effect of the pill ended, and Shang's new body was unveiled.
In comparison to before, Shang now had a lean and athletic body. His earlier one was way too bulky, and Shang wasn't a big fan of that look, especially since the thick muscles had hampered his agility, flexibility, and speed.
And with that, Shang had completely transitioned away from Zero.
Shang had completely returned to himself.
Shang was about 185 centimeters tall, athletic, and had short black hair. His eyes were black, and he was clean-shaven. On his back was a long and thick, straight, black sword.
The only annoying part was Shang's clothing. He still wore this annoying green uniform, but there was no way around that.
All in all, one could say that Shang now looked like a mixture of his past self and Zero.
He was not small and nimble, but he also wasn't huge and wide.
He was perfectly in the middle.
The good of both worlds.
The Dean looked at Shang and nodded. "That should be enough. You still somewhat resemble your old self, but no one will connect you to Zero."
A small booklet appeared in the Dean's hand, and he gave it to Shang.
Shang looked at it and noticed that it was a list of teachers. Beside every name was a time frame.
"This is for our General Stage students," the Dean explained. "There aren't that many of you, which makes the creation of a lesson pointless. Additionally, you all focus on different things."
"Because of that, students at the General Stage are allowed to visit the teachers during their respective times. Most of them only have an hour of time per day, but that should count for more than a lesson when you can ask whatever questions you want."
Shang noticed that there were some overlaps, but those weren't really problematic.
At that moment, Shang also remembered that he had seen some teachers sitting on a couple of benches during the day and some older students asking them something.
Shang had thought that the teachers were simply taking a break, but apparently, they didn't.
"How long do I have, approximately?" Shang asked.
"About a month," the Dean answered. "We should have two more procedures complete by then. After that, I need you for maybe a week or so."
Shang nodded. "No problem. So, until then, I can simply do whatever I want?"
The Dean also nodded. "Try to keep the procedure a secret until then. It would be best if you avoided fighting or hunting with any other students during that time, and if you have to, try to act like your body is weaker than it actually is."
"Jerald said that he still wants to wait for you to become more familiar with your Mana and your Affinity before he sends you the next set of Spells. You might have finished testing out all the initial Spells, but there is a lot more he wants to know. Of course, you have to become more powerful first."
"We still don't know what your Affinity is, and Jerald wants to know desperately."
Shang nodded.
Yes, Shang hadn't told his teacher about what his Affinity was specifically.
It wasn't that Shang didn't trust his teacher. If his teacher knew, he would probably not change at all.
However, the problem was the Dean's closeness to Duke Whirlwind.
The Dean might tell the Duke about Shang's Affinity.
Sure, the Duke might also not do anything crazy with it, but what if he told someone?
What if it reached the Skythunder King's ears?
What if the Skythunder King knew something about Shang's Affinity that the Duke didn't?
What if this posed a problem?
Shang knew that there were far, far more powerful Mages in the world than King Skythunder. Maybe King Skythunder also didn't know anything about Shang's Affinity.
However, if the outside world had a connection to this place, the connection would most likely be the strongest people in this place, namely the Kings.
So, what if the Dean told Duke Whirlwind, Duke Whirlwind told King Skythunder, and King Skythunder told the outside world?
At that moment, Shang could get into danger.
This place had no idea what Shang's Affinity was, but the outside probably did.
Shang's mind went back to the time he had realized that his Affinity was Entropy.
Obviously, the Abominations shared Shang's Affinity.
Shang didn't know where these Abominations came from, but what if the more powerful people did?
What if the Abominations counted as their mortal enemies? After all, no world wanted to be turned into a mass of energy.
Because of all these reasons, Shang hadn't told anyone about his specific Affinity. He had even somewhat changed the description of his ability.
Instead of saying that his Affinity turned matter into energy, Shang had said that it produced a beam of black fire that didn't harm him.
Like that, the Dean would believe it had something to do with antimatter instead of Entropy, and everyone else would be confused. After all, Mages probably didn't know about antimatter.
"No problem," Shang answered. "Just tell me when he thinks I'm powerful enough."
After that, the Dean and Shang talked some more about what Shang would do for the next month, and a couple of minutes later, the Dean left.
Shang looked around the underground room.
"It should be morning by now," he said.
"Want to go meet the other students again after a year, Sword?" Shang asked.
"I have no connection to them."
Silence.
"Well, okay," Shang said.
And then, Shang left the room.
After nearly a full year, Shang was about to return to the academy.
Chapter 249 Friend?
Shang stepped through the open doors of the main building and entered the courtyard of the academy.
Some of the lessons had already started, but not all of them. Some students were training, but most of them were walking around from one place to another.
No one paid Shang any attention.
He was just one student amongst many.
For a while, Shang only looked at the students as old memories resurfaced.
He still remembered the first day he had been here.
He had been one of the weakest students, and he had no idea what he was supposed to do.
At that moment, Shang felt someone walk into his shoulder.
Shang looked down and noticed that a 14-year-old boy had tried to get past him and into the main building.
"How dare you block my path?!" the young boy shouted angrily. "Do you know who I am?! I'm the heir to the Sandamer household! You better apologize!"
Shang only looked at the young boy with a bit of amusement. "You're new here, right?" he asked.
"That is none of your business!" the young boy shouted. "You better apologize for stepping into my path, Nicholas Sandamer!"
A couple of students looked over as they heard the young boy shout and smirked.
The younger students could see that Shang was already an adult based on his appearance, which meant that he was probably very powerful, and the older students could feel Shang's power.
The older students snickered.
A freshman was trying to pick a fight with a General Stage student.
Right now, Shang didn't feel angry or something similar.
Instead, he was nostalgic.
The same thing had happened to Shang when he had entered the courtyard for the first time back then. An older student had barged into him at the same place.
Back then, Shang had let the student pass.
But now, Shang decided to act differently.
If he let the young boy pass, his attitude would only bring him into more trouble in the future since Shang's compliance would validate it.
That was not good for the student.
"In this academy, status is irrelevant," Shang said. "We even have Duke Whirlwind's heir in this academy, and he also had to follow the rules."
The young boy only snorted. Obviously, he didn't believe Shang.
"Let me show you."
Shang put his right hand on the boy's chest and pushed.
WHOOOM!
The young boy was thrown over ten meters into the distance.
He hit the ground, and his body rolled for another couple of meters, his uniform becoming increasingly dirty.
The students broke into laughter when they saw the scene.
The young boy was shocked and quickly stood up, anger visible on his face. "How dare you?!" he shouted. "Men! Arrest this man for attacking the heir of the Sandamer household!"
The students exploded with laughter when they heard the order, and even Shang had to chuckle.
Many of the new students had to learn this lesson when they joined the academy.
Status didn't matter in here.
Only strength mattered.
According to the rules, if he wanted, Shang could have severely injured the student.
However, Shang felt bad for the guy.
He was essentially publicly humiliating himself.
The young boy became angrier and angrier as the people around him laughed at him.
"Just you wait! I'll tell my father, and then you'll regret your actions today!" the young boy shouted before running away.
He couldn't take the humiliation anymore.
This made the students break out into laughter again.
Which powerful warrior or Mage would actually go after a student of the academy for something as trivial as this?
It was ridiculous!
Most likely, the boy would be severely disciplined for acting this entitled in the warrior's academy.
None of the powerful warriors and Mages were stupid, and they all had to go through years and years of combat and training to reach where they currently were.
These people knew what was important to become powerful.
"Shang?"
Shang turned to the side when he heard his name.
There, he saw a man who was nearly two meters tall. His hair was short and blue, and he wore the green uniform reserved for the General Stage students of the Caterpillar Class. On his back was a humongous sword, and Shang could tell that it was made from Late General Stage materials.
"Astor," Shang said with a smile.
Astor smiled widely. "So, it really is you!" Astor shouted with a laugh and came closer to Shang.
Then, Astor pulled Shang into a bear hug, which felt very awkward for Shang.
He wasn't really used to hugging other people, and he felt uncomfortable.
"Man, your body is heavy!" Astor shouted as he clapped Shang's shoulders several times with a loud laugh. "Are you already at the Mid General Stage?"
"No, I'm at the Early General Stage," Shang said, trying not to appear nervous.
Astor had guessed that Shang was at the Mid General Stage based on the weight of his body, which wasn't an easy feat to accomplish.
'I have to be careful. I should avoid giving others the opportunity to feel the weight of my body.'
Astor looked with a bit of confusion at Shang.
Shang's body was way too heavy for an Early General Stage warrior.
But then, Astor noticed the big sword on Shang's back, and realization struck.
The sword was the reason for Shang being so heavy!
"Oh wow, I almost died of shock just now," Astor said with a loud laugh. "I feared that there was no way for me to close the gap between us anymore."
"But hey, Early General Stage is also really impressive! How did you do that?" Astor asked.
Shang looked around, noticing the watching eyes. "Let's go somewhere else. I don't want to talk about these things in public."
"Sure thing!" Astor said.
Astor led Shang to the entrance of the academy.
"Why do you want to leave the academy?" Shang asked.
"Eh, I only came here to ask something of teacher Niria, but that can wait now that I met you again! Catching up with you is way more important!" Astor said with a wide grin.
Shang only looked at Astor as the two of them left the academy.
'It's strange,' Shang thought. 'If this were in the past, I wouldn't want to go with him. I would feel like I was wasting my time socializing. This is time that could be used to increase my power.'
'I haven't really been interested in making friends, and I also didn't have the time.'
Shang looked at the brightly smiling face of Astor as he kept talking.
'I think he views me as a friend.'
'But why? We didn't really talk a lot, and we only fought each other.'
'He doesn't really know much about me, and I don't really know a lot about him. Is it even possible to become friends with someone like that?'
Shang kept looking at Astor as he led Shang to a pub.
'Do I actually have a friend in this world?' Shang thought.
'I don't think I'm friends with Mattheo. Yes, we talk a lot, but he feels distant. He basically feels like a nice colleague at a job, maybe even a manager.'
'But Astor?'
'He seems so open and honest. I also don't think that he cares about politics when talking to me.'
'He just seems like someone that wants to have fun.'
"Hey, are you still there? You haven't said anything in a while," Astor said with some concern.
By now, Shang and Astor were sitting at a table inside a bar. In comparison to bars on Earth, the bars in Warrior's Paradise were full for the entire day.
"Sorry, what did you say? I was lost in thought," Shang said.
"I asked what you've been through. You basically vanished for an entire year."
'That would take a while to recount,' Shang thought. 'I could use that time to hunt some beasts or to train in my Affinity. Is it worth it?'
Shang looked at Astor.
'Are friends necessary?'
At that moment, two memories popped into Shang's head.
The first one was when teacher Mervin talked to Shang during the last Day of Chaos Shang had participated in.
Teacher Mervin had talked a lot about friends and emotions.
The second memory was the trial and Shang's decision near the end.
Shang had decided to go with the smaller reward since he wasn't sure what mindset he should assume in the future.
The God would answer his question when Shang reached the Commander Stage.
Shang's and Astor's drinks arrived at that moment, and Shang looked at the drink in front of him.
Some distant memories from Earth also popped into Shang's head.
He had enjoyed going out partying back then.
'In the past, I tried to fully focus on becoming selfish and cold since I thought it was a necessity to survive in this world.'
'However, the world hasn't proven to be as cold as I had imagined. Sure, there are still some disgusting people out there, but there are also many nice people.'
'In the past, I was sure which mindset I should assume. I always thought that I had to completely rely on myself.'
'But, in truth, I relied on the teachers of the academy, the dean, and even Duke Whirlwind. Without their help, I wouldn't be even nearly as powerful as I am right now.'
'There definitely is a point to having connections with others.'
Astor still looked at Shang with concern.
Shang looked at Astor.
'Well, since I'm uncertain what form of mindset I should assume, I should try to get familiar with the other side of the coin.'
'Having a friend shouldn't hurt.'
"Sure," Shang said. "Let me tell you where I've been."
Chapter 250 Path to Commander Stage
Shang and Astor talked for several hours inside the bar.
Shang very vaguely told Astor about what he had done, taking care not to unveil any of the confidential secrets.
In Shang's story, all his opponents were also a level weaker than they actually were to hide the powers of the procedure.
"You won against a Mid General Stage warrior?" Astor asked in surprise.
Shang nodded as he drank another mouthful of beer. He had just told Astor about his fight with the officer.
"Is that so surprising?" Shang asked.
"It is!" Astor said. "Mid General Stage warriors can release their Affinity in close proximity to their own bodies. It makes getting close to them very dangerous."
Shang nodded.
Advancing at the General Stage was different from advancing at the Soldier Stage.
Warriors at the Soldier Stage only needed to strengthen their entire body, while warriors at the General Stage also had to gain a certain mastery over their Mana.
Back when Shang "lost" against the average Mid General Stage warrior during the trial, Shang had become a victim of that power.
Back then, the warrior had unleashed a small fireball, which had been the reason for Shang's loss.
This was the exact ability Astor was talking about.
Reaching the Early General Stage wasn't difficult. Basically everyone could reach that easily, but as soon as a warrior tried to reach the Mid General Stage, it would become more difficult.
Strengthening the body was still necessary, but one also had to be able to move the Mana through their bodies with a certain level of mastery. Without that mastery, the strengthening of the body would fail.
This was the first bottleneck or barrier, depending on what word one liked more, that warriors encountered on their journey.
Gaining a certain level of mastery over one's Mana also gave one the ability to unleash a Pseudo Spell.
Pseudo Spells were called as such because they didn't need any incantations. Of course, in exchange for that, they were also far weaker than actual Spells.
For example, when Shang had been hit by the Pseudo-Spell of that Mid General Stage warrior during the trial, Shang hadn't really been injured, even though the warrior's body was essentially a level above Shang.
Of course, if Shang's body had actually been hit, a big part of his chest would have burned away, but he wouldn't have died from that.
To reach the Late and Peak General Stage, one only needed to increase the mastery over their Mana and then strengthen their body the old-fashioned way. One wouldn't gain new abilities, but all the previous abilities one had would become a bit stronger and would use less Mana.
In order to reach the Commander Stage, a warrior needed to create their own Domain.
A Domain was an area around the warrior that was filled with their own will and Mana. It essentially allowed a warrior to manipulate the Mana around them by spending a bit of Mana to control it.
This essentially allowed a warrior to increase the power of their attacks by a factor of two, making the Mana one used effectively twice as efficient.
Naturally, it was incredibly difficult for a warrior to reach such mastery regarding their own Mana, and it took years upon years of training.
Most Commander Stage warriors only reached that level when they were 40 or older.
Of course, there also were some geniuses that managed to reach that level in their thirties, but they were truly rare.
But that only counted for the entire world as a whole.
One had to remember where Shang currently was.
Shang was at the strongest academy for warriors in the entire world.
Just as the name suggested, Warrior's Paradise was a paradise for warriors, and there were a great number of talented warriors here.
Around 50% of all warriors living in Warrior's Paradise managed to reach the Commander Stage in their late thirties.
Now, the obvious question was…
What was Shang's level of mastery?
When Shang had reached the General Stage, he had only had the required level of mastery to reach the Early General Stage.
However, something happened that boosted his level of mastery to an entirely different level.
The reward of the trial.
In order to create the ranged attack from the reward, a warrior needed to have a mastery over their Mana that would allow them to become a Mid General Stage warrior.
Yet, that would only allow them to unleash a weak attack.
The reward automatically allowed Shang to learn it completely, which meant that Shang could exhibit the full power of the reward.
To do that, one needed to have a mastery over one's own Mana to become a Peak General Stage warrior.
And since Shang learned all of that automatically…
Shang could, theoretically, become a Peak General Stage warrior right now as long as he consumed enough resources and trained a lot.
Of course, neither the Dean, Duke Whirlwind, nor Shang wanted to do that.
An inexperienced person would think that this was stupid.
Why would you want to be weaker?
The reason was experience.
Right now, as long as one ignored the effects of the procedure, Shang could win against an average warrior one level above him.
But what about later?
Without the procedure, if Shang became a Peak General Stage warrior at this moment, he might actually fall to be slightly above average.
Talented warriors on his level, ignoring the procedure, would definitely win against Shang then.
In short, Shang needed more time to gain experience.
His body was only around 18 years old right now, which was nothing in comparison to the warriors at the Late or Peak General Stage.
Those were all in their late twenties or thirties.
They had over a decade more experience in fighting than Shang.
Advancing a level always meant increasing one's overall power, but decreasing one's relative power, also called Battle-Strength.
Realm and Stage were quantity.
Battle-Strength was quality.
There were a lot of General Stage warriors that didn't have a great Battle-Strength.
However, there were only a few Commander Stage warriors that didn't have a great Battle-Strength.
And there were no True Path Stage warriors that didn't have a great Battle-Strength, even if there were thousands instead of only one.
The more quantity one aimed to reach, the higher the quality had to be.
If Shang's goal were only to reach the Commander Stage, he would advance right now.
But that wasn't his goal.
He wanted to go much further.
And for that, he needed to always remain on top.
He needed to be the most powerful at his current level.
Astor and Shang continued to talk for several hours.
Sadly, there weren't many interesting things that happened to Astor during the last year.
There were only a couple of fights with beasts and a couple of missions outside.
"Hey, you want to accompany my team when we're hunting in the Wasteland tomorrow?" Astor asked after a while.
"Accompany your team?" Shang asked with a lifted eyebrow.
Astor nodded. "We planned to get an Early General Stage warrior to accompany us anyway."
"Why?" Shang asked.
"We want to enter the Caves in the Wasteland."
Shang looked at Astor with a bit of surprise.
"It's not like you think!" Astor said quickly. "We won't go far. We only plan on staying near the surface."
"We've heard that there are a lot of Initial General Stage beasts in the Caves. Do you know how difficult it is to find Initial General Stage beasts on the surface? There are so many teams at the Initial General Stage that hunt them. Some days, we can't even get one, and when we get one, it's almost always a Trash Bird!"
"But as you know, it's more difficult to flee from a stronger beast inside the Caves, which is why we need someone that can buy us some time to flee. There should only be the occasional Early General Stage beast near the surface, which shouldn't be a problem for you. After all, you only need to secure our retreat, nothing more."
"Of course, you will also get 30% of the reward, and you don't even need to help in the hunt. You will only need to buy us time if an Early General Stage beast appears."
Shang looked to the side.
That would essentially waste an entire day of training.
Should he accompany them?
After some seconds, Shang made his decision.
"Sure."