Ch. 251..260

Chapter 251 Old Friends

Shang and Astor spent the day together, and when evening arrived, they split apart.

Shang went back to the academy and trained in his mastery over his Affinity, which was different from training in mastery over Mana.

Mastery over Mana was more of a general, all-encompassing mastery, while mastery over an Affinity referred to the specifics. When compared to Spells, one could say that mastery over Mana would increase one's ability in regards to all Spells, while mastery over an Affinity referred to one's ability in regards to only Spells of a specific category.

When dawn arrived, Shang left the academy and went to one of the walls on the eastern side of Warrior's Paradise. This was where the group was supposed to meet.

Shang could see a couple of hunters walking around in teams.

Everyone was getting ready for a day of hunting.

It took a couple of minutes, but eventually, Astor arrived with his team.

Surprisingly, Shang recognized all of them.

The team consisted of three people, with Astor being the leader.

The second person on the team was a smaller man with long green hair and two long rapiers. He wore one of the black sets of leather armor that the Hunting Guild sold.

Shang knew this guy.

Back when Shang had taken part in his first lesson in the Caterpillar Class, he had been the one that had insulted him several times. Later, it came to light that he was simply envious of Shang since he had assumed that Shang was some progeny of a rich family. He even apologized for his treatment of Shang later.

It was Elver.

Sadly, judging by his getup, Elver didn't manage to enter the General Stage grade in the Warrior's Academy.

Shang also knew the third person.

It was a tall woman with short, grey hair. She carried a huge hammer on her back and also wore the typical set of black leather armor that the Hunting Guild sold.

Shang remembered how they had made a deal. In exchange for helping her adapt to fighting beasts, she gave Shang information about different metals. Sadly, the deal hadn't been relevant for very long since Shang had managed to upgrade his sword very soon after their first meeting.

It was Sarah.

Shang had met them occasionally about a year ago during class, but their power wasn't enough to rival the strongest students in the class, which was why Shang hadn't fought them in forever.

As soon as their powers had diverged, they hadn't talked much anymore. Shang's refusal to spend time with others also didn't help.

In the end, they had only been classmates, and that was it.

Elver looked at Shang with a polite expression while Sarah looked at him with furrowed brows.

"This is him!" Astor said with a bright smile as he stopped beside Shang.

Elver walked up to Shang and performed a small, polite bow as a greeting. "Nice to meet you. My name's Elver, and I'm the runner of the team. Thank you for helping us today!" he said in a charismatic but polite voice.

Shang lifted an eyebrow while Astor tried to suppress a smile.

'Astor didn't tell them, huh?'

Shang looked at Elver. 'I guess he didn't recognize me. Well, I can't fault him. I changed a lot over the last year. Even Sword gained a couple hundred kilos, maybe even tons.'

Shang threw a look at Astor, who acted like he didn't see Shang's look.

A second later, Elver was pushed out of the way as Sarah stopped in front of Shang, looking deeply into his eyes with an evaluating expression.

"Sarah, I'm the flex," she said.

Then, she offered her hand to Shang.

Even though it had been years since Shang had been on Earth, the reflex of shaking an offered hand was still ingrained in him. As a professional athlete, Shang had needed to shake so many hands of so many managers, promoters, clerks, fans, and so on.

Shang put his own hand into Sarah's hand and shook.

But at that moment, Shang felt Sarah tighten her grip with what seemed to be all of her power.

At that moment, Shang knew why Sarah was doing this, and it also explained why she had looked at Shang with furrowed brows earlier.

"Doubtful of my strength?" Shang asked as they shook hands.

A second later, Sarah pulled her hand back. "Not anymore," she said. "I apologize for my rude behavior, but I became doubtful of your strength when I saw how young you were. You should understand that this concerns our lives, and we can't take any chances here."

Shang nodded. "Understandable. You always were very skeptical of things."

Sarah furrowed her brows in a displeased expression while Elver looked at Shang with a weird look.

"Why don't you introduce yourself?" Astor asked with a bright smile as he leaned on Shang's shoulder.

"Do I know you?" Sarah asked with an annoyed voice.

"I'm Shang," Shang said.

For a second, Elver and Sarah didn't react.

They had heard that name before.

And then, they remembered that young kid that had become incredibly powerful in only a bit more than a year.

"The one from the academy?" Elver asked from the side with surprise.

"Is there a second person in this world with such a weird name?" Shang asked.

At that moment, Elver chuckled. "No, I guess not," he said. "Man, it's been forever since we saw each other. One year ago, we saw each other nearly every day in class, and then, bam, you were gone after the Day of Chaos. I thought you died!"

Shang put on a smile, which looked a bit awkward since he smiled so rarely. "I've been busy with one mission after the other. I returned to the academy just yesterday, which was when I ran into Astor."

"Oh, that explains things," Elver said. "I guess someone with your workaholic personality would go missing just to take on one mission after the other without a break."

"Say, why did you decide to become an Early General Stage warrior already? Are you not afraid of ruining your Battle-Strength?" Elver asked.

"My Battle-Strength is not a problem," Shang answered vaguely.

At that moment, Sarah walked past Shang. "Have you guys talked enough? We have to get going. I don't want to spend all day reminiscing about the past."

Sarah's voice sounded even more annoyed than usual, which meant that she was in a genuinely bad mood.

Shang only looked at her as she left them behind.

At the side, Astor sighed. "You hurt her, you know?" he said.

When Shang heard that, his mind went wild with possibilities.

Hurt her?

Because he had left for so long without saying goodbye?

Shang was sure that they weren't friends. They didn't even talk a lot back then.

Wait, was she romantically interested in him?

Shang furrowed his brows as he looked at the leaving Sarah.

"Shang," Astor said with a sigh. "You know, you can't just break a woman's heart like that."

Shang became a bit more nervous as he heard Astor's words.

"Why did you decide to hurt her by becoming that much more powerful than her? You were her target, and she worked herself to the bone to catch up to you for the last year. And now, you're here, at the Early General Stage with great Battle-Strength."

Shang's nervousness transformed into annoyance.

That was when Astor exploded into laughter.

Chapter 252 Flying

Everyone followed after Sarah with different expressions.

Shang was annoyed.

Astor was laughing.

Elver only helplessly smiled from the side.

The four of them passed some guards as they climbed the wall at the eastern side of Warrior's Paradise. Shang could also see several other teams in front and behind them, and he also noticed that basically all of them were at the General Stage.

The three of them caught up with Sarah while they were still climbing the wall.

"You seem rather annoyed at meeting me again," Shang commented from behind Sarah.

"Yes," Sarah answered directly, "but I'm not annoyed at you but at myself. Seeing your current power shows me that I have been slacking off for the last year. I thought that I had already put my everything into becoming more powerful, but apparently, I was mistaken."

'She doesn't sound like she's lying,' Shang thought.

"Why aren't you in the General Stage grade in the academy?" Shang asked. "With your hardworking personality, you should have easily been accepted."

"I declined," Sarah answered.

This surprised Shang.

"Why?"

"Because joining the General Stage grade means focusing completely on becoming a Commander Stage warrior, and that is not what I want," Sarah said.

"Then, what do you want?" Shang asked.

"I want to become a powerful blacksmith."

Shang raised an eyebrow. "Is there a specific reason behind that decision?"

"Future," Sarah answered as the four of them reached the top of the wall. "There are only a few blacksmiths that can make weapons for Commander Stage warriors and none that can create weapons for True Path Stage warriors."

"I want to become a True Path Stage warrior, which is why I joined the Caterpillar Class in the first place. However, what am I supposed to do without a weapon when I reach my goal? That's why I'm focusing on smithing."

Sarah's words immediately reminded Shang of his first conversation with the God.

The very reason why the God had given Shang Sword was so that he didn't need to blaze two new paths at once.

In a certain sense, Sarah was trying to do exactly that, even if her goal was "only" the True Path Stage.

Even the God believed that this was too much for Shang, which was why he helped him in that regard.

Yet, Sarah wanted to do it regardless.

Shang only looked at her with an uncomfortable expression. He felt a bit bad for her since she was comparing herself to Shang, which was not a fair comparison at all.

Shang had the help of the God, the Dean, and Duke Whirlwind.

"You know, the reason why I am as strong as I am now is because of the help of several powerful people," Shang explained. "Without their help, I wouldn't even feel comfortable reaching the Early General Stage."

"What are you trying to say with that?" Sarah asked with annoyance as everyone queued up near the edge of the wall.

"What I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't compare yourself to me since you probably don't have the luxury of having so many powerful people helping you. You are already better than me if I didn't have so much help."

Sarah didn't even look at Shang as she stood in the queue. "So? So what if you have powerful people helping you? Strength is strength. The way you obtained your strength is irrelevant. If we were to fight to the death, I would still die to you. The source of your strength is irrelevant."

Shang sighed. 'Her outlook is painfully realistic and result-oriented.'

"Hey," Elver said from behind Shang. "So, what happened over the last year? I want to know."

Shang wanted to answer, but Sarah talked over him before he could say anything. "Quiet! We are about to start our hunt. You can talk about these things after we return. I won't allow anyone to dedicate valuable concentration to having a conversation about irrelevant topics in my team!"

Shang lifted an eyebrow while Elver only sighed. "Sure thing, boss."

Shang looked at Astor, who only helplessly shrugged.

Astor had told Shang that he actually wasn't the leader of his hunting team and that he also wasn't the strongest.

'Well, now it's obvious who the leader is,' Shang thought as he looked at Sarah's back. 'But honestly, it's really impressive that Sarah managed to overtake Astor in power while still focusing on blacksmithing.'

'If she actually had a strong backer, how powerful would she be right now?'

Except for Mattheo, Sarah was probably the most hardworking person Shang had ever met.

Everyone fell into silence as Sarah talked to a guard that had approached her. She handed over a sack of gold, and the guard took out eight talismans.

Sarah took the talismans and gave two to each member of the team.

After a minute of waiting, it was finally their turn.

The four of them stepped towards the edge of the wall, and Shang looked down.

He was really high up, and Shang could see for kilometers upon kilometers into the distance.

"Follow me," Sarah said.

And then, she jumped off the wall.

Shang took a deep breath. He had faced death multiple times, but he still felt nervous when he thought about jumping off such a gigantic cliff.

But two seconds later, Shang also jumped off.

Shang tried to calm himself down while falling, and he kept his eyes on Sarah.

A second later, Shang saw Sarah take hold of one of the talismans and destroy it.

A green, ethereal shroud left her back, and the direction of her fall was changed. Instead of falling straight down, her momentum was changed into a diagonal one.

Shang also broke one of his talismans, and the same happened to him.

The two behind Shang did the same, and at that moment, all four of them were gliding over the Wasteland.

The sun had just poked over the horizon, and the team of four was seemingly flying towards it in silence.

No one spoke a word.

Shang was currently over two kilometers high in the air.

Below him was a seemingly endless wasteland.

Above him was the blue sky.

In front of him was the morning sun.

Behind him was the terrifying and imposing fortress that was Warrior's Paradise.

As Shang looked at his surroundings, he didn't know what he was feeling right now.

'It's almost like I'm flying,' he thought. 'This is what Duke Whirlwind can do whenever he wants, and he can actually, truly fly.'

'I've been on a couple of planes on Earth, but this is completely different.'

For a while, Shang only looked at the sky and the ground without thinking anything.

Silence.

'I also want to fly in the future.'

Chapter 253 The Caves

After a couple of minutes, everyone landed on a hill. Right now, everyone was around ten kilometers away from Warrior's Paradise.

Shang had only been in the Wasteland twice before in his life. Both of the times had been during the night, and his teacher had accompanied him. That was so that Shang wouldn't forget how to fight beasts while he was slowly adapting to his Zero persona.

Today was the first time Shang was in the Wasteland during the peak hours for hunting.

From Warrior's Paradise, the Wasteland had seemed incredibly busy, but now that he was here, he felt like there were no other humans around, except for his team, of course.

The closest humans were over a kilometer away, and they were silently walking in a seemingly random direction.

Shang could also see some beasts, but most of them were embroiled in a battle. Naturally, there were also beasts that weren't fighting humans, but those beasts were mostly either on the blacklist or at the later levels of the General Stage.

"There's an entrance to the Caves over there," Sarah said as she pointed towards the east.

Shang looked over and saw a crater. That was probably the entrance.

After that, Sarah led everyone to the east. It didn't take long for them to arrive near the entrance, and they didn't come across any beasts.

This was the reason for using the talismans. Without them, they would have all needed to get here on foot. Sure, the distance wasn't great to them, but the chances were high that some powerful beast would be in their way, which would require them to move around it in an arc.

Even though the distance of the entrance wasn't very far from Warrior's Paradise, it would have still taken them nearly two hours to traverse if they wanted to be careful.

"You go first, Shang," Sarah ordered. "It's your job to check if everything is safe for us."

Shang nodded and jumped into the huge hole.

BOOOOM!

Shang landed in the cave after some seconds of falling, creating a loud explosion of dirt and earth around him. After all, his body was very heavy. Shang's joints creaked, but he wasn't really injured.

Shang quickly looked around the dark cave. Luckily, the eyes of a General Stage warrior could see clearly, even in nearly perfect darkness.

He saw an ominously circular cave around him made of sand, stone, and dirt. The smooth walls and straight corridors definitely hadn't been naturally formed, but Shang knew about that already.

What were the Caves?

About 200 years ago, the Storm Eagle Zone hadn't belonged to the humans yet. The reason for that was the second Zone Beast.

Second Zone Beast? There could be two Zone Beasts in one Zone?

Well, not entirely.

The underground had acted as a second Zone, which had belonged to the Ancestor Queen.

The Ancestor Queen had been a gigantic insect that birthed a ridiculous number of powerful insects.

According to legend, the Ancestor Queen had been over 50 kilometers below the ground.

Back then, the beasts from the Storm Eagle Zone and the beasts from the Ancestor Queen Zone had been in constant war.

Wind versus Earth.

Gigantic insects would come out of their humongous nest and invade the Storm Eagle Zone, while the beasts of the Storm Eagle Zone went into the nest to kill the insects, but only on the highest layers.

Humanity wasn't sure how long that war had been going on.

And then, 200 years ago, the number of powerful insects diminished. At some point, no insect above the Commander Stage left their nest anymore.

The True Path Stage beasts and stronger from the Storm Eagle Zone had never been interested in entering the nest, which resulted in some kind of peace.

It had always been the insects that attacked the surface, not the other way around.

The beasts on the surface were only interested in defending themselves and eating, while the insects had been interested in conquering.

That was when the Old King of the Skythunder Kingdom became active.

He saw his chance and invaded the nest with the strongest Mages.

Why?

To give his people more land to live on.

The Old King had always been a very altruistic person.

It took over 50 years, but eventually, the humans managed to kill every insect in the Caves. Of course, only the King himself could deal with the beasts in the Fifth Realm.

And then, they found the Ancestor Queen.

She was dead.

Her entire corpse had been fried, and it had still been preserved due to her robust exoskeleton.

The soldiers and advisors asked the King what had happened, but the King had only told them that they didn't need to know. However, he assured them that there was nothing to worry about.

And that was that.

The gigantic nest below the Storm Eagle Zone had been emptied of all beasts.

And the Caves?

They were simply the desecrated corpse of the nest, the former Ancestor Queen Zone.

Over the years, it became the home of many beasts with Earth Affinities.

Ever wondered how the humans could kill so many beasts without completely decimating the ecosystem?

This was the reason.

The Wild Forest created new General Stage beasts for the Wasteland, but the Caves produced even more.

The Exploding Mountain Turtle had also come from here.

As far as humanity knew, there were no beasts of the Fifth Realm in the Caves, but there were several True Path Stage beasts.

The deeper one went into the Caves, the more powerful the beasts would become. Of course, the beasts would also become more powerful the further south one went. After all, the Canyon was above that part, and there were a lot of Commander Stage beasts.

Originally, there had also been entrances to the Caves at the northern end of the Storm Eagle Zone, the place where the Wild Forest and the Farm Line were, but humanity had closed these entrances to allow weaker beasts to thrive in the north.

Shang knew all of this from his time at the academy.

"It's safe," Shang shouted.

Some seconds later, Sarah also jumped down.

BANG!

Sarah landed, and the sounds of breaking bones could be heard.

Sarah only furrowed her brows as she sat down to focus her Mana on healing her broken legs.

It was very difficult to climb on these brittle and smooth walls, and ironically, it was more dangerous to climb instead of jump.

When one jumped, one could still control their fall.

When one fell while climbing, one might hit the ground, abdomen or head first.

BANG!

Astor landed next, and his legs were also smashed to pieces. His heavy sword definitely didn't help him in this case.

Astor only grunted and also sat down to heal.

BANG!

Then, it was Elver's turn.

"Fuck!" Elver shouted through gritted teeth. "I hate going through this every time!"

"Shut up," Sarah ordered with a cold voice. "If there weren't such a painful and heavy fall, there would be far more teams at the Initial General Stage down here."

Sarah was right.

This was one of the entrances with the smallest fall, and it still broke the legs of Initial General Stage warriors.

Warriors at the Early General Stage would only break their bones occasionally at this place, depending on how they landed and how heavy their gear was.

Only warriors at the Mid General Stage could fall down here without being injured.

After a couple of minutes, everyone was back at their peak condition.

"Let's go," Sarah ordered.

Chapter 254 Professional Hunting

Shang walked behind the other three, who scouted the surroundings. The Caves had a very confusing layout, but Sarah had several sheets of paper in her hands, which acted as interconnected maps.

An accurate map was very expensive, but it gave the teams the ability to hunt in the Caves, which was worth the investment.

After some minutes of walking through some confusing tunnels, Shang noticed something. The thick Darkness Mana in the Caves avoided one spot at the ceiling of one of the tunnels, which most likely meant that a different source of Mana that Shang couldn't feel was pushing the Darkness Mana away with its own Mana.

In short, it was a beast.

Shang looked up and saw the beast.

'Crack Spider,' Shang thought when he saw it.

A Crack Spider was a big, armored spider with an Earth Affinity, and it was famous for dropping down on its prey and killing it with its weight.

However, Shang didn't say anything. Crack Spiders were mostly at the Initial General Stage, and since they were ambush predators, they weren't the strongest beasts in a head-on clash. One could say that this beast was a perfect opponent for the team of hunters.

"The Wind Mana isn't flowing as fluently as before anymore," Elver suddenly said with furrowed brows.

At the General Stage, basically every warrior could feel their surroundings as long as a certain amount of Mana of their Affinity was present.

Elver had a Wind Affinity, and a lot of the Wind Mana from the surface also entered the Caves. After all, there was no other Zone Beast present to counteract the Wind Mana with its own Mana.

"Astor," Sarah said.

Astor nodded and summoned a bucket-load of water in front of him, which wasn't very difficult considering that Astor had a Water Affinity.

After that, Astor took out a small stick and poked the water.

SSHHH!

After the stick poked the water, it turned into steam and scattered over the entire cave they were currently in.

Astor closed his eyes to focus.

"The ceiling," he said as he looked up.

Shang nodded when he saw the teamwork. 'Elver is responsible for general scouting, and Astor is responsible for specific scouting.'

"Crack Spider," Sarah said as she readied her hammer. "This shouldn't be difficult. Elver, get to it."

Elver nodded, and he took out his two rapiers.

After that, he walked forward while looking at the Crack Spider.

Shortly before he reached the spot below it, it let go of the ceiling and dropped.

Elver immediately jumped back and fled.

And a second later…

BOOOOOM!

The heavy spider landed on the ground.

"HUUUAAARGH!"

Astor shouted with all his power and slashed forward with his gigantic sword.

CRK!

His heavy sword broke through the spider's thick armor, but it got stuck halfway-buried in its abdomen.

The spider quickly turned around in panic and tried to bite Astor, but Astor had already jumped away again.

After jumping back, Astor jumped to the side, and the spider's eyes followed him. It judged Astor to be the most dangerous opponent.

An instant later, it jumped towards Astor to bite him.

Astor put his sword sideways in front of him and leaned against it.

BANG!

Astor was pushed away by the spider, but his sword protected him from the Crack Spider's deadly fangs.

BOOOOM!

Suddenly, the Crack Spider jumped to the side in pain and panic, nearly falling to the ground.

Sarah had just attacked one of its legs.

The armor of the leg had exploded off, and the leg broke.

Shang nodded. 'Blunt force is very effective against armored targets.'

Before the Crack Spider could recover, Elver appeared in front of it and tried to stab its head.

Out of reflex, the spider jumped away again, but Elver did the same.

Elver never hit the spider, but he wasn't supposed to hit it.

He was supposed to gain its attention by constantly threatening its eyes.

A beast's instinct was to protect its eyes, and since beasts weren't very good at resisting their instincts, such a barrage of attacks often resulted in them fleeing one time after the other.

CRACK!

Sarah broke another leg, and the spider quickly focused on her.

It turned to her and tried to attack her, but just an instant later, it felt a wave of pain coming from its abdomen.

Astor had hit the same spot again, and a gigantic cut had been left behind on the spider's abdomen.

The spider's organs were falling out of its abdomen, and it panicked, doing everything in its power to flee.

Shang continued watching as the three of them essentially played with the spider until it finally died.

'They're doing their jobs very well. As the Runner, Elver always tries to get the beast's attention without committing to an attack. As the Buster, Astor's responsibility is to kill the beast with his powerful attacks. As the Flex, Sarah acts as either role depending on the situation.'

'Since the Crack Spider is a slow but heavily armored beast, Sarah didn't need to act as a second Runner, allowing her to focus on crippling it.'

The Flex position was one of the hardest and most sought-after positions in any hunter team. A team didn't necessarily need a Flex position, but having a good Flex meant having two people instead of one.

The Flex position required someone to be fast enough to evade a beast's attack but also powerful enough to severely injure beasts, making it useful in every situation.

For example, if a beast focused on Astor, the Buster, Astor would basically be useless since he could, at most, block one attack. If the beast unleashed a second attack, Astor would most likely receive heavy injuries or die.

If a beast ignored Elver, Elver wouldn't be able to injure the beast due to his weak but fast weapons, making him useless.

Busters and Runners needed each other to be useful.

Without a Buster, the Runner would eventually die.

Without a Runner, the Buster wouldn't get any opportunity to damage the opponent, which would also mean that they would eventually die.

However, a Flex was always useful.

If the beast focused on a Flex, they could run away and act as a runner, giving the Buster their opportunity to damage the beast.

If the beast ignored a Flex, they could severely injure the beast like a Buster.

Sarah, as the Flex, was the very reason why this team could hunt with only three people because she was essentially worth as much as two people.

After the Crack Spider finally died, Elver investigated the corpse.

"We lost some of the organs, but most of its armor is still in one piece. I estimate that it is worth about 1,400 gold," Elver said.

Sarah nodded and put the beast into her Space Ring.

Proven members of the Hunting Guild received special Space Rings for their work. These Space Rings had more room, and they specialized in carrying corpses.

Of course, the members didn't own these Space Rings but only used them as part of their work. Every Space Ring had Magic Circles on it that allowed the Hunting Guild to track its whereabouts in case the hunter died or tried to steal it. They also had to be handed in at the end of the day.

"That's enough to pay for the talismans several times over. We already made a profit," Sarah said.

Then, she gestured to another tunnel. "The day is still young, and my Space Ring has space for four more beasts. Let's get going."

Chapter 255 Conflict

The team continued going forward into the next tunnel to get to their next prey, but coming here had already been worth it.

On the surface, the team often needed hours of scouting and watching to find an Initial General Stage beast that wasn't already busy fighting something else or being hunted by a more powerful beast.

But down here, they had already found a valuable beast in a couple of minutes.

Of course, the tradeoff was the danger and the initial investment needed for being able to hunt here.

On the surface, there were more humans than beasts, but down in the Caves, there were more beasts than humans.

And the best part?

There were no Trash Birds down here!

After walking for another five minutes, everyone stopped, but this time, it wasn't due to Elver.

"Early General Stage beast," Shang said from behind them.

The team turned around in surprise. "I don't feel anything," Elver said. "How can you tell? Your Ice Affinity should be useless in terms of scouting down here."

Sarah looked with furrowed brows at Shang while Astor only scratched the back of his head in uncertainty.

"Can't you smell it?" Shang asked.

Elver moved his nose around in the air to see if he could smell something. "Not really," he said.

"Doesn't it sting a little?" Shang asked.

"Well, sure, but isn't that because of the decomposing corpses?" Elver asked.

"Then why didn't you smell that earlier?" Shang asked.

"Ehm," Elver tried to say something, but he didn't really know what to say.

"What are you trying to say?" Sarah asked Shang.

"Adult Swamp Millipede," Shang said.

This surprised the team.

An adult Swamp Millipede?

Here?

Sarah furrowed her brows.

They had jumped off the eastern end of Warrior's Paradise and had flown for over ten kilometers. Then, they had entered the caves and had walked further east.

The Empress Cobra Zone should only be a couple of kilometers further to the east.

It wasn't too unreasonable for a stray Swamp Millipede to come here.

"Elver, you scout ahead, but be careful," Sarah said. "Only confirm if the Swamp Millipede is there or not. Don't engage. Don't risk your life."

Elver didn't like this task at all, but he begrudgingly complied.

He was the best person for the job since he could feel the changes in the air with his Affinity. He wasn't able to feel the other kinds of Mana, but he could certainly feel it when some kind of poison or corrosive gas was in the surroundings.

Elver slowly and carefully went ahead.

Then, a couple of minutes of silence passed.

BANG!

Everyone heard the sound of a distant explosion, and they readied themselves for battle.

However, over the next two seconds, they didn't hear another loud sound, which made them relax.

If Elver had been spotted, they would hear the heavy beast chase him.

A couple seconds later, Elver returned.

His face was white, but a wide grin could be seen on his face.

In his hands, he carried some sludge which calmly sizzled.

Sarah nodded and put the sludge into her Space Ring.

Then, she took out the map and marked the cave in front of them on it.

"Good job bringing back proof," Sarah said. "That should give us another 400 gold."

"Man, I almost thought I died when I retrieved the sludge," Elver said with a sigh. Then, he turned to Shang. "Honestly, if you didn't tell me that there was an adult Swamp Millipede, I wouldn't have noticed it."

"The thing was buried into one of the walls, and the only sign of it being there was a big black spot. I would have totally overlooked that part."

Elver scratched the back of his head. "I wanted to go back, but then I thought it would be a waste to just leave like that. Information and proof of Swamp Millipedes are worth 400 gold. So, I went ahead and scooped out a part of the soil."

"But then, the huge thing poked its head out and looked around. It probably felt something," Elver said with some shivers.

"How did you manage to escape?" Astor asked, captivated by the story.

"I clung to the wall above it," Elver said nervously. "I was betting on it not looking up."

Then, Elver smiled excitedly. "And I bet correctly!"

"Nice job!" Astor said, hitting Elver's shoulder.

"No," Sarah said with narrowed eyes. "That was not a nice job."

Astor and Elver looked at Sarah with raised eyebrows.

"You went into a dangerous situation alone against an opponent above our class. For what? For 400 gold?" Sarah said, repressed anger in her voice.

At that point, Sarah summoned the sludge Elver had handed over.

And threw it against the wall.

"Hey, hey!" Elver shouted in panic as he looked at the destroyed sludge.

"I won't accept something like this!" Sarah said with a cold voice and narrowed eyes. "Your lives are worth more than 400 gold, and I will not encourage nor condone putting your life at risk for that!"

"Sarah, you didn't need to destroy it," Astor said with a frown.

"Yes, I did need to do that," Sarah said, not backing down. "If I accept this now, you won't learn! What about the next time? You see something that's worth some gold, and I'm not there to stop you. You know that you shouldn't risk it, but you want the gold. So what if I get angry? Just do it anyway and get the gold."

"The only way I can stop you from doing something this stupid again in the future is to nullify the reward! Not even you would take a risk if there were zero rewards!" Sarah nearly shouted.

Elver gritted his teeth. "I almost gave my life for that, and you just destroy it?!" he shouted angrily.

"Exactly that is the problem! You almost gave your life for that!" Sarah shouted with a cold and imposing voice.

Elver didn't seem calm at all right now. "I risk my life, and you step on the thing I risked my life for like it's worthless! How could you do something like that?! I thought we were friends!"

"I am your leader, not your friend!" Sarah shouted.

Silence.

Astor looked with discomfort at the two, while Elver seemed ready to explode in anger.

"My job is to ensure your survival," Sarah said with a calmer voice. "I will not allow nor reward such needless risks in my team."

Then, Sarah took her things and readied herself. "Now, we will continue on the hunt. For this hunt, I am still the leader, and you will follow what I say. If you have a problem with my leadership, you may talk to me after we are back in Warrior's Paradise. This is not a safe place for this discussion."

Shang could hear Elver's teeth grind on each other from several meters away.

Astor put his hand on Elver's shoulder and slowly shook his head.

Elver's body shook, but then he jerked away from Astor and walked forward.

"Let's go," he said quietly with a very noticeable angry tinge to his voice.

Astor sighed as Sarah nodded.

Then, Sarah turned to Shang. "Well done finding the Swamp Millipede."

Shang only nodded.

Shang hadn't actually smelled the Swamp Millipede. After all, he wasn't some superhuman nor a dog.

He had simply found it by feeling its Darkness Mana.

And a moment later, the team continued walking down a different tunnel.

Chapter 256 Who?

The team continued walking, but the entire atmosphere had changed.

Earlier, the team felt professional, calm, and collected.

Now, there was anger and hostility in the air.

Over the next hour, Shang found another Early General Stage beast and made the team avoid it.

Then, they finally found the next Initial General Stage beast.

Even though there was hostility in the air, the teamwork was still impeccable, and everyone did their job.

The only difference was the lack of communication after the beast was dead.

Astor tried to lift the spirits of everyone, but he was mostly ignored.

In the end, Astor could only sigh and wait for the hunt to be over.

Two hours later, the team had hunted two more beasts, leaving only one spot open in Sarah's Space Ring.

This was an insanely profitable day for them.

Even with Shang's share, they had all earned several days' worth of gold in these couple of hours.

Hunting in the Caves was dangerous but very profitable.

Sarah decided that the team would walk back. If they met another beast on their journey, great, but if they didn't, it would also be okay. Being too greedy and going further away from their exit was a recipe for disaster.

The team avoided a couple of beasts on their way back, and everything was proceeding smoothly.

That was, until a certain moment.

Shang's eyes suddenly narrowed. "You run back!" Shang shouted as he took out his big sword. "It's time for me to do my job."

Elver and Astor looked with confusion and surprise at Shang while Sarah narrowed her eyes.

"You heard him!" Sarah shouted as she accelerated. "Move it!"

As Sarah left, Elver and Astor looked nervously at Shang.

Then, they felt vibrations coming from the ground.

This meant that something heavy was running in their direction!

"Don't worry. I'm confident," Shang said calmly.

Astor and Elver nodded when they heard Shang's voice and followed Sarah.

Three seconds later, everyone had left the tunnel where Shang was in.

And the beast arrived.

Shang had felt the beast approach, but he hadn't been sure what exactly it was until he saw it.

And when he saw it, he frowned.

'Great, that thing's on the blacklist,' Shang thought with annoyance.

A gigantic, yellowish-brown ball was rolling up a slope towards Shang. No one would think that this thing was a beast since the ball was way too smooth.

However, Shang knew what it was.

Tunnel Pangolin.

Tunnel Pangolins were beasts with an Earth Affinity. They were famous for turning into a ball and rolling over their opponents with their hard exterior and heavy weight.

The reason why the Tunnel Pangolins were on the blacklist was that they kept the tunnels smooth and hard. They essentially were responsible for keeping the Caves from collapsing. On top of that, they didn't like humans very much and tried to avoid them. Lastly, they also loved snacking on Swamp Millipedes.

It was no wonder that this thing was on the blacklist with so many benefits to the environment.

When Shang saw that it was a Tunnel Pangolin, he jumped back to block the entrance of the tunnel his team had fled into.

Then, Shang took out his sword and punched its side.

CLIIIIINNNGGG!

His sword vibrated loudly, the sound echoing throughout the Caves.

The Tunnel Pangolin heard the noise and turned back into its normal form in an instant. The transformation was incredibly smooth and fast.

The Tunnel Pangolin was very susceptible to the sound of metal.

Why?

Because human hunters always used metal as their weapons.

The sound of ringing metal most likely meant that humans were near.

As soon as the Tunnel Pangolin turned back into its normal form, it looked around and noticed Shang.

Then, it turned into a ball again and rolled down a different tunnel.

Shang looked on as the Tunnel Pangolin fled down a different tunnel with furrowed brows.

'It seemed to be in quite a hurry. If it were hunting, it wouldn't waste so much energy rolling at such speeds up a slope. It would climb the slope with its feet instead.'

'Was it afraid of something?'

At that moment, Shang felt something else come from the tunnel the Tunnel Pangolin had just come from, and that something was giving off a kind of murky Darkness Mana.

It wasn't pure Darkness Mana, which meant that this thing didn't have a pure Darkness Affinity. It probably had a Mixed Affinity that included Darkness.

Shang's eyes narrowed when he felt the Mana.

That thing was absorbing quite a bit of Darkness Mana.

Some seconds later, Shang saw the thing reach the top of the slope, and it stopped at the entrance of the tunnel where Shang was currently.

It scanned the tunnel for a bit and then focused on Shang.

"They're gone. Good."

Yes, it was a human.

At the entrance of the tunnel stood a man with black hair and purple robes. His eyes seemed to be emotionless and bored.

And beside the man…

Hovered a Focus.

Based on context clues, Shang could very quickly make a rough profile of this man.

'Poison Affinity Mid Adept.'

Shang narrowed his eyes.

Something inside him told him that this man was not here to exchange greetings.

Shang also remembered what the man had just said.

Did he scare the Tunnel Pangolin so that Shang and his team would be forced to split up?

But why?

What did that guy want?

"Took me nearly six months to find you," the man commented evenly. "It was almost like you vanished, Shang."

"What do you want?" Shang asked with narrowed eyes.

The man stopped about thirty meters away from Shang.

Then, his Focus began to shine.

It had already prepared a Spell!

"You angered someone you shouldn't have," the Adept said.

Shang furrowed his brows.

He had angered someone?

And it had happened over six months ago?

At that time, Shang had been training with the Dean in preparation for his mission in the battlefield.

So, it must have happened before the procedure had even happened.

However, Shang couldn't think about anyone he might have angered.

He had mostly acted completely alone, and he hadn't killed many humans back then.

The only humans he had killed had been the beggar bandits, but they obviously didn't have the means to employ a Mid Adept with a Focus to deal with him.

"Would you kindly drop dead?" the Adept asked.

And then, his Focus fired its Spell at Shang.

Chapter 257 Poison Adept

BANG!

Shang immediately used his left arm to shoot himself to his right.

Just an instant later, a bullet of purple sludge hit the place where Shang had just been. There had been enough sludge to cover Shang's entire body.

SSSSSSSSS!

A violent and high-pitched sizzling noise came from the sludge as it burned a hole into the ground.

Shang gritted his teeth. 'This is troublesome. The Spells of Poison Mages aren't very fast, but they are extremely effective against humans.'

Why were they so effective?

Well, what could the protective Magic Circle on Shang's uniform do against that?

Nothing.

Whenever Shang had fought Mages, he had always had his uniform to rely on, and he had definitely used the Magic Circles to his advantage in the past.

This wouldn't work against the Poison Adept.

This Spell was called Sludge Bolt, and if Shang got hit by it, he would definitely die.

The Poison Adept raised an eyebrow when he saw that Shang had evaded.

He hadn't expected that at all.

His target, Shang, was supposed to be a newly advanced Initial General Stage warrior. His speed shouldn't have been fast enough to evade the Sludge Bolt.

Sure, the Poison Adept had noticed that Shang had somehow reached the Early General Stage already, but that still shouldn't have been enough to evade the Sludge Bolt.

The Poison Adept was a Mid Adept. He was an entire level above this warrior.

Yet, this warrior managed to evade a Spell that came from a Mage an entire level above him?

This was very unusual. Many people would even say that this was impossible.

However, the Poison Adept didn't panic.

So what if his target evaded a Sludge Bolt? He would just need to use different Spells.

BANG!

Shang charged toward the Adept with all his speed as he readied his sword.

The Poison Adept began to chant a different Spell.

Shang reached the enemy very quickly since there hadn't been much distance between them. After all, they weren't fighting in the open but inside the Caves.

BANG!

Shang's heavy sword hit the Poison Adept's Mana Shield and bounced off.

The Poison Adept's eyebrows rose in surprise.

That was a lot of Mana that had just been used up!

'Doesn't matter,' the Poison Adept thought.

A second later, his Spell was finished, and his hand pointed at Shang.

Shang's eyes shone.

Thanks to Vice-Dean Ranos' thorough lessons, Shang knew exactly what kind of Spell this was.

"You can die now," the Poison Adept said calmly.

BANG!

Shang's legs exploded with Ice, and he jumped upwards with all his power.

Not a moment too soon.

An instant later, a gigantic wave of purple water exited the Poison Adept's Mana Shield and swept throughout the entire cave.

Sludge Wave.

That was the name of the Spell.

It cost several times more Mana than Sludge Bolt, but it was basically unavoidable by anyone close to the Mage.

Sure, Mages could use Mana Step to get away, but Sludge Wave wasn't designed to deal with Mages.

It was a Spell specifically created to kill large groups of warriors.

Shang barely managed to avoid the Sludge Wave with his Ice Blast and kept flying upward.

CLINK!

As Shang hit the ceiling, he buried his sword into it in a diagonal manner, allowing him to hang from it.

If the Tunnel Pangolins hadn't hardened the walls over this many years, the ceiling would have crumbled under Shang's weight.

Shang gritted his teeth as his breathing stopped.

The poisonous gas coming from below him was burning his skin and even a bit of his insides.

If just the poisonous gas was already this deadly, how deadly would the sludge itself be?

The Poison Adept looked calmly at Shang.

He hadn't expected him to evade the Sludge Wave, but this was not an issue.

The many brilliant Mages that had designed this Spell over the years wouldn't overlook such a simple counter as jumping.

If jumping worked, the Spell would basically be useless.

Shang looked at the sea of poison below him with narrowed eyes.

The sludge wouldn't vanish for over half a minute.

So what if a warrior jumped?

As long as they couldn't fly, they would still land in the sludge.

At that moment, the Poison Adept's Focus began to shine.

It had finished preparing its Spell.

An instant later, a Sludge Bolt shot at Shang.

BANG!

Shang pulled out his sword, fell for a bit, and unleashed another Ice Blast with his left arm.

BANG!

Then, Shang landed on one of the walls of the tunnel and hung from there.

At the place where Shang had just been, the Sludge Bolt hit the ceiling, and the ceiling began to vanish at that place. A big part of the sludge also fell to the ground, leaving behind purple gas.

The Poison Adept frowned with annoyance.

Then, his Focus had readied another Spell.

Another Sludge Bolt later, and Shang hung on a different part of the ceiling.

"How long are you planning on keeping this up?" the Adept asked as he shot another Sludge Bolt from his Focus.

"You do know that I am recovering Mana right now? Casting Spells with a Focus doesn't consume any of my Mana."

BANG!

Shang avoided another Sludge Bolt. This had been the seventh one.

By now, Shang's entire body was steaming. He had used different parts of his body to use Ice Blast to evade, and he was at his limit.

"Do you actually know how fast an Adept recovers Mana?" the Poison Adept asked with annoyance as he shot another Sludge Bolt.

"By the time the effects of the Sludge Wave end, I have recovered all the Mana I expended."

"This will continue indefinitely, and you will eventually die."

BANG!

Another Sludge Bolt hit the place where Shang had just been.

"Or do you plan to escape into a different tunnel?" the Poison Adept asked.

As the Poison Adept shot another Sludge Bolt at Shang, he looked at the other entrances.

If Shang truly managed to escape, it could become troublesome.

"Well, how about I make the other tunnels collapse?" the Poison Adept said with a smirk.

The Focus continued shooting at Shang with Sludge Bolts as the Adept readied another Sludge Wave.

WHOOOM!

Another Sludge Wave left the Poison Adept's Mana Shield. A huge part of the wave filled the tunnel even more with sludge as some of the wave washed over one of the entrances.

The walls and ceiling of one of the entrances began to sizzle until…

BOOOOM!

The entrance collapsed.

At that moment, the Poison Adept got another idea.

"How about we make a poison sea?" he loudly muttered to himself.

Shortly after, the Poison Adept unleashed another Sludge Wave to increase the amount of sludge in the tunnel.

BOOOOM!

Another entrance collapsed.

Crk!

At that moment, the ceiling at Shang's current location gave way, and Shang fell.

The Focus unleashed a Sludge Bolt, and Shang evaded with another Ice Blast, severely burning his left arm.

Shang looked around and noticed that the poisonous gas had severely deteriorated the ceilings and walls.

It became harder and harder for Shang to keep himself above the sea of poison.

On top of that, there was only one entrance left.

At that moment, the Poison Adept seemingly took to the sky as he began to levitate.

However, he didn't actually fly.

It was simply his Mana Shield pushing him up as it isolated him from the poison around him. One could say that the Poison Adept was in the center of a sphere, swimming in a sea of poison.

Some seconds later, the Poison Adept appeared near the last entrance.

"Let's see how you flee now," he said with a smirk.

Shang's eyes narrowed.

"Shang?"

Shang's eyes widened in horror.

He had just heard Astor's voice coming from the last entrance.

The Poison Adept, who stood near that entrance, looked into it and groaned.

"Great, now I have to kill them too. Hope you're happy," he said to Shang with annoyance.

Then Shang heard with horror how the Poison Adept readied another Sludge Wave.

"A human? Who are you?" Shang heard Elver's voice coming from the entrance.

However, the Poison Adept didn't answer.

At least, not until his Sludge Wave was ready.

"Doesn't really matter," the Poison Adept said in a bored tone.

The team looked at the Adept in confusion before they saw the scene behind him.

Their eyes widened in shock, but it was too late.

The Poison Adept unleashed his Sludge Wave.

Chapter 258 Chase

Shang gritted his teeth, not in panic or fear but in frustration.

'Seems like the plan is ruined,' he thought.

"Astor! Water!"

Astor stood beside Sarah and Elver as he heard Shang's shout.

An instant later, a purple wave of sludge left the Poison Adept's Mana Shield and charged toward their team.

For a moment, Astor felt like he was about to die.

A Poison Adept had attacked him!

He knew that he couldn't defend himself from such a Spell.

And then, an orange glow came from behind the Poison Adept.

And a moment later…

BOOOOOOM!

The huge sea of poison in the tunnel and even the wave combusted.

Poison was weak against fire.

The wave of poison that had just doomed everyone had turned into a wave of fire.

But when Astor saw that, his eyes widened.

He could deal with fire!

"DOWN!"

Astor pushed Elver and Sarah to the ground.

A moment later, he used all his Mana to bury the three of them in water.

SSSS!

The water turned into steam in nearly an instant.

BANG!

The Magic Circles on all their uniforms activated on their heads, and the wave of steam and fire pushed past them.

Without the water barrier, the Magic Circle would have been broken by the violent explosion.

But thanks to the water barrier, the Magic Circles managed to hold.

Astor felt the rumbling through the ground, and he realized that the tunnel behind the Poison Mage was collapsing due to the explosion.

'No! Shang!' Astor thought.

The Poison Adept was dumbstruck with shock.

Fire?

His target was supposed to have an Ice Affinity!

Where did all this fire come from?!

Even though everything around the Poison Adept had exploded, his Mana Shield had blocked all of it.

The only thing he had lost was a lot of Mana.

BANG!

Suddenly, the Poison Adept was thrown to the side as a short explosion of black lightning hit his Mana Shield.

'Darkness?!' the Poison Adept thought in terror as a huge chunk of his Mana vanished.

BANG!

The Poison Adept's Mana Shield hit the side of the tunnel, and he turned around.

His eyes widened at what he saw.

It was a desecrated, severely burned, unrecognizable corpse standing beside him.

An instant later, all the burned skin vanished and fell off, and a healthy Shang was revealed beneath it.

At that moment, the Poison Adept felt fear for the first time.

Shang exploded forward and attacked him again.

BANG!

Shang only hit the wall, which collapsed immediately after.

BANG!

Shang's body exploded with Ice Mana as he shot down the tunnel.

He knew that the Poison Adept had just used Mana Step to escape.

BANG!

Shang's legs hit one of the walls as the tunnel made a curve.

BOOOM!

Shang exploded forward with an explosion of fire.

Hot gas and air washed over Shang's body as he exploded down the tunnel.

The retreating Poison Adept turned around, and terror appeared in his heart as he saw how fast Shang was following him.

This speed was ridiculous!

His target was supposed to be a weak Initial General Stage warrior!

He had not signed up for this!

Fuck the intelligence department!

They really screwed up this time!

'Fuck this! I'm not about to die to some shitty warrior!' the Poison Adept thought as he unleashed another Mana Step.

The Poison Adept appeared near the entrance to the Caves that the team of hunters had used.

Then, he quickly took out a talisman. This talisman would shoot him out of the Caves as soon as it got activated.

Boom.

Bang.

The Poison Adept heard the rapidly approaching explosions with terror.

Then, the talisman activated.

Wind Mana gathered around the Poison Adept, and a moment later, he jumped towards the hole above him.

Just before the Poison Adept was about to leave the Caves, he threw one last glance at Shang.

That was when he saw a black wave fill his vision.

'What's that?'

BOOOM!

The wave washed over the Poison Adept's Mana Shield, and the Poison Adept realized with panic that a ton of his Mana had been consumed.

However, that wasn't the most terrifying part.

The Wind Mana around him had vanished!

At that moment, the Poison Adept realized what that wave was.

'A ranged attack with the Darkness Element?!'

The Poison Adept's body halted in the air, and he looked at the hole above him in terror.

Only five more meters!

However, these five meters might as well be five kilometers.

The gap was insurmountable.

And then, the Poison Adept's body began to fall.

In terror, he turned to the entrance of the tunnel.

He saw his target rapidly approach him in the air, parts of his body frozen and other parts burned.

In panic, the Poison Adept released the prepared Sludge Bolt from his Focus and shot it at Shang.

BANG!

The right side of Shang's body exploded with fire, and he was shot to the left, evading the Spell.

BANG!

Shang's feet exploded with ice, and he shot at the Poison Adept again.

The Poison Adept only looked with fear at Shang.

He couldn't evade!

Mana Step was only usable while on the ground!

BANG!

Shang hit the Mana Shield with his sword, and the Poison Adept's body was punched to the wall.

BANG!

A round crater appeared on the wall, but a moment later, the Mana Shield around the Adept vanished.

His Mana was used up!

And an instant later…

BANG!

Shang's body hit the Poison Adept's falling body, burying both of them in the wall.

Inside the hole, Shang strangled the Poison Adept with both his hands as he activated Darkness Absorb.

In pain, the Poison Adept only stretched his hands to Shang's face in order to claw out his eyes, but he saw his hands turn into lifeless husks of their former selves before they lost all their power.

The last thing he saw was the burned face of his target regain life and vitality.

After the Poison Adept turned into a corpse, Shang looked at it with furrowed brows.

'I wanted you to give details about your client while you were assured of your victory.'

Then, Shang turned to the tunnel he had just come from with a frown.

'Sadly, the others interfered.'

'And now, I have to deal with the fact that they know about my power and Affinity.'

At that moment, dark thoughts appeared in Shang's mind.

 

Chapter 259 The Cleaning Service

Shang weighed his options for a bit.

'Should I kill them to keep my secret?' Shang thought.

Shang was willing to make friends, but he wouldn't risk his life.

In fact, he was already surprised that he had decided to put the lives of Astor, Elver, and Sarah above the knowledge he would have gained from the Poison Adept.

If Shang had let the Poison Adept kill these three, he would have been even surer about his victory.

Shang would have only needed to act like he was running out of Mana and maybe get hit by a bit of poison on the way.

Then, he would have simply asked the Poison Adept to tell him who had commissioned him before his death.

With the Poison Adept's arrogant and talkative personality, he would have probably spilled the beans.

But when it came down to it, Shang had decided to save the lives of the three hunters.

'I already made my decision earlier. Might as well go all the way with it. If I kill them now, I would have gained none of the things I wanted.'

Then, Shang took out something from his world.

It was a Communication Crystal.

"Yes?" the voice of the Dean came out of the Communication Crystal after Shang activated it.

"I was attacked by a Cleaner," Shang said.

"How powerful?" the Dean asked.

"Mid Poison Adept," Shang said.

"So? You know that I will only help you against True Mages and Commander Stage warriors," the Dean said.

"I killed him," Shang said

"Then why are you calling me? I'm busy," the Dean said with a cold voice.

"One current student and two former students of our academy were present when I fought him. They know about my power and my Affinity," Shang explained.

"Then kill them."

The reply had come in an instant. It was like it was the most logical and obvious to the Dean.

"Is there another way?" Shang asked.

"There is, but it will be expensive for you, and it isn't without risks," the Dean answered. "Taking this option would be stupid. Don't risk your life for something as ridiculous as empathy."

At that moment, Soran shot through Shang's mind.

Soran and the Dean couldn't be further apart in their mindsets.

"I already know the third question I have-"

"Stop!" the Dean's voice suddenly said.

Then, Shang heard some movement come from the Communication Crystal.

"You can't just talk about such details over Communication Crystal," the Dean said with annoyance. "Soran was present, and I don't want to lose one of my disciples because you couldn't keep your mouth shut."

Shang took a deep breath.

"Sorry," Shang said.

"You can talk now," the Dean said.

"I already know the third question I have asked the God," Shang said.

"How?" the Dean asked.

"I tried to ask the God the same question during the trial, and he told me that he has already answered that question and that I should wait until the Commander Stage to get the answer," Shang said.

"Alright, and why are you bringing that up now? This doesn't seem related."

"My third question is: What mindset is best for reaching the top of this world," Shang answered.

Silence.

"I see," the Dean said.

The Dean remained silent for another few seconds.

"I am very confident in my mindset and my path, but I can't say that I know it better than the ruler of this world."

"I don't think my path is wrong, but if it is, it might not be the best for you to follow it."

"I take it you don't want to commit to a certain path while you know that you will get the correct answer in the future, right?" the Dean asked.

"Correct," Shang said. "I see the point in killing the three of them. It's definitely the option with the least risk."

"However, if cooperation is a more effective path, it would only damage me if I were to kill the only three people I consider friends."

"Because of that, I don't want to kill them. I want to keep all my options open," Shang explained.

"Makes sense," the Dean answered. "Fine, I will send Soran over. He will handle everything."

After the Dean said that, the connection was cut.

Shang put the Communication Crystal away and waited inside the hole in the wall.

Beside Shang lay the desecrated corpse of the Poison Adept, who Shang had referred to as a Cleaner.

A Cleaner was an agent of the Cleaning Service, and the Cleaning Service was the name of the biggest and only assassination organization in Duke Whirlwind's territory.

In comparison to what one might expect, the clients of the Cleaning Service didn't pay according to the target's strength but according to the power of the Cleaner.

If someone wanted, one could hire a True Mage to deal with an apprentice. Of course, in that case, the price would be ridiculously high.

Naturally, the Cleaning Service wouldn't accept a mission if the chances of their agent dying were above 20%.

Shang was certain that the Cleaning Service would have also accepted sending a normal Early Adept.

The fact that someone had hired a Mid Adept with a Focus meant that someone hadn't wanted to take any chances and that they had a large amount of disposable income.

They wanted Shang dead, and they were willing to pay a premium for his death!

Shang still tried to think of whoever he had offended to such a degree.

Even more, why had they only hired the Cleaning Service about six months ago?

At that point, Shang had already been training in seclusion for over two months.

If Shang had killed someone important, they would have immediately hired the Cleaning Service.

They would have never waited several months.

Even more, Shang had only been in the academy before he entered seclusion.

And before that?

'I made no enemies in Duke Whirlwind's garden. The guards were also very nice. Even if they wanted some wealth, the amount they would need to pay the Cleaning Service is far beyond everything I own.'

'I don't think it's anyone from Coldew Village. Everyone was nice, and frankly, even though they have a lot of money, they don't have the kind of money needed to hire someone as powerful as this.'

'Central Wilds? I killed three bandits, and my sled wagon punched through some walls. The guards even laughed about it.'

'Southern Wilds? I only passed through and talked to some guy about that spider.'

'The bandits? Only an insane person would send such a powerful Cleaner after someone that killed a couple of new recruits. Even more, they probably don't even know who I am.'

'The guard at Blizzard's Edge? He could theoretically have the money, but I didn't even do nearly enough damage to him. Yes, he probably got angry because he couldn't scam me out of my Ice Wood, but he wouldn't send someone that powerful after me. He would essentially throw a large amount of money out of the window without any benefit.'

'There is no one else inside Blizzard's Edge that I annoyed.'

'That only leaves Warrior's Paradise.'

'I never annoyed anyone from the Hunting Guild or any random warrior or Mage.'

'That only leaves the Warrior's Academy.'

Shang thought about his life in the academy.

'Sure, there are a couple with a good reason, but why would they wait for so long to hire someone? If I did any damage, they would have hired the Cleaning Service immediately.'

Shang could only sigh.

'I have no idea.'

At that moment, Shang heard the quiet noise of someone landing on the ground.

Shang looked over.

'Soran's here.'

Chapter 260 Magic Contract

Soran stood in the middle of the cave and looked up at Shang, who was currently sitting in the small hole he had created.

And then…

Soran smiled.

"I've heard your initial conversation with teacher," Soran said, "and I think I need to apologize for my previous words."

"You could have killed the three students without any repercussions. After all, you had teacher's permission. He even encouraged it."

"However, instead of doing that, you decided to spend some money to let them live."

Soran jumped over to the hole, and Shang made space for him.

Soran looked at the desecrated corpse and grabbed its Space Ring to inspect it.

"To be honest, when I heard what had happened, I grew angry and disgusted because I was sure that you would simply kill the three of them," Soran said as he looked through the Space Ring.

"But imagine my surprise when I heard that you didn't want to do so."

After some seconds, Soran threw the Space Ring over to Shang. "No information about the requester, as always."

"There are a couple of things in there that are worth a bit, but they can't compare to the Space Ring itself. I would advise you to sell the Space Ring to the academy for a good profit unless you need it yourself."

Then, Soran saw the Focus, and his eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Now, that's some money," he said as he took hold of the Focus. "I would advise you to also sell this to the academy."

"The academy?" Shang asked. "What would you even do with it?"

Soran only smiled. "We sell it back to the Cleaning Service in our monthly auctions. A fully assembled Focus is worth far more than its components, and it would be a waste to dismantle it while we have a buyer waiting."

Shang nodded.

"Anyway," Soran said as he looked at Shang again with a smile. "I'm glad you're not as heartless as I thought you were. To be frank, I assumed you were just like teacher, and teacher… well… you know."

Shang nodded. "I know how different you two are."

Soran also nodded.

"So, what's the solution to my current problem?" Shang asked.

"I'll show you. Where are they?" Soran asked.

Shang put the Focus and Space Ring into his world and jumped away from the tunnel, landing on the ground.

Soran followed Shang, and the two of them walked down the tunnel.

However, they didn't need to walk for long.

Just a couple of seconds later, they heard the sounds of hurried footsteps, and some moments later, the team of three arrived in Shang's tunnel.

Astor was the first to see Shang and Soran, and when he did, he let out a huge sigh of relief.

The team ran over and stopped in front of Shang.

"What happened to the Adept?" Sarah asked with furrowed brows.

"I dealt with him," Soran said before Shang could say anything.

Shang didn't contradict him.

"Thank you so much, Vice-Dean Soran," Sarah said with a polite bow.

The other two also bowed in thanks.

Soran only nodded with a smile. "We can't have outside people attack our students. Shang called me as soon as he saw the attacker, and I arrived as quickly as I could."

The team nodded, but they also furrowed their brows.

"If we had known, we wouldn't have come back," Elver said with a sigh.

"You couldn't possibly know," Soran said with a calm tone. "If Shang shouted about contacting me, the enemy would have run."

"Speaking of," Astor said as he remembered something. "Why did he run when we appeared?"

"The explosion," Shang said calmly. "The fire attacked him from the front and from behind, severely depleting his Mana. After that, I got a surprise attack in, and he fled. The reason why I chased him was to give his location away to Vice-Dean Soran."

"By the way, where did the fire come from?" Elver asked.

Soran only smirked. "I think I know," he said as he looked at Shang. "The Firebomb was finally proven to be useful, right? I told you that you would need it at some point, but you said that something with this little power couldn't even injure anyone."

Shang only looked down with a frown.

"Vice-Dean, you shouldn't make fun of Shang in this situation," Astor said with a cold but respectful voice. "You should have seen him! He managed to survive against a Mid Adept with a Poison Affinity for a long time, and he even managed to chase him away!"

"I know, I know," Soran said with a smile as he put a hand on Shang's shoulder. "I'm only teasing him because I'm proud of him."

Shang only frowned.

'Soran is very different from the previous times I met him, except for the very first time. When I met him the very first time, he was also this chipper, but as soon as he learned more about me, he became cold.'

'Was my decision to spare the others worth so much that Soran changed his entire behavior towards me?'

Shang glanced at Soran.

'It could also be a method of reinforcing good behavior. I did something he approved of, and he immediately went in to praise me for my actions. It's almost like I'm a dog.'

'…or a student. He is a teacher, after all.'

"However, I don't only have good news," Soran said as he furrowed his brows.

The other three looked at Soran with curiosity.

"You three are not inexperienced, and you three know that an Early General Stage warrior can't resist a Mid Adept under normal circumstances," he said.

The other three remained silent.

SHING!

At that moment, Soran summoned three pieces of paper.

"The reason why Shang can be so powerful is related to the academy's secrets and to the reason why he has been missing for the past year. For now, it's still a secret, but if everything works out fine, we will be able to publicize it in about two months."

"But Shang's power still needs to be kept under wraps, even when the secret eventually becomes public. Today, you saw Shang's true power, and I can't risk certain people learning of Shang's power."

Soran handed all three of them contracts, and they read through them.

"A Magic Contract," Sarah said with a frown.

Soran answered. "Sorry, but we can't take any chances."

The contract stated that the three of them were forbidden from speaking of Shang's power in any regard.

"There is no duration on the contract," Sarah stated.

Soran nodded. "This has to remain a secret indefinitely."

"You want us to have a Magic Circle mess with our memories indefinitely?" Sarah asked without any happiness.

A Magic Contract put a Magic Circle into someone's mind. If that person intended to unveil the secrets, all manners of consequences could occur.

The person could die.

A part of their memory could be wiped.

But, in this case, the issuer of the contract, Soran, would be informed, and the signer of the contract would feel pain until they gave up.

Such a contract put a burden on someone's mind, and it was mostly used as a last resort.

"That's why you get 100,000 gold each," Soran said. "It says so on the contract."

'That's what teacher meant when he said that it would cost me a lot of money,' Shang thought.

When Elver heard that, he immediately signed the contract and handed it back to Soran with a smile.

100,000 gold was a lot of money!

Earlier, Elver had still been worried about his future. After all, he hadn't forgotten his argument with Sarah.

Elver had thought about if he wanted to quit the team or not.

But now, the decision was made.

With 100,000 gold, he wouldn't need to hunt for a long while, and he could fully focus on his training.

That was over a year's worth of income!

Just in exchange for signing a contract? No problem!

Soran smiled at Elver and handed him a Space Ring.

Elver excitedly took the Space Ring and looked inside.

But it was empty.

Elver looked at Soran with confusion.

"The Space Ring is your reward," Soran said. "It should be worth about 100,000 gold."

Elver's eyes widened, and he looked at the Space Ring with shock.

Yeah, Space Rings were worth 100,000 gold, but those Space Rings were the cheapest of the cheap.

This one was probably worth double!

"Thank you so much!" Elver said with a bow.

"Can we change a clause?" Astor asked.

Soran looked over. "Which one?"

Astor looked at Shang.

"I don't need the money," Astor said, surprising everyone but Sarah. "Shang saved our lives, and I'm willing to keep his secret. I don't need any money from him."

When Shang heard that, he somehow felt warm inside.

Shang hadn't felt the warmth of friendship ever since he had left Earth.

A friend who was willing to forego such a large amount of money for someone else was truly rare and valuable.

"It's not Shang's money," Soran said. "It's the academy's money."

"Oh, okay, never mind then," Astor said with an awkward laugh as he signed the contract.

Soran nodded and also gave Astor a Space Ring.

"Thanks, Astor, really," Shang said.

"It's what friends are there for, right?" Astor asked with a smile.

Shang nodded after a bit. "I guess so."

Now, only Sarah was left.

Sarah looked at the contract.

Then, she looked at Soran and Shang.

And back at the contract again.

She furrowed her brows.

"I don't have a choice in the matter anyway," she said with a cold voice as she signed.

Sarah shoved the contract towards Soran, who handed her the Space Ring.

After that, Sarah left without saying a word.

"Thank you all," Shang said.

"No, I should thank you," Elver said with a bright smile.

Astor only nodded with a smile of his own.

Sarah didn't say anything.

After that, everyone traveled back to the entrance of the Caves.

However, during their short journey, Soran found a small moment to whisper something to Shang.

"I lied. It's your money."

Shang wasn't surprised.