Ch. 301..310

Chapter 301 - Looking Around

Shang continued walking for quite a while, but he could only see the two walls.

At least, by now, he knew that this building was circular and that it was made by human hands. The walls were too smooth and too uniform. Something like that wasn’t something that beasts would create.

‘If this were some kind of fantasy novel, I would believe that this is some ancient ruin that will teach me about the secrets of warriors,’ Shang thought.

Then, he sighed. ‘Sadly, the God literally said that there are no more inheritances of warriors remaining in the world since the Mages destroyed all of them.’

‘However, this building still has to fulfill some kind of function, right?’

After walking for about twenty more minutes, Shang’s Darkness Vision picked something up.

The inner wall had a human-sized opening.

Shang walked for a bit more and eventually arrived in front of it.

It was an open door.

‘Yep, definitely made by humans,’ Shang thought as he looked into the room.

The room was huge but mostly empty.

Shang guessed that the room was just as big as the entire thing, except for the space between the inner and outer walls.

And there was only a single thing in the middle of the room.

It was a portal.

It was round, and a membrane of silver colors danced between its arches..

‘Well, I’ve never seen a portal in real life, but that’s what I would imagine one to look like.’

Shang looked around the room and saw nothing else.

No second door.

No stairway.

Nothing.

It was just a big room with a portal.

Shang walked closer to the portal and looked at it.

Surprisingly, Shang didn’t feel any familiar Elemental Mana come out of the portal. One had to know that Space Rings were made with different Affinities.

A portal should logically also be made of similar, different Affinities, but this one exhibited no Elemental Mana.

‘Well, I did see a Mage with a Space Affinity in the trial,’ Shang thought, remembering the girl that had fled from him.

He still didn’t enjoy thinking back to that moment.

‘I’ve never heard of a Space Affinity in the Skythunder Kingdom, but it obviously exists.’

‘So, this place was probably not created by the Skythunder Kingdom. I saw all the most powerful Mages of the Kingdom, and none of them had a Space Affinity from what I could see.’

Shang looked at the portal for a while.

‘Should I try going through it? I mean, I entered with some rewards in mind in the first place,’ Shang thought as he scratched his chin.

‘Maybe this is some form of old treasury?’

Shang didn’t believe his own optimism.

Eventually, Shang shrugged and went towards the portal.

Shang put his hand into the portal, and it vanished. However, Shang didn’t lose any feeling in his hand, and after he pulled it back, he saw that it was still attached.

‘Sure enough, it’s a portal.’

And then, Shang stepped through it.

As soon as Shang’s remaining eye passed the silver veil, he saw his new surroundings.

Shang looked around for a bit.

‘It’s the same?’ he thought.

Sure enough, it was a large, empty black room with only a portal inside it.

But then, Shang noticed something.

‘There’s no Darkness Mana!’

At the place where Shang had just been, a ton of Darkness Mana had flooded the place due to the hole Shang had made.

But this identical place had no Darkness Mana whatsoever.

In fact, it had no Mana at all.

For some reason, Shang felt nervous. It was like his being was telling him that it hated this place and that it wanted to leave, and Shang quickly understood why.

‘I don’t need to eat or sleep, but that’s due to the constant presence of Mana. My body simply uses Mana as a replacement for energy, and in a place without Mana, I would essentially starve.’

‘I’ve never heard of a place without Mana. I wonder how long it would take me to die of starvation or lack of oxygen?’

Shang didn’t like this place whatsoever, but he still left the portal and walked through the door.

‘Sure enough, everything’s the same. Just like the other place, this one has a ten-meter-wide gap between the two walls.’

Shang continued walking for around thirty minutes until he found an open door.

It was the same one.

He had walked around the entire thing, and he had seen nothing of note.

Shang scratched the back of his head as he looked at the portal. ‘Are these portals a convenient way to go from one building to the next? For what, though?’

After a bit of thinking, Shang looked up.

The feeling had grown weaker by a lot, but he could still feel an Abomination somewhere above him.

‘I’m near the center of the room, and I can feel an Abomination probably a couple of kilometers above me. I presume the feeling is weaker since I am further away from it than when I had been outside. After all, I fell for like 20 kilometers.’

‘So, there’s an Abomination in the first building and one in the second. I wonder why.’

The ceiling was only about thirty meters high, still leaving many kilometers of space unaccounted for.

‘There is no obvious entrance to the space above me.’

Shang scratched his chin.

‘Should I try to break through the ceiling? I mean, I already made a hole in the other building. Additionally, even if the Abomination were to break free, this place is probably outside the Storm Eagle Zone. So, if I have to free an Abomination to see what’s going on, I shouldn’t free one in Duke Whirlwind’s territory.’

‘Well, in for a penny, in for a pound,’ Shang thought.

And then, he jumped.

To an impressive height of two meters.

Athletes on Earth would be impressed, but it wasn’t Olympic level.

When Shang landed on the ground, his legs vibrated due to the heavy impact.

Shang looked down with furrowed brows and a displeased expression. ‘Gravity is stronger than expected in this place!’

Then, he looked at the ceiling again. ‘If I use several Fire and Ice Blasts, I should be able to reach the ceiling. However, the fall would damage me quite a bit.’

‘I mean, I don’t really mind hurting myself, but this place is devoid of Mana. If I get seriously injured in here, I might just die.’

‘Also, there’s a smarter way to go about this.’

Shang took out Sword. “Can you check if you can crack the ceiling?”

“Yes,” Sword said.

Shang pulled Sword back and threw it towards the ceiling with all his power.

DING!

Sword hit the ceiling with quite some force and bounced off.

DING!

And then bounced off the floor.

“Forget it. Too hard,” Sword said as it slowly moved back to Shang.

“Not even with Entropy?” Shang asked.

“That’s what I meant,” Sword said. “The material is so hard and stable that I can’t even pull tiny bits off it. Without these small bits, I can’t convert it into power.”

“So, it’s impossible?” Shang asked.

“Yes, it’s impossible.”

“So, we came for nothing?”

“Seems like it.”

Shang only frowned.

Chapter 302 - Things Going Out ofControl

Shang really didn't like hearing that.

There was something no one in the Skythunder Kingdom had ever seen before above him, and he couldn't access it.

He wanted to know what was in it and why he could feel an Abomination there.

Yet, there was no way to enter.

Shang tried a couple of other things, but all of them failed.

Eventually, Shang walked through the portal again and tested the ceiling in that room too.

Same thing. Too hard.

'Maybe I should climb up. Maybe there is a spot that's not as hard and thick.'

Shang exited the room and looked up.

.

Then, he jumped to the first wall and jumped to the second one.

However, due to the Gravity, Shang couldn't even nearly reach the other wall in his jump.

'I can't even zig-zag upward due to the strong gravity and the gap. To think that a gap of ten meters would be so insurmountable for me.'

'Sure, I could use my Fire and Ice Blasts, but I would eventually run out of body to use.'

'Seems like we have to go at it the slow way.'

Shang walked to the first wall and put Sword on it. "Can you dig out some handholds for me?"

Sword didn't answer for two whole seconds.

"Do you know how long that will take?"

Shang sighed. "I know that it will take a long time. You needed like two hours for the hole. Sure, you only have to make some small cuts so that you fit in, but that will probably also take a couple of minutes each."

"And you can't even jump," Sword said. "We fell for around 20 kilometers, and I would need over ten minutes per meter, assuming I don't get exhausted."

As Shang thought about Sword's words, he realized that the process might take quite a long time.

Shang did some math in his head and came to the conclusion that creating a makeshift ladder to the hole he had made would take over four months.

'Four fucking months,' Shang thought with a frown. 'I have patience, but I won't wait in here for four months.'

Then, Shang got an idea.

"How about you just make a normal hole, and we travel through the Caves," Shang said.

"Shang," Sword answered. "Why are you overlooking the obvious problem?"

Sword's words took Shang by surprise. "What problem?"

"When we dig through this hole, where will we be?"

"The Caves, obvious-"

And then, Shang realized the problem.

Sure, they would be in the Caves, but they would be at their deepest part.

This meant that Shang would reach the home of True Path Stage beasts and maybe even beasts of the fifth Realm.

Beasts of such power had a terrifying perception, and Shang was certain that they would very quickly notice him.

And when they did?

Sure, the Thunder Horse's mark would probably dissuade beasts of the Fifth Realm from attacking, but True Path Stage beasts would probably directly attack Shang since they would think that he was an Abomination.

And even if Shang managed to climb up, he would enter an area filled with Peak Commander Stage beasts.

Yes, this was called the Calm Zone, but that wasn't a guarantee that no beast would be here.

The Entropy Ore had some deterring effect on beasts, but it didn't injure them. At most, it was uncomfortable or a bit scary for beasts.

The map had also said that there rarely were beasts on the big slide, but Shang had met the Crack Spider there.

"So, you're saying we're stuck?" Shang asked with furrowed brows.

"No," Sword answered.

"Well, how are we not stuck?" Shang asked. "We can't get out without dying."

"Ask for help," Sword said.

Shang's expression turned uncomfortable.

He really didn't want to call the Dean or Duke Whirlwind.

Sure, in Shang's mind, they would have done the same thing as Shang if they were in his shoes, but they weren't.

But eventually, Shang had to give up.

He was stuck, and he needed help.

"Fine," Shang said as he took out a Communication Crystal.

"What do you want?" came the voice of the Dean through the Communication Crystal.

"I need your help," Shang said.

"With what?"

"Do you know about the Calm Zone in the Caves and about that black wall?" Shang asked.

Silence.

The Dean didn't answer for a while.

"You made a hole in the wall?" the Dean asked with a serious voice.

"Yes," Shang said.

Another moment of silence passed.

"I can't fault you. I would have done the same thing," the Dean said.

Shang only helplessly smiled.

"What happened?"

Shang told the Dean everything that had happened ever since he entered the Caves, and he told the Dean also everything about what he had found in this strange building.

As Shang was narrating these things, the Dean was in shock. Shang had done a lot of surprising things in the past, but nothing had truly shocked the Dean.

That was until he heard of Shang's victory over Vice-Commander Wilbury.

The matter of the strange building was put to the back of the Dean's mind since Shang's power was far more surprising to him.

The Dean had always believed Shang to be about as powerful and talented as him.

But today, the Dean had received a nasty wake-up call.

The Dean knew Vice-Commander Wilbury, and he also knew that Vice-Commander Wilbury was one of the most powerful Mid Commander Stage warriors in the entire world.

Vice-Commander Wilbury was about as powerful as Soran had been when he had been at the Mid Commander Stage, and Soran had incredible talent.

It was only a matter of time until Soran overtook Vice-Dean Ranos. Vice-Dean Ranos had perfected his battle style and power over more than a century at the Peak Commander Stage, while Soran was barely seventy in total.

Shang had essentially jumped a level against someone with the power and talent of Soran.

And, most shocking of all, Shang was barely 21 years old.

When Soran had reached such power, he had been nearly 50.

For a moment, the Dean wasn't sure how he should feel.

On some level, he was proud of Shang, but on the other hand, Shang's power made him feel bitter, envious, and inadequate.

However, the Dean was an adult, and he wouldn't let his emotions cloud his judgment.

"I will contact Jerald," the Dean said. "This is his territory, and he has to know about what has happened."

"Alright," Shang said.

"Remain where you are. We will probably get there in an hour, at the latest."

'Remain where I am, huh?' Shang thought with frustration.

The connection was cut, and Shang released a sigh.

Eventually, Shang sat down, leaning against one of the walls as he waited.

The wait was long and annoying, but Shang was used to worse things.

That's when Shang felt a signal coming from his Space Ring, and he took out the Communication Crystal.

"Yes?" Shang asked.

"Where did you cut through the wall?" It was Duke Whirlwind's voice.

"I thought that you guys have probably already searched for the origin of the Calm Zone. So, I went to the most likely place where you did your experiments. I found a tiny cut in the wall," Shang explained.

Duke Whirlwind chuckled a bit. "Quite smart. That cut was left behind by one of the previous Kings. It was the culmination of Mana worth billions and billions of gold."

"We'll be there in five minutes."

And the connection was cut again.

Shang waited for another while.

But four minutes later, something happened.

Shang's remaining eye was drawn upward as he felt something.

The feeling Shang felt from the Abomination had become more intense, and he thought that he might have felt it moving.

And then, Shang felt something change.

It was like a wave was going through the air.

And moments later, Shang felt all the Darkness Mana vanish along with all the other kinds of Mana!

At the same time, Shang's clothes began to turn into dust.

'Entropy Domain!'

This was the same thing that happened when he activated his Entropy Domain. However, his Entropy Domain was nothing in comparison to this gigantic Domain!

Surprisingly, Shang didn't feel like he was in danger.

However, Shang still activated his own Entropy Domain.

After all, the Abominations Entropy Domain was turning Shang's clothing into dust, and he didn't want to be naked.

For safety's sake, Shang put everything but Sword, his clothes, and the Communication Crystal into his inner world, including the Space Ring.

"Shang! Are you still alive?!" came the shout of Duke Whirlwind from the Communication Crystal.

"Yes, I'm fine. I think I'm immune to this power. I should be asking you that question," Shang answered.

"We managed to get out of its reach in time, but all the stone and earth around us is vanishing! Shang, what did you do?!" Duke Whirlwind asked with nervousness.

"Nothing!" Shang shouted back. "I just sat here! I literally did nothing but wait!"

"Has the Abomination used that power before?" Duke Whirlwind asked.

"No, this was the first time," Shang said.

Some seconds of silence passed.

"Then, that means that it was probably us," Duke Whirlwind said. "I think it didn't react to you or Vice-Commander Wilbury since you two are too weak."

As Duke Whirlwind was talking, Shang could also hear sounds of collapsing stone coming from the Communication Crystal.

"We have to wait until it calms down. I think we might need to send someone weaker to get you, Shang," Duke Whirlwind said.

"It's fine. I can wait," Shang said.

A couple of seconds passed, and the Domain of Entropy eventually vanished.

It seemed like the Abomination had calmed down.

'It didn't pursue, which probably means that it can't.'

At that moment, a new idea came to Shang.

'Then, is this a prison?'

And at that moment, nearly all of Duke Whirlwind's Communication Crystals were going off at once.

"What's going on?!" Duke Whirlwind shouted into the Communication Crystal for the Commander of Warrior's Paradise.

"Sir, the- "

BOOOOOOM!

The voice was cut off as the entire Caves quaked violently.

Down below, even Shang felt a slight quake travel throughout the strange building.

'Is this an earthquake?' Shang thought.

BOOOOOOM!

Then, the building shook even more.

'No, that comes from a living thing!' Shang realized in horror. 'But what could be so powerful that it could shake this gigantic structure?'

And then, Shang realized what was happening.

BOOOOOM!

A gigantic wave of vibration went through the entire building, and even Shang felt unwell under the powerful vibrations.

CRACK!

A gigantic talon pierced the top of the enormous building!

'Shit! I have to get out of here!'

Shang immediately stood up and ran into the room and directly into the portal.

And just moments after he left, a gigantic beak punched through the building as well.

"Shang! Shang!" Duke Whirlwind shouted into the Communication Crystal.

But then, the connection was cut.

Duke Whirlwind had used his power and flight to get out of the Caves with the Dean, and he was looking with horror at what was happening.

The Storm Eagle was aggressively digging a hole in the ground and attacking the black structure!

It had felt an Abomination, and it would deal with it!

Chapter 303 - Trouble

"General, a Protection Beast in Area 23 is attacking a Pylon!"

A young man in golden armor was standing opposite a young woman with blonde hair, wearing ostentatious purple robes.

The woman frowned with annoyance. "Has the outer layer been breached?"

"Yes, the particular Protection Beast is in the Mid Ancestral Realm!" the man reported.

"I'll deal with it," she said.

SHING!

An instant later, a radiant suit of silver armor with silver wings appeared on her person.

SHING!

And the woman vanished via teleportation.

An instant later, she appeared in front of a silver portal and looked at it for a moment.

The portal suddenly deactivated and activated again, and she stepped through it.

Just after stepping through the portal in the middle of the room at the bottom of the Pylon, she extended her senses and took note of the situation.

BOOOOM!

A gigantic green bird had completely destroyed the outer layer, and it was currently trying its best to get through the inner layer.

The Abomination inside the Pylon had already activated its unique Domain, but the gigantic green bird didn't care about it. The Domain was far too weak to injure it.

SHING!

The woman vanished and reappeared between the Pylon and the green bird.

BANG!

One of the bird's talons tried to attack the black wall, but it was halted in the air. It was almost like the talon had hit an immovable, invisible wall.

At that moment, the woman's senses stretched over a ridiculous distance, and the entire Skythunder Kingdom appeared in her mind.

She took special note of the area she was currently in.

She looked at Warrior's Paradise, and she analyzed all the beasts in the Storm Eagle Zone.

All of this took less than a second.

'It's doing quite a good job,' she thought. 'It only followed its instincts and did its job. Killing it would be a waste, and its replacement will probably do a worse job.'

'But some punishment is still in order.'

The woman extended one of her gloved hands to the bird and waved it to the side.

BOOOOOM!

An invisible wall hit the Storm Eagle and threw it into the distance.

Several of its bones broke, and blood was flowing out of its mouth.

The humans in Warrior's Paradise watched this spectacle, filled with disbelief.

What was going on?!

BOOOOM!

The Storm Eagle landed over twenty kilometers away inside the Canyon and rolled several times on the ground, destroying a large number of Eternal Spires.

For a moment, the world turned silent.

This was the most shocking thing the present humans had ever witnessed.

The Storm Eagle had been thrown into the distance by something. None of them had seen what kind of being had thrown the Storm Eagle away.

The Storm Eagle quickly tried to stand up in a panic, but it was in severe pain.

At that moment, a message it could understand entered its mind.

It saw the very thing it had just been attacking, and with that image came a feeling of rejection.

The Storm Eagle understood that it wasn't allowed to attack these black things, and it lowered its head in submission.

It knew that whatever had hit it was far beyond its power.

However, it also knew that it wouldn't die today. After all, the thing that had attacked it could have killed it just now.

The silver-haired woman looked over at the distant Storm Eagle and nodded in satisfaction.

'That should stop it from doing that again,' the woman thought.

.

'And now, time to see what the local supervisor is doing. They better have a very good reason for letting things get out of hand.'

Her mind stretched further, going far beyond the Skythunder Kingdom.

Eventually, she saw a huge black castle inside a deep cave.

There was only one single person inside that castle.

It was an old man with silver hair, and he was currently sitting in the middle of a gigantic Magic Circle that gathered a ridiculous amount of Mana around him.

'He dares to go into closed-door meditation during his shift?!' the woman thought with rage.

Usually, it was the job of these people to overlook everything. They were supposed to keep watch over all the Protection Beasts inside the Areas. It was his job to deal with these things before they reached this point!

At that moment, the old man opened his eyes wide, and terror appeared on his face.

"No, I'm sorry! I didn't-"

SHING!

The man suddenly vanished and reappeared tens of thousands of kilometers away.

His face turned white with fear because he knew what this meant.

"Your services are no longer required," the old man heard in his mind. "Your performance review will be handed to recruiting."

The old man's body shook in horror and shock.

"Can I still join the Lightning Manor?" he asked with his last optimism.

"That is for recruiting to decide, but I wouldn't keep my hopes up," the young woman answered.

Before the old man could protest, the connection was cut, and he was left alone.

After that, the woman went back to the Pylon, which was now visible from the surface. The Storm Eagle had dug a gigantic hole in the ground.

As soon as she arrived, the Abomination's Domain activated again, and it was trying to kill her.

The woman frowned and snipped her fingers at the Pylon.

BOOOM!

The Pylon shook as something hit its walls.

The Domain vanished.

After that, she looked at the destroyed outer layer of the Pylon with a frown. 'That bird sure did a number on this one.'

Her fingers weaved in the air a couple of times, and all the rubble began to float in the air suddenly.

In just a couple of seconds, all the different parts went back to their original place and fused together.

Merely half a minute later, the gigantic black building had been completely repaired, including the hole Shang had made.

Now, the woman was between the first and second layers.

WHOOOSH!

In an instant, all the Mana between the first and second layers got absorbed by her, leaving everything devoid of Mana inside the building.

She looked once more over the entire building and nodded in satisfaction.

SHING!

She vanished from her position and reappeared in front of the portal at the bottom.

She wanted to step through it, but she stopped suddenly.

'Who knows how much the previous supervisor let things deteriorate? Obviously, something has broken through the outer layer somehow. This stuff happens from time to time, but I should still check, just to be safe.'

She turned to the portal and used her Magic to change it.

A second later, she stepped through.

As she arrived at the next Pylon, her mind stretched over everything inside it.

'Looks good,' she thought.

Then, her mind stretched out of the Pylon and into the surroundings.

'Bottom of the ocean. I doubt any beast would be interested in digging several kilometers down at this place.'

Seeing that nothing was wrong, she changed the portal again and went through.

She did this a couple of times, never staying in one spot for more than two seconds.

But when she got to the last one, her eyebrows rose in surprise.

There was a young man standing in front of the portal.

Chapter 304 - Punishment

Shang had just left the portal in terror.

'I really screwed up this time! The Storm Eagle probably won't rest until that Abomination inside the black building is destroyed!'

'What if the portal gets buried under mountains of rubble? What if it gets destroyed?! How am I supposed to get back?!'

Right now, Shang was in an area completely without Mana, and if he got stuck here, he would die!

However, if he went back, the roof might collapse above him. Sure, he could deal with some stones falling on him, but the Entropy Ore was insanely heavy and hard! If a big piece of Entropy Ore fell on him, he would be crushed!

Even worse, what if the Storm Eagle managed to break through the black building, free the Abomination, and then die to it?! Obviously, this Abomination was far more powerful than the normal ones.

And then, something terrifying happened.

The portal vanished!

Just mere moments ago, the silver glow of the portal had illuminated the room, but now, it was pitch black!

At this moment, absolute terror gripped Shang.

He had no idea where he was, and the only way to get out was to create another hole.

But what if this building was also buried in the ground?! The other one, at least, had the Caves snaking around it, but this one might not.

Shang's mind fell into a panic.

What was he supposed to do?!

What had happened to the Storm Eagle Zone?!

But then, the portal suddenly reappeared, and Shang felt like he had been saved.

Yet, just one second later, someone stepped through the portal, and Shang felt like his heart had stopped.

It was a silver-haired woman wearing a foreign set of armor. He had never seen anyone wear this kind of armor before.

Even more, the fact that she had arrived here and that she could control the portals meant that she was probably connected to this strange black building.

Right now, Shang felt like a thief looking into the eyes of the house's owner.

As soon as the woman saw him, she furrowed her brows.

Shang only looked at her, frozen in shock.

"Who are you?" the woman asked with furrowed brows. "Why are you here? Don't you know that this Pylon is under the jurisdiction of the Lightning Emperor?"

'Pylon?' Shang thought. 'Does she mean this black building?'

"I walked through the portal," Shang said.

The woman frowned, and Shang got even more nervous.

"Why and from where?" she asked.

"The Storm Eagle Zone," Shang said.

The green bird shot through the young woman's mind.

"Why did you walk through the portal?" she asked.

"I didn't want to get killed, and this was the safest way to escape," he answered.

The woman crossed her arms and frowned.

She thought back to the place with the big green bird. There had been a couple of caves there.

In her mind, the image of this young man falling into the destroyed Pylon appeared.

"What is this place?" Shang asked, pulling the woman out of her thoughts.

Her eyes narrowed. "This has nothing to do with you," she said with a strict voice.

"Sorry," Shang said quietly.

In her mind, Shang was only some young kid. He was in the Second Realm, and he wasn't even a Mage.

If any of the other Emperors tried to mess with their Pylons, they wouldn't have sent this guy.

'Anyone that enters the Pylons is deserving of death,' she thought as she looked at Shang.

'However, he obviously didn't do it on purpose. He's only a victim of circumstance.'

It was a bit difficult for her to make a decision.

The rules said that she should kill him, but she also thought that killing him was unjust.

After some seconds, she made her decision.

"Your home is about 2,000 kilometers to the southeast," she said.

'That's definitely outside the Skythunder Kingdom,' Shang thought.

"The rules state that I should kill you for entering the Pylon, but I don't think that would be fair. It's not your fault that the supervisor didn't look over his Area properly," she stated.

'Supervisor?' Shang thought in confusion.

"However, for breaking the rules, punishment is still a necessity."

"And your punishment is to get back home on your own."

At that moment, Shang's eyes widened in shock.

The woman pointed at Shang.

"Wait-"

SHING!

Before Shang could say more, he vanished.

'Dumped into foreign territory,' the woman thought. 'That should be punishment enough.'

After getting rid of the kid, she focused on the Pylon and the surroundings. 'Everything seems to be in order.'

She turned around and stepped through the portal again, and as soon as she left, the portal deactivated again.

SHING!

Shang had just been inside the black building, but now, he was suddenly somewhere else.

For a while, Shang could barely believe what he had just experienced.

'Was that teleportation?' he thought in shock.

'How powerful does someone have to be to teleport someone else with a mere wave of their finger?!'

'What happened to the Storm Eagle?! What happened to the Abomination?!'

Shang looked around and noticed that he was in the wilderness.

There were no apparent threats.

So, he took out his Communication Crystal and checked if he could reach the Dean.

Sure enough, the connection was still there.

Shang called the Dean, but this time, it took over ten seconds for him to pick up.

And as soon as he did, a flurry of words assaulted Shang.

"You!" the Dean shouted immediately. "I can feel where you are! Grandmountain Kingdom! Run! Hide! Destroy Crystal! Don't try to contact us again!"

Shang looked in shock at the Communication Crystal.

"What?" he asked.

"Crystal! Bugged Connection! No Firewall! Man in the Middle! Trojan! Hacking! Tracking! Run!"

The Dean shouted these words with rapid speed.

And then, the connection was cut.

Shang was shocked by the words the Dean had said, but some seconds later, he realized what the Dean was trying to tell him.

The Dean had not called Shang by his name, and he had not given him any chance to talk.

Then, he had shouted foreign words to this world.

Only someone coming from Earth would know what these words meant.

'Others can hear our conversation, and they can track my location!' Shang realized in terror.

Shang knew that the Grandmountain Kingdom and the Skythunder Kingdom were at war.

And if they just intercepted a conversation between someone from their Kingdom and someone from the Skythunder Kingdom, and if that person was not a diplomat…

CRACK!

Shang immediately destroyed the Communication Crystal and put the shards into his inner world.

And then, he ran in a random direction.

Chapter 305 – Disguise

Shang immediately began running in a random direction.

If the Dean was right and the connection of the Communication Crystal was being intercepted, the Grandmountain Kingdom would believe this to be a matter of national significance.

This meant that, most likely, a High Mage or very powerful Mage would investigate this issue.

How was Shang supposed to flee from someone like that?

He knew that High Mages had terrifying perception. Duke Whirlwind even noticed some random Adept looking at Shang from far away.

Even more, they could maybe trace his whereabouts to a certain degree based on what kind of Mana Shang gave off.

Shang jumped from one spire to the next.

Right now, he was inside a very hot and very spiky area. The ground far below him was glowing with heat, and Shang could easily tell that this Zone had a Zone Beast with a Fire Affinity.

BANG!

Shang released an Ice Blast and shot towards the south.

Then, he released another one.

Following that, he released two Darkness Blasts, something he did very rarely due to the steep price of using one.

After landing at another spire, Shang suddenly turned around and jumped back without releasing any blasts.

A minute later, Shang changed directions and traveled for one minute without any blasts.

BANG!

Then, he released a couple of Fire Blasts.

Half a minute later, Shang arrived near a cave, low to the ground.

Shang immediately ran into the cave and saw a dark-red tiger.

The tiger noticed Shang's approach, but it was already dead before it could do anything.

Shang unceremoniously tore its fur off and put his old clothes into his inner world.

WHOOOM!

He activated his Domain of Entropy and consumed a bit of his skin to damage the fur and make it fit his body more.

By strategically making holes in the fur, Shang had essentially created a large coat.

SSSSHHH!

After that, Shang infused Sword with Fire Mana and made it fuse the skin at the correct places, creating a shirt and some pants made of dark-red fur.

Then, Shang ran to the skinless corpse and rammed his head into it.

A second later, Shang's head came out again, filled with blood.

The Domain of Entropy activated again, and some of the blood on his body was consumed, but he left a lot of scattered spots of blood.

After that, Shang used his Darkness Affinity to make the blood age, leaving stains that seemed old.

Shang quickly grabbed the corpse and tore it apart, waving the bloody pieces around the entire cave.

Some seconds later, the entire cave was a bloody mess, and Shang used his Darkness Affinity to age the spots of blood and to turn the corpse into nothing but bones.

Shang grabbed some remaining fur and put it on the ground, getting rid of all the blood with his Domain of Entropy.

Lastly, Shang dumped a huge amount of ore in the cave.

This was basically all the ore he had gotten from Vice-Commander Wilbury's corpse.

.

"Sword, I need you to look as crude, big, and powerful as possible," Shang said with urgency. "The Grandmountain Kingdom has barbarians, and they are different from warriors. I need you to resemble a gigantic club. It's fine if you are extremely heavy. You are supposed to be difficult for me to wield in that form."

"Fine," Sword answered as it consumed all the ore.

Shang watched with nervousness as Sword consumed one piece of ore after the other, growing more and more in the process.

Eventually, Sword absorbed over 100 units of ore, and it had become absolutely massive.

It was nearly 250 centimeters long and nearly 50 centimeters wide. Its edges were extremely rough and short. They could barely be called edges.

"My shape changed too quickly," Sword said, "and I used too many different pieces of ore. For now, it will be difficult for me to carry Light and Ice Mana."

Shang nodded. "That's fine."

Then, Shang grabbed Sword and lifted it.

CRK!

The ground beneath Shang cracked as Sword's weight was now only distributed onto two feet.

Shang's muscles bulged as he slowly lifted Sword. He could definitely lift it, but it wasn't easy at all.

Then, Shang performed a strike.

WHOOOOSH!

The loud noise of wind being pushed aside echoed throughout the cave, and Shang's arms bulged as he stopped the swing near the end.

Shang nodded and put his Space Ring into his inner world.

And with that, Shang's disguise was complete.

The person investigating the signal would arrive at an empty spire and look around.

Either they found nothing, or they would find traces of Ice Mana from Shang's Ice Blast.

If they found the traces, they would follow them, which would then lead them to traces of Darkness Mana.

Chances were that the investigator would believe that the spy had a Mixed Affinity for Darkness and Ice, and they would search for more traces.

If they didn't find any further traces, they were more inclined to believe that the spy used some strange technique to vanish. After all, not many people knew about the techniques of a Darkness Affinity.

Either they would continue down the road or turn around and search for other traces, at which point they would find the Fire Mana traces, which would lead them to Shang.

But wait, why would Shang consciously leave conspicuous traces leading directly to him?

Well, if a guard saw a person leisurely walking past them, they wouldn't mind, but if they saw someone sneaking past them, they would pay special attention.

And now, it was up to the investigator to decide if they wanted to pursue the Fire Mana traces or the other ones.

If they decided to follow the Fire Mana traces, they would reach Shang in his cave.

And sure enough, just ten minutes later, someone entered Shang's cave.

It was a woman with long brown hair, and her senses stretched throughout the cave.

A dirty man with a gigantic weapon was intensely training inside the cave. His clothes were rough, amateurish, damaged, and stained with old blood.

There were several bones from dead beasts littering the cave, showing that this man had been living here for a long time.

'An unaffiliated barbarian?' she thought with furrowed brows.

"You!"

Shang's deep voice echoed throughout the cave as he noticed the newcomer.

"Leave this place. This is my home," Shang said calmly but with a lot of power.

The Mage narrowed her eyes at Shang, and a deep brown light appeared in them.

Chapter 306 – Isolated Barbarian

The Mage looked at Shang with narrowed eyes, but Shang only calmly looked back.

Shang had already thought of a persona he would adapt in this foreign kingdom.

Just now, the best way to disguise himself had been acting as a wild barbarian that didn't belong to any power, village, or city. That would give him an excuse not to know much about the Grandmountain Kingdom and for being alone in the wilderness.

But that also meant that Shang had to act the part.

Because of that, Shang decided to adopt a stupider version of teacher Mervin.

Mervin was the righteous teacher of swordsmanship in the warrior's academy. He didn't speak much, but when he did, his words were wise.

Shang essentially channeled a younger and more isolated version of him.

Taciturn, introverted, honest.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" the Mage asked with narrowed eyes.

"My name is unimportant," Shang said slowly. "Names are only important when there are others to speak them."

"And this is my home."

"I'll ask again. Please leave," he said slowly.

The Mage looked deeply into Shang's eye.

"And if I don't?" she asked.

Shang looked at her for a second, and then…

He continued swinging his sword.

"This is why I don't want to live amongst you," Shang said as he swung another time.

"You enter my home."

"I ask you to leave."

"You threaten me."

"All this boasting and needless aggression."

"We have no conflict."

"I don't want to hurt you."

"Why do you want to hurt me?"

Shang said each of these short sentences between each swing, not looking at the Mage.

"Pointless."

Shang swung once more.

And once more.

And one more time.

The Mage realized that Shang wasn't saying anything else, and she became enraged.

She extended her hand toward Shang and spoke some short words.

BANG!

Shang was suddenly thrown at one of the walls of the cave.

Several of Shang's bones broke.

However, when he looked back at the Mage, his expression hadn't changed.

"Pointless violence," Shang said as he stood up.

"Why?"

"For what reason?"

"What do you have to gain from attacking me?" Shang asked.

"Do you covet my wealth? I don't have wealth."

"Killing me won't make you more powerful."

"Beasts kill to become more powerful."

"You Mages kill for nothing."

"I retreat. You follow."

"What more do you want?"

After that, Shang became silent again.

Shang only spoke in short and simple sentences. However, his sentences were very direct and honest.

The Mage looked with an infuriated expression at Shang.

"Why did you contact the Skythunder Kingdom?" she asked with power in her voice.

"Politics," Shang said without a change in his voice.

"Towns."

"Cities."

"Kingdoms."

"They all are the same thing."

"A group of humans working for a Mage."

After that, Shang remained silent for a second as he looked at the enraged Mage.

.

"I see no difference."

"All powers, organizations, Kingdoms, or whatever are the same to me."

"I am not interested in furthering the greed of a powerful Mage."

Shang became silent again as he looked at the Mage.

"Stop lying!" the Mage shouted as power gathered around her being. "Speak the truth or die!"

Shang calmly looked into the Mage's eyes.

"Deceit, dishonesty, skepticism."

"Why?"

"Why deceive others?"

"If you gain something by deceiving others, you are not worthy of what you gained."

"Is it so difficult to believe me?"

Silence.

BANG!

Shang was thrown against the wall again, and this time, his injuries were even more severe.

"You dare?!" the Mage shouted in fury. "You learned the Beast Unity but say you do not want to help the very people that allowed you to become this strong in the first place?!"

Shang righted himself and continued looking at the Mage with the same expression without saying anything.

For some reason, Shang's expression made the Mage explode in anger.

"Us Mages invest so much into the continued development of techniques so that you may become more powerful!" she shouted as she pointed at Shang.

"You consume the fruits of our labor but refuse to offer your power in return! You parasite talk about these grandstanding ideals of peace and harmony, but you benefit from the very things the people you despise have created!"

"You sit isolated in the wilderness after accepting the investment we gave you! You learn our techniques, consume our resources, learn from our teachers, and now you say you don't owe us and that we are the aggressors for wanting what is rightfully ours?!" the Mage shouted in fury.

Shang slowly stood up and looked at the Mage with the same expression.

"Do you honestly believe what you are saying?" Shang asked calmly.

The Mage only got even angrier. "You don't even have a counterargument! Instead of addressing the faults in your ideology I just highlighted, you just deflect!"

Shang silently looked into the Mage's eyes for two seconds.

"Spoken words are unimportant."

"The only important things are what I believe and what you believe."

"I'll ask again."

"Do you honestly believe your own words?" Shang asked calmly.

For some reason, the Mage got even angrier, and she gritted her teeth in fury.

BANG!

Shang was thrown against the wall again, and he received severe injuries.

A second later, several chains appeared in her hands, and they immediately wrapped around Shang's hands.

As soon as they touched Shang's arms, they began to burn until they fused with Shang's arms.

Shang only looked at the Mage with the same expression as always, except for one difference.

The disappointment and pain in his remaining eye had increased.

For some reason, Shang's expression enraged the Mage, and she violently pulled him forward. "Grab your weapon!" she ordered. "You're going to need it where you're going!"

Shang only looked into her eyes.

"Take it or die!" she threatened with an aggressive voice.

Shang hesitated for a second but eventually lifted his sword.

Then, the Mage yanked on the chain and pulled Shang forward.

"You refused to repay your debt. As repayment, you will fight on the frontlines until your debt is repaid."

Shang only released a disappointed sigh.

He didn't answer and only followed.

Deep inside, the High Mage's emotions were riled up.

She wasn't someone that got angry quickly, but this time, she had been riled up by a weak barbarian!

For a long time, she tried to find an answer as to why she had gotten so incredibly angry.

And as the Mage tried to come to an answer, Shang's mind finally relaxed, but he didn't let it show.

'Holy shit!' he thought. 'I only said profound-sounding bullshit!'

'I just said whatever teacher Mervin would say!'

'But it worked!'

'Usually, someone of her power would never get so angry at someone as comparatively weak as me!'

'This means that I said some words that touched something in her. There are probably some doubts inside her that she hasn't come to terms with. Maybe she believes that whatever the Grandmountain Kingdom is doing is right, but deep inside, she has doubts?'

'Honestly, I have no idea. I don't even know how the Grandmountain Kingdom operates.'

'But hey, look at that. I just speak bullshit, and I managed to eliminate any doubt of me being the spy.'

'Instead of thinking about me being the spy, she will be infuriated while thinking of me.'

'A spy would never try to anger or infuriate the person investigating their identity.'

'Well, I guess Teacher Mervin's sermons were useful for something.'

 

Chapter 307 – Village

The Mage pulled Shang along at a speed equivalent to Shang's Stage. Apparently, she knew exactly how fast a barbarian could move at that level.

Surprisingly, it was quite a bit faster than a Peak General Stage warrior could run, but it didn't reach Shang's limit.

He could still run about half a level faster without many problems.

'This probably means that the Procedure has a greater increase of power than whatever the barbarians use to increase their strength.'

They jumped from one spire to the next, and the Mage kept glancing at Shang.

She wanted to force Shang to move at his limit, but even with this incredibly heavy weapon, Shang was still keeping up.

'Even though he is annoying, I can't deny that his talent is outstanding,' she thought.

However, that thought only annoyed her.

By now, she didn't doubt Shang's origins anymore. Someone with such a powerful body at this level had to be born in the Grandmountain Kingdom.

After a couple of minutes, the two of them reached a gigantic canyon. The cliffs on either side were over a kilometer high, and the roads were barely 20 meters wide.

Shang didn't feel any specific kind of Elemental Mana, but he knew what kind of Zone this was regardless.

'A Zone with a Zone Beast that has an Earth Affinity. The Mage also has an Earth Affinity. I guess she is either a very high figure in this territory or the ruler.'

Right now, Shang still wasn't sure if the Mage was a powerful True Mage or a High Mage.

The two of them kept running through the area, and Shang kept glancing at his surroundings inconspicuously.

"Why are you missing an eye?"

This question suddenly came from the Mage, and her tone sounded annoyed.

"I killed a beast with black scales that looked similar to a worm," Shang said. "It destroyed my left eye, and I can't regrow it."

The speed of the Mage slowed down until she eventually stopped.

Then, she looked at Shang with burning eyes.

"Where and when?" she asked.

"Long ago," Shang said. "It was near my home."

"When specifically?" she asked with narrowed eyes.

"Only humans care about time."

"Beasts don't care about time."

"Without humans, time has become meaningless."

"I don't know when. I only know that it has been long ago."

The Mage looked deeply into Shang's remaining eye. "What happened specifically?"

Shang only looked back.

"I saw it."

"I didn't recognize it."

"I tried to kill it."

"A part of its body vanished."

"My eye vanished."

"I killed it before it could do anything else."

Silence.

The image of a Soldier Stage Abomination appeared in the Mage's mind.

"You're lucky you're still alive," she said before pulling Shang forward again.

Shang didn't answer.

After running a couple more minutes in silence, Shang noticed a huge, brown tower on the horizon.

It was built on one of the gigantic walls, and it overlooked the entire Zone.

It wasn't nearly as big as Warrior's Paradise, but it was still about 500 meters high and 100 meters wide.

Shang guessed that this was some kind of military outpost or personal residence. The tower obviously wasn't suited for many people. At most, 200 people could fit in there.

However, instead of going towards the tower, the Mage pulled Shang to a smaller path, and a couple of seconds later, Shang saw two Mages standing near the path.

Shang could feel that they were True Mages.

"Governor!" both of them said with a salute.

'Governor?' Shang thought, glancing at the Mage. 'I can guess that a Governor is probably the equivalent of a Duke. This probably means that she is a High Mage.'

'Interesting. On Earth, a governor doesn't have as much freedom as a duke. Dukes have free reign over their territory as long as they follow the King's commands, but a governor doesn't have as much freedom.'

'Does this mean that the Grandmountain Kingdom is more militaristic? Additionally, the Mages didn't bow but performed respectful salutes.'

Suddenly, Shang was yanked forward by the chains, and he stopped between the Governor and the two Mages.

"He's a wild barbarian," she said. "His punishment is to fight on the frontlines for the next five years. If he survives, he may choose to join a tribe."

"Understood, Governor," one of the two Mages said as the chains floated over to him.

The Governor nodded, threw one last look at Shang, and left towards the huge tower.

Shang was pulled forward again. "Follow, scum!" the Mage shouted strictly with disdain.

Shang's expression didn't change, but inside, his interest was piqued.

'I wonder if he called me scum because I'm a barbarian or because of not being part of a tribe?' Shang thought.

'Nevertheless, I'm quite certain that warriors in the Skythunder Kingdom are not forced to stay inside cities.'

'I've heard of plenty of hunters that simply live wherever and just come to Warrior's Paradise to earn some money. Even if they suddenly decided to never come back, nobody would probably mind unless they signed a Magic Contract.'

Shang didn't answer, but he followed regardless.

When the two Mages saw that Shang didn't resist, they weren't sure what they should feel.

On one hand, this made their job easier, but on the other hand, there was no reason now to beat the barbarian up.

Eventually, the two of them pulled Shang along, and a couple of seconds later, Shang saw something.

It was a village with wooden huts and tents.

The tents and wooden huts were crafted rather well, but there were no buildings made of stone, which told Shang quite a bit about the Grandmountain Kingdom.

Shang saw that the streets were filled with adults and children. Nearly all of them wore clothes made of fur, but the clothes also looked quite old.

Many adults were talking to children, but only very few children talked with each other. It was almost like everyone stuck to their own family and wasn't allowed to interact with strangers.

Surprisingly, Shang saw far more grown women than grown men, but he saw an even distribution among the children.

Yet, the most shocking thing was something else.

The village was rather quiet.

It was like every small group was afraid of other groups overhearing them, which made them whisper amongst each other.

Shang got an occasional glance from an adult or a child, but they quickly looked away again.

As the villagers whispered amongst themselves, the two Mages walked through the middle of the village without any care. When they talked with each other, they were talking at a normal volume.

Shang glanced around the village, and he used his intuition to gauge the power of the villagers.

'There are only a very small number of villagers that feel slightly dangerous to me, but none of them feel like a death threat. That probably means that there are only a handful of Commander Stage barbarians in here.'

'Usually, I would be surprised that such a village had a Commander Stage warrior in the first place, but this village is near the gigantic tower where the Governor lives.'

'Additionally, all the Commander Stage barbarians are middle-aged or older men. There is not a single woman that's even near the end of the General Stage.'

.

The image of the Grandmountain Kingdom became clearer and clearer in Shang's mind.

'The Mages lord over the barbarians and treat them like lower citizens. Any barbarian that wants to escape this suppression needs power, and the Mages offer it to them.'

'However, in exchange, they probably have to work hard for the Mages.'

'Antiquated gender norms from Earth are probably how things are handled here. In the Grandmountain Kingdom, the job of a male barbarian is to die on the battlefield, while the job of a female barbarian is to create children and raise them.'

'In a way, this isn't really any different from raising aggressive dogs to act as triggers for a minefield.'

'Additionally, the Governor said that Mages are the ones that create the techniques for barbarians. That probably means that barbarians don't have the means to further their own power.'

'Is this a deliberate choice? Like this, the power of the barbarians can never get out of control, and they are reliant on the Mages.'

'Without Mages, no barbarian can even hope to reach the True Path Stage, and knowledge on how to create techniques is probably also extremely scarce amongst them.'

'Sure enough, the Grandmountain Kingdom is very different from the Skythunder Kingdom.'

'Suppression, segregation, birthright.'

Chapter 308 – Slavery or Vacation?

Shang was pulled to the back of the village into a small and dark cave.

"What Element are you attuned to?" one of the Mages asked with a cold tone.

"Fire," Shang answered.

"Show me."

Shang lifted his arm, and a bit of fire appeared around it. The fire was very weak, and it only roughly appeared around his arm.

The Mage wasn't surprised and pulled Shang to one side of the cave.

The two chains were put to two cyan spots on the wall, and they fused with them. Shang still had enough chain left to sit down, but he couldn't walk further than a meter with them attached.

"If we see any damage on the chains or the ore, it will be treated as an escape attempt, and we will kill you," one of the two Mages said.

Shang only looked at them.

"Do you understand, One-Eye?" he asked.

Shang didn't answer.

BANG!

A big stone appeared in front of Shang and shot into his chest, breaking his ribs.

"Answer!" one of the Mages demanded with a strict voice.

Shang's expression didn't change.

"Yes," he said calmly. There was no rage inside his voice.

The Mage snorted, and the two of them left the cave again.

For some reason, they really hated this unaffiliated barbarian.

After the two of them left, silence returned to the cave.

Shang's expression didn't change, but he sat down near the wall.

'They probably use the desperation of the barbarians to force them down a path of strengthening,' Shang thought. 'The abuse and disregard will foster a feeling of resistance in some of the barbarians.'

'However, it isn't perfect. Many other barbarians will probably get demotivated and lose all hope, hindering them from unleashing their full potential.'

Shang genuinely didn't feel rage or humiliation right now.

Why?

Because he was confident in his current circumstance.

The more Shang fit into the barbarian role, the easier his life.

Surprisingly, the strict control the Mages had over the barbarians protected Shang's life.

To the Mages, Shang only counted as a dog, but he was their dog.

If another dog attacked their dog, they wouldn't mind and let them fight, but if another human attacked their dog, they would strike back.

This was their dog!

By attacking their dog, the other person was disrespecting them and indirectly attacking them!

In short, this meant that no Mage would want to kill Shang.

Additionally, even if Shang wasn't seen as an equal, he still had value to the Mages.

This meant that Shang would only be sent to fight battles he could win.

To the Mages, barbarians were an investment.

Killing them was wasting money, and letting them get killed was also wasting money.

Shang knew that the Mages would send him into battles that he could win and in which he could cost the enemy resources.

To someone in Shang's shoes, this was essentially a paradise.

In the Skythunder Kingdom, Shang had to constantly watch his back.

More than one Mage had already been sent after him, and the gigantic bounty on his head would send even more powerful Mages after him.

Whenever Shang wanted to fight, he would need to go into the wilderness and fight a beast, and while doing so, he needed to keep a look out for any Mage trying to kill him.

But here?

Shang only had to wait and train.

He didn't need to search for battles.

The battles came to him.

Of course, there also were drawbacks.

Shang didn't have access to any resources, and if the Mages found out that he had gold on him, they would probably confiscate it.

Additionally, Shang would have to essentially be a slave, and he would need to do whatever he was told to do.

'But if a slave only gets orders to do things they want to do, is that truly so bad?' Shang thought with a smirk.

'They believe they have me under control, but they are actually providing the very resources I need to grow in power.'

'The barbarians might need the techniques the Mages created to become more powerful, but I don't need those. I know how to reach the True Path Stage roughly.'

'The academy has taught us how to create our own techniques and how to find ways to further our own power. As long as I get my hands on the techniques barbarians use to become more powerful, I can get familiar with them and eventually extrapolate a path forward.'

'I know roughly how Magic works, and I know very well how warriors fight and train.'

'With these two things and with my own body and mind as experimentation materials, I can probably find a way forward.'

At the moment, Shang saw two other young men inside the cave, but he remained quiet.

'For now, I should act like them and keep to myself. I can always ask about their techniques when I arrive near the frontlines.'

Shang closed his right eye and crossed his legs.

And then, he stopped moving.

The other two barbarians only looked around the room with boredom or fear.

Sometimes, they tried to sleep, which was quite difficult since General Stage warriors didn't need sleep.

From time to time, they also just looked absentmindedly at the ground.

Meanwhile, Shang sat motionlessly on the ground with a closed eye. However, his Mana Sense still kept watch over his surroundings. The cave was quite dark, giving Shang a rather clear vision with his Darkness Vision.

'Just as expected,' he thought. 'The other two probably don't know how to train their Affinities. They probably don't even know that it's possible to train one's Affinity.'

'They have absolutely nothing to do, but even in this extreme boredom, they don't start a conversation. Is this also the Mages' doing? Have the barbarians been taught that talking with each other is bad?'

After that, nothing else of interest happened, and Shang concentrated on his Affinities.

To optimally train his Affinities, Shang would need to summon Mana externally, but that would raise some eyebrows.

However, Shang could still increase the control over his Mana inside his body.

It was kind of nice to train without any distractions.

Eventually, Shang's mind entered a kind of trance as his Mana rhythmically moved around his body.

Days passed without Shang noticing.

More barbarians appeared in the caves and got chained to the walls.

Most barbarians had expressions of fear on their faces, but some of them had determination burn in their eyes.

And Shang only sat there.

After a week, the cave got full, but Shang didn't notice.

And then...

BANG!

.

A stone was thrown at Shang's head, and Shang fell over.

After that, someone pulled on his chain to drag him forward.

Shang opened his eyes and saw that all the barbarians were standing up, and they were chained together in a row.

'Oh, is it time to go already?' Shang thought.

Shang saw one of the two Mages sneer at him.

Without saying anything, Shang stood up and stopped behind the last barbarian.

The Mage looked with annoyance at Shang.

It was like he had just hit a rubber wall.

He wanted to see Shang get angry or fearful, but he hadn't shown any reaction at all.

He really didn't like this barbarian.

Chapter 309 – Different Front

After Shang stepped behind the last barbarian, his chains fused with the person in front of him. However, Shang still had a couple of meters of space and wiggle room. After all, he had to run, and if the barbarians constantly stumbled over each other, the journey would take forever.

The two Mages looked over everyone and nodded.

Then one of them pulled the barbarians forward, who followed without any resistance.

As they walked through the village, some villagers looked at them with hatred while others looked on in sympathy.

Shang took note of these reactions.

The group left the village, and the two Mages stopped in front of a new person.

It was a man with red hair, and his robes looked rather simple.

However, Shang had seen plenty of Mage robes in his life, and he knew that these robes were worth a lot of money.

This was probably not a weak True Mage.

"Commander, everyone's present!" one of the Mages said with a salute.

The Commander nodded at the two Mages and looked at the group of barbarians for several seconds.

Silence.

"I don't know what happened, but you guys are in luck," the Commander said.

The barbarians didn't look at the Commander. Most of them had already lost all hope.

"You guys were supposed to enter the southeastern battlefront, but the Governor changed her mind at the last minute and sent you to the northeastern battlefront," the Commander said. "You better be grateful for the rest of your lives."

After they heard these words, the barbarians all lifted their heads and looked with shock at the Commander.

Did they hear correctly?

They weren't going to the southeastern battlefield?

This couldn't be real, could it?

90% of all barbarians were sent to the southeastern battlefield, and only the luckiest, strongest, and most prestigious barbarians would be sent to the northeastern battlefield.

And them?

The fact that they were in chains showed that they were not part of this elite group.

All of them had broken some kind of law, and this was their punishment. Criminals always entered the southeastern battlefield.

But now, they could go to the northeastern one?

How?

Why?

"Yes!" one of the barbarians shouted in elation.

BANG!

A fireball shot into the barbarian's chest, and he screeched in ungodly pain.

The entire mood was broken, replaced by shock and fear.

The Commander put his hand to the side again and looked through the crowd with narrowed eyes. "You are still under punishment, and if you think that any battlefield is a good place to be, you are sorely mistaken."

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"You will fight for your lives!"

"You will have to kill other humans!"

"And I don't want anyone to act in an undisciplined fashion!"

"Am I clear?!" he shouted.

The barbarians all lowered their heads, not looking at the Commander.

"Good," the Commander said as he took hold of the long chain. "You will follow!"

Then, he pulled the chain forward and ran into the distance.

The barbarians had to follow, and they did their best to keep up, but there were some weaker barbarians among them that were too weak. The best thing they could do was to try to keep their balance as they relied on the chain.

Shang was watching all of this with interest.

'Interesting. The Skythunder Kingdom should be to the southeast, and by the looks of things, the barbarians fear that battlefront. As soon as they heard that they were going to the northeast, their mood made a 180.'

'There are definitely some Mages on the battlefield, but I think most unimportant battles are fought by warriors and barbarians. A Mage counts as an expensive elite unit, while a warrior or barbarian is only a cheap common unit.'

'To get an average Adept, the Kingdom needs to sacrifice tuition fees, gold, resources, and a Pure Mana Source.'

'To get an average barbarian, the Kingdom doesn't need to sacrifice anything.'

'And I think I also get why the barbarians fear fighting against the Skythunder Kingdom.'

'The barbarians in the Grandmountain Kingdom don't have any teaching, and they probably only have access to resources they can get with their own hands.'

'In comparison to them, the warriors of the Skythunder Kingdom have the opportunity to earn a lot of money with various jobs, giving them access to resources they can't get on their own. Additionally, different schools and academies exist for warriors.'

'Lastly, only criminals are sent to the frontlines, while everyone else can join if they so want. Going to the frontlines can make someone rich, but it's also dangerous.'

'But that also means that only very desperate warriors or very confident warriors would go there.'

'I would guess that there are more barbarians than warriors on the frontline, but the average warrior is probably much more powerful, even with a weaker body.'

'All in all, the Skythunder Kingdom probably has a vastly stronger force of physical fighters than the Grandmountain Kingdom.'

'I wonder if that is because of King Skythunder.'

'King Skythunder said that he came from the Grandmountain Kingdom and that he was familiar with barbarians. Maybe he actually was one in the past?'

Shang looked at the group of barbarians and imagined King Skythunder walking among them.

Surprisingly, he would fit right in.

'He probably escaped the Grandmountain Kingdom and joined the Skythunder Kingdom. Maybe, since he was born a barbarian, his talent for Magic had never been tested prior to that, and the Skythunder Kingdom found his amazing talent and fostered it?'

'I can't be sure, but that sounds plausible.'

'That would also explain why the warriors are so much more powerful than the barbarians and why King Skythunder is waging war against the Grandmountain Kingdom.'

'But that begs the question, what kind of Kingdom is to the northeast? I've only heard of the Grandmountain Kingdom but not of the other ones. I don't even know how many there are.'

'However, based on the reactions of the barbarians, the northeastern Kingdom is not as big of a threat as the Skythunder Kingdom.'

After that, Shang focused on the journey, which would take quite a while.

In fact, everyone ran without pause for nearly three days!

 

Chapter 310 – Camp

After three days, the group finally arrived.

Shang was in a Zone with many high mountains, which seemingly pierced the sky. Surprisingly, the mountains didn't form a mountain range but stood solitary in many different places.

Based on Shang's estimate, the Zone Beast of this area also had an Earth Affinity.

Between three of these mountains was a camp filled with powerful barbarians. Nearly all of them were 190cm or taller, which was probably the result of many years of careful breeding.

Shang could see a couple of big houses, but they obviously weren't houses for people to live in. They were probably huge warehouses or military buildings.

Surprisingly, there were no walls but only a couple of huge, sharpened bones around the camp, pointing outward.

From his current position, Shang could see a couple of Mages in the surrounding mountains, and he could also see about 200 barbarians training in the camp.

They were all gathered outside, and they were wrestling with each other. Punches and kicks seemed to be a rarity among them.

When Shang saw that, he furrowed his brows. 'Yes, grappling is incredibly useful, but you also need to punch and kick. After all, you don't always have the opportunity to transition a fistfight into a ground fight. I've seen plenty of MMA fighters lose to a good kick or punch from a standing position.'

Currently, the group was running down a mountain towards the camp.

After a couple of minutes, the exhausted group finally arrived.

The Commander didn't seem any different, but most barbarians were injured in several places. Even if some of them stumbled, the others would continue running and push them along.

As soon as they reached the camp, the Commander stopped and handed the chain to one of the saluting Mages.

The Commander nodded and left again.

Apparently, he was only responsible for delivering the soldiers.

One of the Mages looked at the barbarians and furrowed his brows. "You get to have a break until the Major arrives," he said as the other Mage left.

The barbarians took deep breaths, and some of them even collapsed.

By now, Shang had noted several things. 'Not every barbarian has a weapon, but funnily enough, the ones with weapons tend to have fewer injuries than the ones that don't. One would think that carrying a lot of extra weight would result in more injuries, but that isn't the case.'

'I guess a good weapon is a kind of status symbol only given to the more outstanding barbarians.'

Meanwhile, Shang carried his absolutely massive sword on his shoulders. Luckily for him, Sword could decide if it wanted to injure Shang or not. Otherwise, carrying the sword like this would have cut into his collarbone.

Surprisingly, Shang actually had the biggest weapon out of everyone, including all barbarians in the camp.

'I think I understand,' Shang thought as he looked around. 'A weapon must be wieldable, but it also must be hard enough. Getting harder material makes the weapon heavier, which means reducing its size.'

From what Shang had seen, no barbarian had a body as strong as Shang at the General Stage.

Their bodies were definitely more powerful than the bodies of warriors, but not as powerful as his.

Additionally, Shang had noticed something peculiar.

The physical power between barbarians of the same level varied quite a bit.

Warriors of the same level always had the same physical power. That was due to the thresholds of Mana. The amount of Mana in their bodies decided the warriors' physical power, and the different amounts were fixed.

But here, there were differences.

'Different techniques? Different talents? Different level of progression?'

Shang waited as the barbarians rested, and five minutes later, a new person appeared.

It was a middle-aged woman with icy-blue hair and a strict look on her face. Surprisingly, she wore blue armor instead of robes, but Shang was still certain that she was a Mage. The amount of Ice Mana going in and out of her body was far too large for a barbarian.

"Major!" the Mage holding the chain shouted with a salute.

The Major extended her hand and the Mage handed the chain over.

A second later, all the chains left the barbarians, freeing them for the first time in weeks.

The chains were incredibly painful for most barbarians since they were burned into their bodies.

Shang didn't really mind either way. Tearing the chains out of his flesh would have only been mildly annoying for him.

He had gone through worse pain.

However, the elation of the barbarians was only short-lived as about 20 heavy metal collars appeared in front of the Major.

"As criminals, you are not trustworthy," the Major said coldly. "You will not be chained, but you will wear this collar."

"There is a power field around this area filled with mountains. If you leave it, we will know, and we will kill you."

"You are allowed to walk amongst the mountains, but you are not allowed to enter forests or icy seas," she said.

Shang didn't show it, but he found her way of speaking amusing.

'She avoids using complex words in fear that the barbarians won't understand them. She even called the Magic Circle a power field.'

"You are also not allowed to take off the collars or destroy them. We will know if you try to damage it, and we will come to kill you."

The barbarians only bowed their heads in submission.

After that, one collar after the other floated onto the barbarian's necks.

Shang also received his collar, but he didn't mind.

'The presence of this collar changes nothing.'

'Trying to escape without the necessary power is suicide, and when I have the necessary power, the collar won't be an issue,' Shang thought.

At most, it was annoying.

After every barbarian had received their collars, the Major looked at the group. "You are allowed to ask for a weapon, but your stay will be one year longer."

The barbarians didn't answer.

"You are allowed to roam around and get familiar with your new comrades. When we need you, we will call for you."

And after saying that, the Major turned around and entered one of the buildings, leaving the barbarians looking at each other in confusion.

They looked at the camp with uncertainty.

And eventually, they entered.