Ch. 371..380
Chapter 371 – Escaping the Grandmountain Kingdom
Shang stood at the edge of the cave and looked at the surroundings of the mountain with cold, calculating, and calm eyes.
He had calmed down.
The 20 days of waiting for the foreign will to vanish had given him plenty of time to think about his actions.
Eventually, he came to a conclusion.
‘I lost control.’
‘Being emotional brought me into unnecessary danger.’
‘I need to keep my rage in check.’
‘I can’t listen to my emotions.’
These had been his thoughts.
And with the help of these thoughts, Shang managed to wake up and get rid of his rage.
His rage had transformed into frustration.
His lack of control over his emotions had messed up his training efficiency, and he couldn’t allow that to happen again.
After absorbing the first beast, Shang had followed his usual routine, and it worked out very well.
He continued absorbing Mid Commander Stage beasts, and the efficiency was now about 20% better than absorbing Early Commander Stage beasts.
Shang also wasn’t completely helpless for an entire week after absorbing one.
‘Overcoming the regret of my choices helped me in solidifying the importance of my goal, strengthening my willpower.’
‘Many people fear emotional pain, but overcoming such pain can do wonders for your willpower.’
‘The pain of my past gives me strength for my future.’
It had been three months since Shang had reached the Ancestral Mountain, and he was finally ready to leave.
Enough time had passed that the appearance of Abominations wouldn’t be connected to his presence. After all, if Abominations had appeared right after he arrived here, it would have been awfully coincidental, right?
Shang’s body had also reached about 83% of the power of an Early Commander Stage beast’s body, and it was time to push that efficiency more by absorbing another Abomination.
Lastly, Shang had spent most of the last three months searching for powerful ore in the Ancestral Mountain.
He had to go to some dangerous places, but he was very good at sensing danger and escaping.
And finally, he upgraded Sword to the Peak Commander Stage.
This was about as powerful as Shang could make Sword with his current power.
The next upgrade would be for the Initial True Path Stage, and those kinds of ores only existed near True Path Stage beasts. Additionally, since this was an entirely new Stage, he would need to get the ores for his four different Affinities again.
Upgrading Sword to the Initial True Path Stage would become arduous and difficult, and it was not something Shang could attempt right now.
It was time to leave.
It was time to enter the Blackshadow Kingdom.
“Are you ready?” Shang asked Sword.
“Ready,” it answered.
Shang nodded.
And then, he activated his Domain of Entropy.
Shang focused on the presences, but then his right eye widened in shock.
‘I can feel it?!’ he thought in shock.
At this moment, Shang could feel one presence that was vastly more powerful than all the other ones.
‘A True Path Stage Abomination!’
‘But how?!’
‘My level didn’t increase, and I didn’t really become any more powerful than previously!’
‘How can I suddenly feel one?!’
‘What changed?!’
Shang didn’t know what had changed, but something had to have changed.
Shang slightly pulled on the True Path Stage Abomination, and sure enough, he felt it respond.
However, Shang very quickly stopped interacting with it.
Summoning Commander Stage Abominations still counted as a somewhat normal occurrence.
But Shang had never heard about True Path Stage Abominations appearing.
The appearance of Commander Stage Abominations would raise some eyebrows in the Kingdoms, but it was nothing too concerning.
However, if a True Path Stage Abomination appeared, they would all realize that something had to be wrong.
‘I can’t summon one. If I summon a True Path Stage Abomination, the entire world will take note of their appearance, and someone is bound to connect these Abominations to me.’
Shang ignored the True Path Stage Abomination and focused on one of the Commander Stage Abominations.
After several minutes, the Commander Stage Abomination was close to being summoned. It always took a couple of minutes to summon them.
Shang tried to control where the Abominations would appear, and he hoped that it worked. If he could control where they appeared, things would become easier.
The wills of the Abominations somewhat resisted, but they eventually complied, and Shang could feel where they would appear.
Shang managed to somewhat control where they appeared, but he also noticed that there was no way back now.
Their locations had been set, and the destructive will of the Abominations had been awakened.
They would come out, even if Shang wanted them not to.
SHING! SHING! SHING!
Over 400 Abominations appeared near the foot of the Ancestral Mountain.
The Soldier Stage Abominations were on the ground, while the General Stage Abominations were on the first few kilometers of the mountain.
Of course, the Commander Stage Abomination was right in front of Shang.
This was why the Abominations hadn’t been the biggest fans of their deployment.
Their Commander Stage Abomination would appear somewhere completely else than them.
However, they followed Shang’s orders.
Shang immediately shoved his hand into the Abomination’s torso, which didn’t resist at all.
It was almost like it was happy to be absorbed by Shang.
It was like this was its purpose.
It was supposed to make Shang stronger!
It only took two seconds to absorb the Abomination, but in these two seconds, hell broke loose.
All the Abominations started to charge away from the mountain.
This had been Shang’s order.
In the Tide Serpent Zone, Shang wanted to keep the Abominations a secret, but now, he wanted them to attack the Grandmountain Kingdom.
Shang knew that several powerful Mages would be waiting for him, and he had to distract them.
When the Abominations appeared, all the people in the Ancestral Mountain Zone watched in horror as their world broke down.
The Ancestral Mountain Zone was extremely safe since the beasts all either lived in very deep caves or very high up the mountain. There were basically no beasts at the bottom, making this Zone a great place for the Fighter Stage barbarians and Adepts.
The barbarians were the most talented of the Kingdom, and they were at the northeastern frontlines to increase their power. Most of the talented Mages were also here since this place allowed them to fight the enemy without too high of a chance of death.
This place was supposed to be a paradise for growing more powerful.
But now, a horde of Abominations had suddenly appeared?!
“Everyone below the True Mage Realm, fall back immediately! Barbarians, flee!”
The blue-haired man had moved his headquarters to this Zone, and he had immediately given the order.
The Adepts and barbarians fled in terror.
The Abominations screeched in hatred.
Most people couldn’t react fast enough and…
BOOOOOM!
BOOOOOM!
BOOOOOM!
It was like an army of True Mages bombarded the Zone with destructive Spells.
It was hell.
When Shang saw that, his chest tightened, but he narrowed his right eye and pushed the feeling down.
He had no other choice.
He had to summon the Abominations to strengthen himself.
After absorbing the Commander Stage Abomination, Shang’s body had reached 87% of the power of an Early Commander Stage beast, and Shang suspected that his maximum was now at around 90%.
If he could avoid killing these weak people, he would do so, but he couldn’t.
He needed the Abominations to become more powerful.
And his power was the most important thing in the world.
BANG!
Shang exploded off the cave and shot through the sky towards the north.
BANG!
BANG!
Shang kept unleashing more and more blasts as he lengthened his fall.
As Shang kept soaring through the sky, the Grandmountain Kingdom responded with their own attacks.
They couldn’t allow themselves to keep themselves back because of the weaker Adepts and barbarians.
They had to get rid of the Abominations right now!
Because of that, even more explosions and more destruction appeared on the ground.
Right now, Shang was “flying” through a light-filled sky peacefully as everything several kilometers below him exploded with blood and guts.
As Shang kept moving forward in the sky, he noticed that the Zone Beast hadn’t reacted.
It was definitely there, and Shang could feel its presence due to the intense Light Mana it gave off, but it didn’t seem to care about the Abominations.
The beasts also didn’t care much.
‘I guess the Abominations are too weak for the Zone Beast to care. After all, Zone Beasts are, in general, only interested in Commander Stage Abominations. Additionally, none of the Abominations are anywhere near the top of the mountain, and they are even running away from the problem. The Zone Beast probably thinks that this isn’t its problem.’
As Shang looked down, he saw several gigantic explosions of ice, far bigger than any other explosion down there.
Shang looked at the source of the explosions and noticed a blue-haired man, and when Shang saw him, he felt a terrifying feeling of danger.
‘I can’t possibly fight him! He’s far beyond my level!’
Luckily, the man was too busy dealing with the army of Abominations, and he didn’t notice the distant Shang in the sky.
Shang peacefully glided through the sky, and he eventually went past the border of the Zone to his north.
This was where Shang’s knowledge about the surrounding Zones ended.
The only thing he could tell was that it was an icy tundra with not that many mountains or hills. It was rather flat, like the former Battlefield.
Shang could see several Mages stationed at the south of the border, and they were rapidly moving around.
They had obviously noticed what was going on, and they were probably planning on invading.
This was a god-sent opportunity!
All the Mages focused on the Ancestral Mountain Zone, which was why they mostly ignored the sky.
Thanks to that, Shang managed to get past the stationed defenses.
And he eventually landed about five kilometers to their northwest.
Chapter 372 – Another Search
Knock, knock, knock.
A young man knocked on a big wooden door.
“Come in,” came from behind the door.
The young man with grey hair opened the door and walked into the room.
It was a nice and cozy study with a couple of books.
On the table at the back of the study sat a friendly-looking old man who was currently reading a book.
“Sir, we received one more complaint from the Water Emperor, two more from the Wind Emperor, and four more from the Twilight Royalty,” the young man said with professional politeness.
The older man on the table only sighed in helplessness.
“Is it because of the increased quantity of Abominations again, Wester?” the old man asked.
Wester, the butler, nodded. “Correct, sir.”
The older man sighed once again. “By how much did it increase this time?”
“Compared to 20 years ago, the quantity of Abominations has doubled, sir,” Wester explained.
The older man rubbed his temple with one of his hands. “I guess we can’t chalk this up to coincidence anymore.”
“I was surprised that you managed to do that until now,” Wester said with an unchanging expression.
Once again, the older man sighed. “So, the Child of Calamity actually is out there, and they have reached the Adept Realm.”
“It seems so, sir,” Wester said.
“Well, I guess we have to widen the scope of our search. How long ago did the old Child of Calamity die?”
“About fourteen years, sir,” Wester answered professionally.
“Fourteen years, huh?” the old man mused. “That’s a bit more on the faster side for reaching the Adept Realm, but not completely outstanding yet. However, it is still far faster than for any of the Areas.”
Wester didn’t answer.
“It seems like the Child of Calamity has been born outside the Areas, but we should still be careful.”
“Wester,” the old man said as he made his decision. “Get Sarah to inspect every Adept below twenty years of age. However, for the Areas, it should be fine if we ask the supervisors to do it.”
Wester nodded. “Searching through that many people will take far longer than the last time. The last time, we only looked at newborns. This time, it might take several weeks.”
“I know,” the old man said with a sigh. “That’s why I didn’t want to give the order previously. The other Emperors will probably try to do something sneaky while such a large portion of our forces are occupied. I swear, they only complain so much so that they can bite a huge chunk out of our territories.”
“But that’s what I get for volunteering to become the one responsible for keeping the Child of Calamity in check. It worked out great for so many years, but now, it’s suddenly a problem.”
The old man sighed once again.
“I wonder if this is your doing, Lucius,” he said to no one in particular. “Is this some kind of hint for us?”
“Well, it doesn’t really matter,” the old man said as he leaned back to read the book some more. “Wester, please go ahead with the search.”
“Of course, sir,” Wester said.
Then, he performed a polite bow and left the study.
After Wester left the room, the older man groaned.
“Who cares about more Abominations? It’s just two ants instead of one. Just stop complaining,” he grumbled to himself.
Then, he focused on his book again.
A couple of minutes later, over a thousand lightning bolts shot away from the mansion, followed by a bright beam of grey light. Wherever the beam passed, space seemed to warp.
…
“By order of the Lightning Emperor, you are hereby tasked to check your Area for the Child of Calamity. We suspect they are below twenty years old and have reached the Adept Realm.”
A man with golden armor sparkling with lightning spoke these words to a young man with white hair wearing some simple robes.
“Understood,” the young man answered respectfully. “I will have an answer by tomorrow.”
The man in golden armor nodded.
BANG!
With an explosion of lightning, the man in golden armor vanished again.
The middle-aged man with grey hair narrowed his eyes.
A second later, he also exploded into a bolt of lightning, but the bolt was far weaker and slower than the bolt of the man with golden armor.
Over the next hour, the man visited five Archmages, but none of them had any idea about the person their supervisor was looking for, but they promised that they would check every Adept below 25 years old, just to be safe.
The supervisor told them that he needed an answer by tomorrow.
And then, the supervisor went to the last Archmage in his responsible Area.
BANG!
A lightning bolt struck down on a grassy hill, singing the grass around it.
After the lightning bolt vanished, the supervisor was unveiled.
In front of him stood a tall and muscular man who only wore white pants. Right now, that man stood on the hill, his entire body sweaty and vibrating with power as Lightning and Wind Mana around him came out of his being in complex and mystical ways.
The man’s eyes remained closed, even though the arrival of the supervisor couldn’t go unnoticed.
“I have a couple of questions and a task for you,” the supervisor said emotionlessly.
“Shoot,” King Skythunder answered without opening his eyes.
“You have noticed that there are far more Abominations appearing all around the world in the last couple of years, right?” the supervisor asked.
“I don’t know about the world, but my Kingdom has more than usual. If you want the specific number, ask someone from the Council. I don’t really care,” King Skythunder answered.
The supervisor’s brows furrowed.
He really didn’t like this Archmage’s attitude.
“Do you know about any young human that could possibly be related to the Abominations? It could be anything. Anything that could connect them to the Abominations in some way,” the supervisor said.
King Skythunder only smirked while his eyes remained closed.
“Do I look like someone that comes into contact with a lot of weaklings? Well, ignoring the High Mages,” he answered.
“That was not my question,” the supervisor said with a deep and threatening tone. “Do you know about such a person or not? I’m here on the orders of the Lightning Emperor personally!”
King Skythunder’s smirk widened.
Then, he opened his eyes and looked at the supervisor.
“No.”
When the supervisor saw King Skythunder’s expression, rage bubbled up inside of him.
His instincts were telling him that King Skythunder was lying, but that didn’t make much sense.
King Skythunder was a crazy person, but he wouldn’t resist the Lightning Emperor’s orders.
After some seconds, the supervisor snorted aggressively.
‘He’s trying to mess with me. I’m pretty sure he only wants to get a rise out of me.’
‘I swear, every time we meet, he somehow tries to provoke me without actually going against my orders.’
‘Does he have a death wish?!’
“Fine,” the supervisor said. “I want you to inspect every single Adept below twenty years of age for any kind of possible connection to the Abominations.”
“You do it. This is your Area, not mine,” King Skythunder answered with a smirk as he closed his eyes again to focus on his training.
Rage exploded inside the supervisor’s chest, but he didn’t say anything.
He had learned that arguing with King Skythunder only ended up with him becoming angrier.
Sadly, he couldn’t kill King Skythunder since that would destroy the equilibrium of his entire Area. Additionally, the Skythunder Kingdom was doing an amazing job at fostering powerful Mages.
Without another word, the supervisor left.
He didn’t really think that the person everyone was searching for was within the small Skythunder Kingdom, which was why the supervisor didn’t search through it. Also, the King of that Kingdom had already said that he didn’t know of anyone.
And a day later, the supervisor gave his feedback to the man with golden armor.
“My Area doesn’t have a person connected to the Abominations.”
Chapter 373 – Hiding
Shang landed in an area that resembled a burned forest. All the trees he could see were blackened and without any foliage. They looked almost like black needles that pierced the sky.
The air was dry and filled with static electricity. It wasn’t difficult for Shang to guess the Affinity of the resident Zone Beast.
To the southeast, Shang could hear the distant sounds of battle. As time passed, the sounds only became louder and not quieter.
‘Seems like the Blackshadow Kingdom is assaulting the Grandmountain Kingdom.’
‘Right now, everyone is occupied, giving me the perfect opportunity to flee. I don’t want to create another huge incident just one Zone away from the last one. I think I should go to the next Zone directly.’
Shang started running through the dead Zone. From time to time, he could see lightning bolts strike the dead trees near him, which explained why they all looked so dead.
Shang also saw a couple of Mages and Summoners run past him towards the southeast, probably joining the battle.
It wasn’t easy for Shang to hide in this place, but everyone was too busy charging towards the south anyway. They didn’t really pay much attention to their surroundings.
It took Shang nearly an hour, but he eventually managed to reach the northern edge of this Zone.
Luckily for him, the Blackshadow Kingdom didn’t really put many guards on the borders between their Zones. All the soldiers were probably busy guarding against the Grandmountain Kingdom.
Shang could see a couple of Summoners, but he estimated that they were only at the Early Commander Stage.
‘Wait, what are actually the levels of the Summoners? I mean, they are not warriors. So, I guess saying that they are at the Commander Stage would be wrong.’
‘They are more akin to Mages, but their power can’t compare to a Mage. Calling them True Mages would be overestimating their power.’
‘I guess I should call them True Summoners and the lower ones Adept Summoners and Apprentice Summoners. That makes sense.’
Shang easily got past the two True Summoners defending the border and entered the next Zone.
As soon as he reached the next Zone, the temperature spiked. The last Zone was already quite warm, but this one was just way too hot.
Shang could see lava flow around the Zone like a river, and basically the entire thing was made of black rock.
The Zone Beast obviously had a Fire Affinity, but in comparison to the Volcano Wyrm Zone Shang knew, this Zone was less of a volcano and more of a caldera. The further one went towards the middle of the Zone, the deeper and hotter it got.
‘This is a good spot to remain for the next two weeks,’ Shang thought as he looked at the rocky terrain filled with lava. There were plenty of caves and beasts he could see.
Shang looked around for a while and could see a couple of Summoners, but they were all only Adept Summoners with only very few True Summoners.
‘Still too close to the border for Apprentice Summoners, but not close enough to the border for the True Summoners.’
‘Additionally,’ Shang thought as he looked at the lava lake in the middle of the Zone.
There was a big island made of obsidian in the middle of the lava lake with two black walkways connecting it to the shore.
On the island, Shang could see several tall, black buildings.
This was obviously some form of fortification or city.
‘Looks quite big. Could be that a Duke lives here. I should be careful not to approach.’
Shang was confident in being able to escape the notice of a True Mage, but a High Mage was something completely different.
‘The Spirit Sense of a High Mage is fully developed, and they can probably feel everything in their surroundings for at least five kilometers in radius. I have to stay near the edge of the Zone and get away from the south. If the Duke decides to go to the frontlines, they might notice me.’
Shang frowned. ‘So many unknowns. Usually, I know what awaits me, but I have no idea about how the Blackshadow Kingdom operates. I guess there’s a High Mage there, but it’s also possible that there is no High Mage in that city.’
Shang quickly traveled towards the east of the Zone, doing his best to avoid approaching the big city at its center.
About 30 minutes later, Shang found a hidden cave near the east of the Zone, and he decided to remain there.
Finally, Shang could calm down. This entire operation had been fraught with unknown variables, and he was glad to finally find a relatively safe place.
After getting familiar with the cave, Shang moved his arms around and looked at them with furrowed brows.
‘I feel like I could directly absorb another Abomination, but I can’t take any risks. The way I am absorbing the Abominations is obviously very different from how barbarians strengthen their bodies normally. Instead of tearing the foreign Mana out of their heart and making it mine, the Abominations basically enter my body on their own.’
‘It doesn’t feel like there are any side effects, but I should still be careful. I think waiting for two weeks is best.’
‘Until then, I should get more familiar with my Fire Affinity. This place is filled with Fire Mana, and I should take advantage of it. I’m not too far away from my next checkpoint regarding fire anyway. Should, at most, take a month.’
Shang nodded once when he finished his plan and sat down in the middle of the cave.
Then, he concentrated on his Fire Affinity until he would achieve a breakthrough in that regard.
Sadly, Shang would be interrupted by something else just two days later.
A group of beasts was approaching Shang’s cave.
Thanks to his Pseudo-Spirit Sense, he could feel their approach, even though they all did their best to enter the cave covertly.
Shang’s mind focused on the beasts, and he quickly saw a young woman riding on one of them.
‘Mid Adept Summoner with four beasts, including the Companion Beast.’
Shang inspected the cave and noticed that there was no sign of him having been there, which was good.
Shang took a deep breath and closed his right eye for a second.
Then, he opened it again, conviction shining inside it.
‘I can’t risk getting found.’
BANG!
Shang immediately exploded out of the cave with a Fire Blast, his speed incomprehensible for a mere Adept Summoner.
The Adept Summoner had only come here to hunt for hidden beasts. She had always wanted one of the Hidden Fire Lizards that lived in these caves. With such a beast, she could take her enemies by surprise, increasing her power.
However, before she could even do anything, her entire world broke down.
After a loud BANG, she saw the head of her Companion Beast leaving its body.
She couldn’t even comprehend what had just happened.
And she wouldn’t get the chance to.
BOOOM!
A heavy fist hit the side of her head, caving it in.
She was still alive, but she had lost all consciousness due to that hit.
Shang only coldly looked at the unconscious girl and fled towards the north.
The beasts that had just been under the Summoner’s control only realized that they were free after Shang had already left.
And as soon as they saw the corpse of the Companion Beast and the unconscious Summoner, rage and hatred exploded inside of them, and they attacked.
In a matter of seconds, the girl and the beast were torn to shreds and consumed.
After that, the beasts fled in all directions.
This was not a common occurrence, but it happened from time to time.
Beasts sometimes went out of control and killed their Summoners.
The investigators would search for the young Summoner a couple of days later and find traces of her.
After inspecting her former beasts and the place of her death, they would judge that this had been exactly such a case.
And with that, this incident ended.
No one even suspected that she had been killed by another human. After all, there had been no traces of Magic or a struggle.
It was like her beasts had suddenly gone out of control and had attacked her.
In the meantime, Shang found a new cave and concentrated on his Fire Affinity again, and just three weeks later, he finally achieved his breakthrough.
Chapter 374 – Growth
After achieving his breakthrough in his Fire Affinity, Shang left his new cave and scouted the Zone to the east of this one.
The next Zone was filled with mountains made of metal with absolutely no vegetation on them. But just like the previous one, this one also had several caves.
After checking everything, Shang went to the border between the two Zones while still retaining about five kilometers of distance to the next Zone.
Then, Shang closed his eyes and connected with the Abominations.
Just like last time, Shang summoned a Commander Stage Abomination together with its army.
SHING! SHING! SHING!
In an instant, the eastern half of the Zone was filled with Abominations, and Shang quickly absorbed the Commander Stage Abomination. After that, he ordered the Abominations to kill everything towards the west, and they followed.
Just like last time, the Abominations went wild and attacked everything they could see while Shang ran towards the east.
With his newly absorbed Abomination, his physical power was now at around 90% of the power of an Early Commander Stage beast, and Shang could feel that he could soon make a breakthrough.
BZZT!
The mark of the Thunder Horse got activated as Shang was retreating, which meant that the Zone Beast had noticed him.
Just like last time, Shang’s fear intensified.
Every time he decided to summon Abominations, he was playing with death, but in his mind, the risk was necessary.
How was he supposed to become the strongest if he couldn’t unveil his full potential?
As Shang fled towards the east, more and more explosions appeared west of him.
He had no idea how many humans and beasts he had doomed by summoning this group of Abominations.
‘Every time I summon the Abominations, innocent people die. Not everyone wants to fight a war or kill me, but these people die nevertheless,’ Shang thought with a frown as he fled towards the east.
‘In order to increase my power, everyone around me suffers.’
‘I don’t like it, but I have no other choice. My power is more important than anything else!’
‘I can’t let anyone notice the connection between the Abominations and me! If anyone notices, I will become the enemy of the entire world!’
The more Shang summoned Abominations, the more isolated he felt.
Back when he realized that his Affinity was actually Entropy, he already knew that he would become the enemy of everything alive, but he hadn’t expected it to be this extreme.
Shang would endanger everyone around him just by becoming stronger, which was the exact opposite of why many people wanted to become powerful.
Many people wanted to become powerful to be safe and to have the ability to protect their loved ones.
But the more powerful Shang became, the more dangerous it became to be close to him.
Shang didn’t like this one bit, but there wasn’t much he could do. He could only get used to it.
The couple of guards at the border between Zones got distracted by the carnage towards their west, and they ran towards the big city in the Zone with horror.
Their family and friends lived there!
If they didn’t help, everyone they loved would die!
Shang easily passed through the border and continued running.
The explosions became more and more violent, but the explosions didn’t reach a ridiculous level of power, which meant that the Zone Beast didn’t become active.
However, some of the explosions were still quite powerful.
‘Either a High Mage or a True Path Stage beast is decimating the Abominations,’ Shang thought.
Theoretically, a General Stage Abomination had the power to kill something in the Fourth Realm, but that was only theoretical.
Entropy couldn’t be unleashed from over a kilometer away, while a High Mage or True Path Stage beast could launch devastating attacks from several kilometers away.
So, even though the Abominations could kill someone on that level, they never got the chance to unleash that power. After all, they would die far away from these powerful beings.
However, many weaker people would still die to these Abominations. After all, not everyone could flee from such a horde.
Many lives were lost this day.
Shang eventually found a safe cave in the new Zone and waited for a couple of days to let things blow over.
No one followed him.
After that, he went outside and scouted out the Zone.
There was a sizable town in the middle of the Zone, but it couldn’t be counted as a city. Shang was quite confident that there wasn’t any High Mage in this Zone.
‘Sadly, I still can’t enter the town. I look out of place, and I’m certain that they have some kind of Magic Circle to scan the physical power of people. After all, there are bound to be physical fighters in this Kingdom. They are just not nearly as powerful as the barbarians and warriors.’
Right now, Shang felt like a fugitive that had just escaped prison. He couldn’t show himself in public, and he could only watch other people from a distance.
He couldn’t interact with anyone else.
Right now, Shang felt like the entire world was against him, and it felt very isolating.
After a couple of minutes of staring at the town, Shang could only sigh.
‘I only need the Abominations to heighten the maximum potential my body can reach. I don’t need to exclusively absorb Abominations.’
‘Right now, my upper limit should be around 94% of the power of an Early Commander Stage beast. If there are too many Abominations appearing one after the other, the Blackshadow Kingdom is bound to become suspicious.’
‘I should keep low for a couple of months.’
‘Until then, I should focus on training my swordsmanship.’
Shang left the mountain from which he had watched the town and went back to his cave.
Another long session of training with Sword began.
Every two weeks, Shang would go out, hunt a beast, absorb it, and return to his cave.
All of this continued for about three months.
Shang could see quite some progress on his Star Map, but there was still a long way to go.
Shang slowly stood up and wanted to summon the next army of Abominations, but he soon noticed something after thinking about his journey.
‘I think I should be 30 now,’ he thought with surprise.
‘I have already been in this world for around 16 years.’
‘That’s just six years less than I have been on Earth, and I don’t even remember my first three years on Earth.’
Shang remembered when he had arrived at the Warrior’s Academy as a fourteen to fifteen-year-old boy.
He had been amazing at fighting beasts, but Mages and warriors had dominated him.
Shang had needed to fight people below his level for several months just to become barely average.
For a while, Shang was caught up in nostalgia.
Back then, Shang was among peers. He had so many classmates to fight and learn from.
And now?
Now, he felt alone and isolated.
But he also felt powerful.
Back then, his body had been fourteen.
Now, he was thirty.
Back then, he had been a teenager.
Now, he was a true adult.
And everything had changed.
For a while, Shang only stared aimlessly into space.
He wasn’t sure if he wanted to go back to that time or not.
‘I don’t think so,’ Shang thought as he clenched his right fist.
‘Back then, I was reliant on others.’
‘Now, I rely on myself, and I am finally powerful enough to travel through a Kingdom that wants me dead.’
‘I finally have some sort of control over my own life!’
And then, Shang focused on the Abominations.
Chapter 375 – Shang
Right now, Shang stood on top of a hill, overlooking the border between two Zones.
The Zone he was currently in was filled with icy hills, and the Zone to its east was filled with canyons, small mountains, and craters.
Shang could see several huge towers and groups of Mages. He could even see two High Mages.
For the last two days, Shang had been watching that border, noting all the forces that were stationed there.
This border was special.
This was not only the border between two Zones but the border between two Kingdoms.
This was the border between the Blackshadow Kingdom and the Spirit Spring Kingdom.
Shang had been inside the Blackshadow Kingdom for another two years, strengthening himself and training with Sword.
By now, Shang was 32 years old.
He had been gone from the Skythunder Kingdom for around ten years, but now, he was very close to being able to return.
While the Blackshadow Kingdom enslaved physical fighters and fed them to their beasts, the Spirit Spring Kingdom was very different.
Even though they had a different kind of Summoner in their Kingdom, called a Spiriter, their entire Kingdom was completely different from the Blackshadow Kingdom.
While the Summoners enslaved their beasts, the Spiriters built a connection. The beasts willingly fought for them, and the bond between a Spiriter and their beasts was a close one.
Additionally, the Spirit Spring Kingdom was right beside the Skythunder Kingdom, and they also had some warriors travel through their Kingdom from time to time. After all, the Skythunder Kingdom and the Spirit Spring Kingdom were close allies, and plenty of warriors were sent to the Spirit Spring Kingdom to help put pressure on the Magic Purity Kingdom.
If Shang managed to enter the Spirit Spring Kingdom, he would be able to return to the Skythunder Kingdom without any problems.
He wouldn’t even need to hide anymore.
‘It’s been over ten years,’ Shang thought as he looked at the border.
Over the last couple of days, Shang had been thinking about his journey and how he had changed over its course.
He had been sent to the central-west of the Grandmountain Kingdom by that powerful Mage.
He had quickly been found and transferred to the northeastern front to fight the Blackshadow Kingdom.
There, he had learned about the barbarians.
Then, he spent around seven to eight years in the Tide Serpent Zone until he fled to the Ancestral Mountain Zone.
After that, he went to the Blackshadow Kingdom and trained for two years.
Shang had summoned over ten armies of Abominations over these two years, terrifying the Blackshadow Kingdom and ending many innocent lives.
By now, Shang had made his peace with his nature.
If he had to be the reason for many innocent people to lose their lives to become powerful, he would do so.
His power was the most important thing in the world.
Shang had also been found several times over the last two years, but he always managed to kill the person that found him before the news could get out.
Shang’s feelings regarding killing innocent people that only wanted to fight beasts or travel the wilderness had numbed.
The more he did it, the easier it became.
Even the incident with Lash only felt natural to Shang now.
Lash had been a danger to Shang’s survival, which meant that he had to die.
Over the past ten years, Shang had changed so much.
Back then, Shang had been at the Peak General Stage and uncertain of how he should act. Should he help others, or should he take everything for himself?
Now, Shang was 32 and at the Mid Commander Stage. Right now, his body was at around 85% of the power of a Mid Commander Stage beast, but his upper limit was already approaching 100% due to all the Abominations he absorbed.
Right now, Shang wore his nearly destroyed black armor. For the past two years, he had been running around without a shirt, but since he would be among humans again soon, he decided to bend the armor into shape again with his power.
There were still several holes and huge dents in the armor, but it covered his upper body well enough.
His big sword hung on his back.
His black pants were nearly destroyed.
The long black piece of cloth that covered his left eye looked old and in just as bad of a shape as his other pieces of clothing.
Shang’s hair was long and black, but it had obviously not been taken care of, making it look dirty.
Shang’s current appearance wouldn’t have felt alien or strange to the younger Shang, but his aura had completely changed.
Back then, Shang had given off a hardworking but insecure aura. He was like a teenager that wasn’t exactly sure what they should do.
Back when Shang had met the Dean for the first time, he had become irritated by him. The Dean had appeared coldhearted and cruel.
It was almost like he hadn’t been a human but a coldhearted monster.
Shang hadn’t known why he had disliked the Dean so much when they had just met back then.
And now?
Well, if Soran were here and if he were to see Shang stand on the hill like this…
He might confuse him with the Dean for a second.
Over the last 18 years, Shang had very slowly become more and more similar to the Dean.
In the beginning, Shang felt bad for killing a hog.
Then, he had gotten used to killing beasts.
Later, Shang felt horrible for killing the beggars who just recently joined the bandits.
Then, he had gotten used to killing his enemies, even if they were humans.
After that, Shang felt horrible for trying to kill a teenager that wanted to steal his gold.
Then, he had gotten used to killing anyone that went against him, regardless of power or age.
When Shang killed Lash to protect his identity, he felt horrible once again.
Then, he got used to killing his old friends as long as they posed a danger to his life.
Even if their intention wasn’t to do so.
Lash was the first human Shang killed in the real world that had absolutely no intention of hurting him, which was why that incident weighed so heavily on his mind.
But as Shang continued killing more and more people in the Blackshadow Kingdom that just happened to come close to his hiding place, he got used to these feelings.
And by now, he didn’t even feel them.
When Shang had arrived at the Grandmountain Kingdom, he couldn’t have imagined killing anyone that didn’t have malicious intentions toward him.
Now, it was the norm.
Teacher Mervin, Vice-Dean Soran, and Teacher Loran tried to teach Shang that life could only be enjoyable if one felt love, friendship, and companionship.
Excessive hunger for power only ended in tragedy and sadness.
Maybe they would have succeeded.
But the trials, which forced Shang to kill Mages and warriors, the hostile environment of the Grandmountain Kingdom, and the God’s answers and wisdom made it impossible for their teachings to take hold.
People could influence their own growth and path to a great degree, but the environment in which they lived also had a significant impact on their future development.
If Shang had remained in the Skythunder Kingdom, he would have probably become a person that was basically a mix between the Dean and Duke Whirlwind.
Someone that could make difficult decisions if needed but someone that could still work with others and help them.
Sadly, this was not what happened.
Shang had been thrust into a hostile environment ten years ago…
And he developed a hostile mindset.
Friends changed people.
Enemies changed people.
Superiors changed people.
The world changed people.
And Shang had been changed.
He was no longer a teenager.
He was a real adult now, and his personality had solidified.
This was who Shang had become.
And it would be very difficult to change it in the future.
…
Alex would hate Shang.
Chapter 376 – The Way Home
After watching the border for a while, Shang contacted the Abominations.
By now, he had gotten pretty good at it. He no longer needed several minutes to summon them but only about two. That was way faster than before, but still not fast enough to use during a fight.
After summoning Abominations so often, Shang had gotten a good feeling about how the Zone Beasts would react. Most of them didn’t seem to care about the Abominations as long as there was no Commander Stage Abomination amongst them.
Theoretically, Shang counted as a Commander Stage Abomination, but if he immediately fled without damaging anything, the Zone Beast would most likely leave him alone. Of course, the Thunder Horse’s mark also played a role in that decision.
SHING! SHING! SHING!
The Abominations appeared north of Shang’s current location and directly charged towards the east, at the border.
Shang consumed the Commander Stage Abomination within a second and jumped into the sky.
Just like before, fighting immediately broke out as the border between the Kingdoms focused on defending against the Abominations.
The eyes of the guards widened in shock and terror as they saw an army of Abominations appear close to them.
In an instant, all the Mages went into formation and activated the gigantic Magic Circles on the towers they had built.
BOOM! BOOOM! BOOOOOM
The towers kept shooting incredibly powerful bolts made of Darkness Mana, dissolving the Abominations before they could come close.
But even more…
WHOOOOOM!
A gigantic wave of ice washed over the army of Abominations, taking out over ten of them!
The High Mage of the Blackshadow Kingdom had become active!
The High Mage looked with narrowed eyes at the Abominations as his Focus with three Amplifiers created one Spell after the other.
“Need help?”
The High Mage heard these words inside his mind and glanced over at the defenses of the Spirit Spring Kingdom.
This was how fellow High Mages communicated most of the time. Instead of talking, they projected their thoughts into the minds of the people around them via their Spirit Sense. This was far faster than talking since the concepts could be exchanged directly. They didn’t need to be translated into language and then translated back.
“Keep to your own matters, Milk Boy!” the High Mage of the Blackshadow Kingdom sent back with coldness and arrogance.
The High Mage of the Spirit Spring Kingdom only furrowed his brows.
“Why am I even trying, Stiff Brick?” he asked sarcastically.
The High Mage didn’t answer.
Even though the two Kingdoms were allied, they still had severe disagreements in their philosophy.
Milk Boy and Stiff Brick were not the names of the High Mages but derogatory terms for the people of the other Kingdom.
The Blackshadow Kingdom saw the Spirit Spring Kingdom as soft babies that wanted harmony, happiness, and peace above anything else. They even treated their beasts as equals, and the Blackshadow Kingdom thought that to be ridiculous.
The people of the Spirit Spring Kingdom had no spine and bent to anyone’s will in the Blackshadow Kingdom’s eyes.
That was why they called the residents Milk Boys and Milk Girls.
Meanwhile, the Spirit Spring Kingdom thought the Blackshadow Kingdom to be cruel for no reason. Their own Kingdom is warring severely amongst each other to gain power, making the entire Kingdom unsafe for the younger people.
In comparison to the Skythunder Kingdom, the Blackshadow Kingdom’s internal wars were far more open and brutal. While the Dukes in the Skythunder Kingdom only used schemes and indirect attacks, assassinations and direct warfare were far more common inside the Blackshadow Kingdom.
Even more, the Queen of the Blackshadow Kingdom was one of the younger and weaker ones. If a couple of High Mages worked together, they could potentially kill her.
Her rule wasn’t nearly as ironclad as King Skythunder’s.
This created a very hostile environment for the people of the Blackshadow Kingdom, making them cynical, bitter, pessimistic, and stubborn.
Because of their cold, closed, and stubborn nature, the people of the Spirit Spring Kingdom called them Stiff Bricks.
The only reason why they even were allies was due to the threat of the Magic Purity Kingdom.
Of course, they still didn’t trust each other one bit, which was why there were two High Mages stationed at the borders.
The guards kept decimating the Abominations without a problem.
Usually, the Abominations ended several innocent lives whenever Shang summoned them, but this time, not even a single person would die.
This was a fortified border between two Kingdoms, and their firepower was immense.
“Hm?”
The High Mage of the Spirit Spring Kingdom suddenly looked towards the sky.
He felt something briefly enter his Spirit Sense.
When he looked up, he saw a flying lizard surrounded by icy mist as it was rapidly flying towards the Spirit Spring Kingdom.
‘Only a Blizzard Lizard,’ the High Mage thought as he focused on the Abominations again.
It was normal for beasts to flee in panic when an army of Abominations appeared. Sure, some of the beasts would directly attack them, but there were also beasts that didn’t want to fight.
The Blizzard Lizard had obviously been startled by the Abominations and fled in a random direction.
The High Mage didn’t really care about the Blizzard Lizard.
If the roles were reversed, the people of the Blackshadow Kingdom would shoot down the beast. After all, it was a Commander Stage beast, and it could serve as good food for the beasts of their Summoners. Additionally, they didn’t like it when anything entered their Kingdom from another Kingdom.
That included beasts.
However, the people of the Spirit Spring Kingdom didn’t really care.
They somewhat lived in harmony with the beasts, and they didn’t kill them as long as it wasn’t necessary.
Additionally, the Blizzard Lizard would soon leave the Spirit Spring Kingdom again. After all, it was a beast with an Ice Affinity, and it wouldn’t enjoy staying in a Zone ruled by a Zone Beast with an Earth Affinity.
Of course, the High Mage didn’t really inspect the Blizzard Lizard. It would be strange to thoroughly inspect a random beast while a huge battle happened just in front of him.
A minute later, the Blizzard Lizard began to rapidly fall to the ground.
From the outside, it looked like the beast was diving toward the ground. After all, all the icy mist kept the body behind it hidden.
Only someone with a Spirit Sense could look through the icy veil and see that the Blizzard Lizard had already died.
Inside the icy veil, a nearly frozen Shang could be seen.
His body’s temperature was dangerously low, but he kept it in check by releasing his own icy mist.
Shang had had enough time to come up with a plan, and this was it.
With his Pseudo-Spirit Sense, he could somewhat communicate with beasts, but this method of communication was very primitive.
Shang caught the Blizzard Lizard and sent threatening and aggressive signals toward it while ordering it to fly towards the east.
Of course, Shang’s power was far greater than the beast’s, and it followed Shang’s command.
BANG!
The beast’s body hit the ground, and Shang put the body into his inner world.
After that, Shang charged away to hide for the next couple of days.
He wanted to let things blow over.
And like that, Shang entered the Spirit Spring Kingdom.
There was no huge problem or fight.
After years of doing this, Shang had become incredible at evading the watching eyes of the Kingdom, and his finesse had been proven by getting past the border without an incident.
As Shang ran through the Zone, a light appeared in his right eye.
‘I only need to wait a couple of days, travel across two Zones or so, and no one will bat an eye at my appearance.’
‘Ten years!’
‘After ten years, I’m finally on my way home!’
Chapter 377 – Map
Shang walked on a road towards a big city in the middle of the day. The side of the road led into thick forests, which were filled with weaker beasts.
A couple of people had already passed him on his journey, but they didn’t talk to him.
Shang had seen plenty of people riding on beasts. This seemed to be nothing unusual in the Spirit Spring Kingdom as even very weak merchants rode on beasts.
Eventually, Shang reached the gates of the city. The gates were made of wood, but Shang could tell that this wasn’t normal wood. The wood the gates were made out of was probably as powerful as Commander Stage ore.
Several guards were checking the Space Rings of the people that wanted to enter the city, and quite a long queue had already formed.
Shang only stood at the end of the queue, not looking at anyone else.
The people around Shang threw careful glances at him.
For some reason, they didn’t feel comfortable being near him.
However, they didn’t want to be rude. So, they didn’t comment.
Shang waited for several minutes in the queue until it was his turn.
“Space Rings,” the woman on a large wolf ordered as she saw Shang.
The guards of this city were Spiriters, and they used their beasts to keep watch over everything.
Grrrr!
At that moment, the wolf the woman was riding on started to growl at Shang.
The Spiriter was quite surprised when she saw her beast’s reaction and connected with it mentally.
Of course, the beasts weren’t very smart, and they could only transmit primitive feelings toward their Spiriters.
Right now, the wolf was transmitting a feeling that identified Shang as an enemy.
The wolf wanted to kill Shang.
When the Spiriter felt these feelings come from her beast, her eyebrows furrowed, and she looked at Shang.
“What is your business here?” she asked with a chilly tone.
“I want to buy a map,” Shang answered evenly.
The Spiriter’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of map?”
“Just a general one of the Spirit Spring Kingdom,” he said. “As you might have noticed, I’m not from here.”
After Shang said these words, the Spiriter took a closer look at Shang.
The density of Mana around him was rather weak, but the threat she felt coming from Shang was enormous.
She quickly knew what was going on.
“You’re a warrior?” she asked.
“Yes,” Shang said. “I want to get back to the Skythunder Kingdom. I’ve been away for a long time.”
The gates had a perpetual Truth Verification Magic Circle active, and the Spiriter could tell that Shang was speaking the truth.
However, her eyes only became colder.
Now, she knew why her beast saw Shang as an enemy.
“Did you kill any beasts?” she asked.
“Yes,” Shang answered.
A cold gleam appeared in her eyes, and Shang could feel detest and anger radiate from the Spiriter.
For a couple of seconds, she only glared at Shang with hate.
“Space Ring,” she ordered again with an icy tone.
Shang took out his Space Ring and threw it over.
When the Spiriter saw the contents of the Space Ring, she had to control herself not to destroy it and attack Shang right then and there.
Corpses.
So many beast corpses and beast parts!
The Spirit Spring Kingdom worked in harmony with the beasts. Especially the Spiriters saw beasts as humans.
To a Spiriter, seeing a Space Ring filled with beast corpses was like seeing a Space Ring filled with human corpses for others.
She gritted her teeth in anger and hatred, but she threw the Space Ring back to Shang.
“You may enter,” she said with a controlled but icy voice.
Shang nodded and passed her.
At this moment, the Spiriter felt frustrated, helpless, and angry.
The people of the Spirit Spring Kingdom were forbidden from killing beasts without a good reason. After all, the humans and the beasts had to work together.
However, ever since the Skythunder Kingdom had gained its new King and joined the war, people from the Skythunder Kingdom appeared in the Spirit Spring Kingdom.
To them, killing beasts was normal.
Killing a beast was like picking up gold off the ground.
Many years of diplomacy and negotiations took place after a humongous outrage went through the Spirit Spring Kingdom’s citizens due to the Skythunder Kingdom’s brutality.
Eventually, the Skythunder Kingdom decided to only send warriors and Mages to the Spirit Spring Kingdom if it specifically requested them.
However, if they wanted them to be present, the warriors and Mages would be allowed to live similarly to how they lived in the Skythunder Kingdom.
That included hunting beasts for resources.
Seeing a warrior in the Spirit Spring Kingdom was unusual, but it wasn’t overly rare.
However, whenever someone of the Spirit Spring Kingdom saw a warrior, they would grit their teeth with hatred.
Yes, the warriors were there to protect them from the Magic Purity Kingdom, but they also killed beasts.
To them, such a warrior or Mage could be compared to some kind of ogre that protected a village but walked into the village to eat a child from time to time.
They hated the ogre, but they needed it.
As Shang stepped into the city, he saw a ton of beasts everywhere.
There were bigger beasts that pulled carriages, smaller beasts that used their fire to cook food or melt ore, small flying beasts that delivered things from building to building, and there were even bigger beasts that patrolled the streets to keep everything in order.
While the Skythunder Kingdom used warriors to keep the public in order, the Spirit Spring Kingdom used beasts.
As Shang walked through the streets, one beast after the other looked at him with a mix of emotions.
Anger.
Enmity.
Fear.
Of course, the people noticed the beasts’ actions, and they grew just as wary of Shang.
The street, which had just been lively, had now become very silent as everyone looked at Shang.
Step. Step. Step.
Shang’s steps echoed throughout the silent street, only interrupted by some beast or human shuffling out of his way.
Being in such a position had a special feel to it.
If this had been a decade earlier, Shang would feel uncomfortable, but not anymore.
Over the past ten years, Shang had gotten used to this feeling of isolation.
Becoming more powerful meant killing the people around him.
He was Entropy, the enemy of everything living.
He was with the Abominations, the enemy of everything living.
Shang was isolated.
And he was used to being isolated.
Eventually, Shang found a shop that sold maps.
The clerk in the shop treated Shang very coldly and directly demanded to know what he wanted.
“A general map of the Spirit Spring Kingdom. Doesn’t need to be very detailed,” Shang said.
“200 gold,” the clerk demanded with a cold voice.
Obviously, this price was ridiculous.
Such a map was, at most, worth one gold.
However, Shang pulled out 200 gold and put them on the counter.
When the clerk saw the gold, he sneered in disdain, pocketed it, grabbed a map, and threw it to Shang.
“Now, leave my store!” he demanded.
Shang didn’t say anything else and just walked out of the store with his map.
The streets hadn’t recovered their liveliness.
Shang could feel an intense feeling of rejection emanate from the entire city.
They hated him.
They wanted him gone.
After a couple of minutes, Shang walked out of the city again.
The people waiting in the queue outside whispered to each other as they saw him pass.
And then, Shang walked into the forest.
He had gotten what he had been here for.
Chapter 378 – Return
Shang followed the map and traveled through Zone after Zone.
It took him about two days until he finally arrived at the southwestern border of the Spirit Spring Kingdom.
In comparison to last time, Shang didn’t need to slip past the border without being noticed.
This time, he could openly stride through the border.
As Shang approached the border, a couple of beasts noticed him and growled.
The Spiriters had to calm their companions down to stop them from attacking Shang.
It wasn’t unheard of for a beast on this border to lose control and attack a warrior that approached.
These incidents were treated as accidents, but the warriors of the Skythunder Kingdom were certain that the Spirit Spring Kingdom had done that on purpose.
Because of that, all the warriors that traveled to the Spirit Spring Kingdom were instructed to be very careful near the border. As long as they managed to survive for a couple of seconds, the Spiriters would “heroically” leap in and stop their beasts.
After traveling through four of the five Kingdoms of the world, Shang had already seen the relationships between the Kingdoms with his own eyes.
While the public believed that this was a war between two united fronts, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
The Blackshadow Kingdom hated the Spirit Spring Kingdom.
The Spirit Spring Kingdom hated the Blackshadow Kingdom.
The Spirit Spring Kingdom hated the Skythunder Kingdom.
The Skythunder Kingdom was wary of the Spirit Spring Kingdom.
This was definitely not a united front but a makeshift alliance that could crumble at any moment.
The only two allies Shang hadn’t seen meet each other were the Magic Purity Kingdom and the Grandmountain Kingdom, but he guessed that their relationship was very similar.
The Magic Purity Kingdom was probably arrogant beyond belief just based on its policies and its name. They probably treated the Grandmountain Kingdom as lower people that did their dirty work.
The Grandmountain Kingdom was therefore probably also not the biggest fan of the Magic Purity Kingdom.
There was no peace, companionship, or harmony between the Kingdoms.
Every Kingdom hated every other Kingdom.
If there weren’t this gigantic war going on, the Kingdoms would probably attack each other.
This was not a peaceful world but a world on the brink of breaking apart.
The only thing that kept the Kingdoms from falling into an abyss of bloodshed was their will to survive.
No Kingdom could stand alone against the others.
However, even though the Spiriters were more than willing to send their beasts to kill Shang, they didn’t do so this time.
They felt that Shang was very dangerous.
Yes, it was an “accident” that some beasts went out of control and attacked warriors, but there were also “accidents” of warriors killing the beasts of Spiriters.
“Halt!” the most powerful Spiriter shouted from the back of her gigantic bear.
She was the most powerful person here, at the Late True Spiriter Realm.
In comparison to the border between the Spirit Spring Kingdom and the Blackshadow Kingdom, no truly powerful people were here. Even though the Spirit Spring Kingdom hated the Skythunder Kingdom, they knew that the Skythunder Kingdom wouldn’t try anything sneaky. Because of that, they didn’t need to station a powerful force here.
There were only three True Mages here, and they were all at the Early True Mage Realm.
If Shang had even been slightly noticed at the border between the Spirit Spring Kingdom and the Blackshadow Kingdom, his death would have been a certainty.
But this border was so weak that Shang could probably annihilate all the stationed forces here on his own.
So, even though the relationship between these two Kingdoms wasn’t the best, it was obviously far better than the relationship between the Blackshadow Kingdom and the Spirit Spring Kingdom.
After Shang heard the command, he stopped.
“Space Ring,” the Spiriter demanded.
Just like last time, Shang threw the Space Ring over.
The Spiriter looked through the Space Ring, and her eyes narrowed with hatred.
CRACK!
The Space Ring was destroyed in her grasp.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A sea of blood and corpses appeared around her as soon as the Space Ring was destroyed.
A horrifying stench went through the entire border.
The Spiriters’ faces turned white, and some of them even began to heave due to the disgusting stench.
The beasts grew unruly and wanted to attack, but the Spiriters did their absolute best to keep them from attacking Shang.
They didn’t want their companions to join the pile!
Shang coldly looked at the Spiriter that had destroyed his ring.
“I apologize,” the Spiriter said coldly. “I lost control when I saw the contents. Naturally, we will replace your Space Ring.”
She took out a Space Ring and threw it toward Shang.
It was just as good as the one Shang had had previously.
Shang evenly looked at the Spiriter.
Then, he willed his corpses to enter the new ring.
A moment later, the sea of blood and corpses vanished, only leaving behind a couple of big and bloody stains.
Shang knew why she had done that.
This was not an accident.
She wanted to show the people around her what kind of monsters the people of the Skythunder Kingdom were.
She wanted to get everyone to hate the Skythunder Kingdom by showing his deeds to them.
Shang was not a fan of being a public display, but he also didn’t see it as such a big deal.
He hadn’t lost any of his belongings.
Additionally, he couldn’t just go around and kill everyone here without a very good reason.
Shang was so close to being home again, and he didn’t want to be hunted by the Skythunder Kingdom as well for causing an international incident.
“You may leave,” the Spiriter said coldly. “We apologize for the accident.”
Shang didn’t answer and walked past everyone.
Everyone at the border watched Shang with hatred.
The quiet noise of his steps echoed throughout the border.
And he walked past the wall.
He continued walking for another two minutes.
And eventually, Shang saw another wall in front of him.
On the walls, Shang could see a couple of Mages…
And warriors!
It had been so long since Shang had seen another warrior.
Ten years ago, Shang had been dumped at the western part of the Grandmountain Kingdom.
Yet, instead of traveling to the southeast, he had traveled to the northeast.
In the last ten years, Shang had traveled to all corners of the world.
He had been at the southern edge in the Skythunder Kingdom.
He had been in the west of the world by being in the Grandmountain Kingdom.
He had been in the north, in the Blackshadow Kingdom.
And now, he had been in the east, in the Spirit Spring Kingdom.
In the last ten years, Shang had traveled the entire world and had seen many different cultures and Kingdoms.
Not many people could claim to have traveled as far and wide as Shang.
From someone that had only known one part of the Skythunder Kingdom, Shang had become someone that knew the entire world, except for the Magic Purity Kingdom.
And now…
Shang approached the wall.
“Heeeey!”
The warriors on the wall lifted their weapons in a unified shout.
It was common to welcome their comrades back.
It was difficult to live in the Spirit Spring Kingdom as a warrior, and the warriors stationed here knew how hard it was.
Because of that, they always welcomed their comrades home with a cheer.
Shang looked at the wall with the warriors.
“I’m home!” Shang said.
Chapter 379 – Bad News
Shang walked towards the border, and the gate opened without anyone questioning him.
As soon as he stepped past the gate, Shang saw several warriors walk over to him while the Mages threw careful glances at him.
Obviously, they felt the threat Shang posed, and they were a bit taken aback that a warrior could give off such a strong pressure.
“Welcome back!” a Late Commander Stage warrior shouted with a laugh.
“I’m home,” Shang said with an unchanging expression.
When the warriors saw how dull and emotionless Shang said these words, they lifted an eyebrow in confusion.
Most warriors would have a get-together with the border guards and tell their stories, but Shang obviously didn’t seem to be in the mood.
Wasn’t he happy being back in the Skythunder Kingdom?
“Everything alright?” the strongest warrior asked with concern.
Shang took a deep breath.
He was glad to be home, but the feelings weren’t as strong as he had imagined them to be.
He felt more relief than happiness.
It was like he had finally finished a tiresome task.
He didn’t feel any kind of achievement or happiness for a task well done.
“It’s been too long,” Shang said. “I’ve been gone for over ten years.”
The jaws of several warriors dropped when they heard that.
Ten years at the frontlines of the Spirit Spring Kingdom?!
It was a miracle that Shang was even still alive!
No wonder he looked so tired!
“But it’s finally over, right?” the leader asked.
Shang nodded. “It is.”
“Was it worth it?” the leader asked, obviously referring to the powerful feeling of pressure Shang gave off.
The leader had to keep his shock in check since he felt like he would be helpless in front of Shang.
Being at the front for ten years had obviously done wonders for Shang’s strength.
Shang thought about his journey and what he had learned.
He had learned how to strengthen his body.
He had trained his Affinity.
He had spent five years training with Teacher Mervin.
His power was absolutely incomparable to the time he had left the Skythunder Kingdom.
“Yes, it was worth it,” Shang answered.
The leader smiled when he heard that. “Glad to hear! You obviously want to get home. So, we won’t keep you any longer.”
Shang nodded. “Thanks.”
“Where do you need to go? A couple of things have changed in the last decade.”
Shang threw a glance at the warrior, but he felt no ill intentions coming from him.
“Storm Eagle Zone,” Shang said.
At that moment, the mood in the atmosphere shifted, and Shang slightly narrowed his eyes when he felt the shift.
Something had happened.
The warriors appeared more taciturn and careful, and Shang could even see some pity in their eyes.
“I take it something has changed there?” Shang asked.
The leader nodded. “A bit less than ten years ago, some kind of procedure that allowed warriors to have incredibly powerful bodies was unveiled.”
After that, the leader narrated the specifics of the Procedure, which Shang was very familiar with. However, Shang didn’t interrupt him and let him talk.
“After the Bloodline Infusion became public knowledge, things quickly started to change in the south of the Kingdom.”
“Countless warriors underwent the Bloodline Infusion.”
“For the first two years, there weren’t any problems, but after those two years, the Mages started to protest against the Bloodline Infusion.”
“The warriors that had undergone the Bloodline Infusion have shown incredible Battle-Strength, and the Mages felt threatened. For now, only General Stage warriors were dangerous to the Adepts, but what when those same warriors reach the Commander Stage? What when they reach the True Path Stage?”
Shang only nodded. He could imagine that the Mages felt threatened.
“Things only got worse over the next couple of years. More and more warriors that had undergone the Bloodline Infusion began to die or vanish mysteriously.”
When Shang heard that, his right eye narrowed, and a cold light appeared in it.
“As more warriors died, more of them decided against undergoing the Bloodline Infusion. After all, only the warriors that had undergone the Bloodline Infusion vanished. Nothing had changed for the normal ones.”
“At the same time, several political setbacks have cost Duke Whirlwind the Ice Wyvern Zone and the Empress Cobra Zone.”
Shang didn’t react as he heard these words.
At that moment, the leader snorted. “It’s obvious for everyone to see that the Council has a problem with the Bloodline Infusion, and they are working in secret to get Duke Whirlwind to abdicate his position.”
“Every time a small incident happens in the Storm Eagle Zone, they blow it up beyond proportion and frame it like it’s because of Duke Whirlwind’s mismanagement.”
“Over half his Mages have already left his territory to join other Dukes, and the remaining Mages try to dissuade Duke Whirlwind from further investing in the Bloodline Infusion. After all, when the Bloodline Infusion stops, the other Mages won’t care anymore.”
After he said that, the leader went quiet.
“Is it fear or arrogance?” Shang asked.
The warriors looked at each other. Then, they glanced at the Mages on the walls.
Surprisingly, the Mages only sighed and showed that they didn’t really care.
One had to remember that the Mages were not one collective hivemind. Every Mage was an individual, and they all had different beliefs.
The Mages stationed here had worked closely with the warriors for years, and they didn’t see them as beneath them or something like that.
They also thought that these actions of suppressing the warriors were stupid.
Warriors were part of the Skythunder Kingdom, and by increasing the power of the warriors, the Skythunder Kingdom would increase in power.
“They think it’s arrogance, but we think it’s fear,” the leader said. “The Mages still have Mana Tranquility, which still gives them an edge, but the introduction of the Bloodline Infusion shows a trajectory upward for warriors.”
“It is like a distant beast that had suddenly closed half the distance to you.”
“If it managed to close half the distance, there’s a possibility that it might close the other half too.”
Shang crossed his arms and looked coldly forward, towards the southwest.
“What about the Dean of the warrior’s academy?” he asked.
“The Council is trying to send him to the frontlines bordering the Magic Purity Kingdom, but Duke Whirlwind is refusing to let him go… for good reason,” the leader said.
Shang nodded. “Thank you for the info,” Shang said.
The leader nodded with a concerned look. “Be careful when you return. I presume that some Mages are responsible for the disappearances of the warriors.”
Shang’s right eye only narrowed even further.
Then, Shang stepped forward and walked away from the border.
The warriors only watched Shang leave with concern in their eyes.
Shang was obviously powerful, and they didn’t want him to die.
“You don’t need to worry for him.”
The leader turned around as he heard one of the Mages say something.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
The Mage only watched Shang’s leaving back.
“He is more powerful than you think.”
The leader was quite surprised when he heard that. He was a Late Commander Stage warrior, but the Mage that had spoken was an Early True Mage.
The Early True Mage was quite a bit more powerful than the Late Commander Stage warrior.
“I have the feeling that I wouldn’t be able to resist if he were to attack me,” the Early True Mage said.
“And I’m pretty certain a Mid True Mage won’t feel any different.”
The warriors only looked with shock at the Mage.
Then, they looked at Shang, who was still walking away.
“Pity on the fool that attacks him,” the Mage said.
In the distance, Shang only looked forward with a cold expression.
‘You’re afraid that the beast has already closed half the distance?’
‘Unfortunately, the beast is already right in front of you!’
Chapter 380 – Unfamiliar Face
Shang traveled through multiple Zones within the day. Most of them were unfamiliar to him, but the constant presence of the warriors and Mages gave him a feeling of security and familiarity.
He was in the Skythunder Kingdom.
He didn’t need to hide any longer.
Eventually, Shang reached a wasteland without any vegetation. It was filled with hills and pieces of dried rock.
After counting the Zones he had gone through, Shang was quite certain in which Zone he had arrived.
The Colossal Worm Zone, the Zone east of the Skythunder Zone.
Shang traversed it without any issues. This was Zone for Earth Affinity beasts, and the powerful ones were below the ground.
Any beast above ground was no threat to Shang in this Zone.
It was late in the evening when Shang reached the southwestern border of the Colossal Worm Zone.
In front of Shang was a desert with tons of lightning striking down.
Shang knew all too well where he was.
He had been here before.
Shang entered the Thunder Horse Zone and traveled towards the south.
After just a couple of minutes, Shang reached the border to the next Zone and began to run down the massive slope.
Luckily, the Thunder Horse hadn’t come to visit him.
It was the Adamantite Behemoth Zone, and Shang could see Duke Mithril’s castle from where he was currently.
‘I haven’t forgotten the bounty you put on my head,’ Shang thought.
‘It might take a couple of decades, but I will eventually pay you back for the bounty.’
Shang avoided the middle of the Zone and ran alongside its edges until he reached the southern border.
It was already quite dark, but as soon as Shang reached the border, it became pitch black.
The surroundings were filled with Darkness and Water Mana, and a normal human would have issues seeing their own hand in front of them.
The Empress Cobra Zone.
Formerly part of Duke Whirlwind’s territory.
As Shang arrived at the border, his right eye narrowed.
‘If I’m going to be attacked on my way to the Storm Eagle Zone, it will be here. This is the perfect Zone to create an ambush. Additionally, the high density of beasts during the night makes it easier to frame it as an accident.’
Shang only remained on this spot for a couple of seconds until he continued. His speed picked up quite a bit, mimicking the speed of an Initial Commander Stage warrior with the power of the Procedure.
It would take him quite a bit longer to get through the Zone like this, but the potential payoff was worth it.
For a couple of minutes, Shang continued traveling along the road. The wild beasts that came out of the poison swamps during the night very quickly fled when they saw him.
Suddenly, Shang’s right eye glanced to the right, but he quickly focused his eyes forward again as he tried to suppress a smirk.
Just now, he had felt a burst of Darkness Mana.
And the Darkness Mana felt very purposeful and orderly.
He was pretty sure that he had just triggered some form of Magic Circle.
However, Shang continued traveling down the road like he hadn’t noticed.
As Shang continued, the surroundings grew quieter and quieter.
Most of the beasts had vanished from this part of the Empress Cobra Zone, which hinted at a powerful threat that was present.
Shang only continued traveling.
And then, Shang smirked.
Right now, a powerful bolt of Darkness Mana mixed with something else shot towards him from the side of the road.
A normal warrior might not have noticed the silent and deadly bolt in such deep darkness, but Shang could feel and see it with no problem.
Shang had Darkness Vision and his Pseudo-Spirit Sense.
And for the first time, the images his two senses gave him differed.
Shang’s Darkness Vision showed three people…
But his Pseudo-Spirit Sense showed four.
Far behind the other three was one additional person sitting inside a silent stream of mixed Mana.
This stream of mixed Mana had obviously been created by a Magic Circle, and it isolated the person inside from all the Mana in the surroundings, making it impossible to sense them with any kind of Mana Sense.
Additionally, Shang’s Pseudo-Spirit Sense also showed him a couple of inactive Magic Circles. It was quite difficult for Shang to notice them since he had no idea how Magic Circles worked, but it was no problem for him to carefully feel the surrounding couple of meters.
‘Two Initial True Mages and one Mid True Mage. The person inside the Magic Circle doesn’t radiate any kind of threat. They probably don’t have a lot of power.’
‘I was afraid that you guys wouldn’t show up!’
BANG!
Shang suddenly accelerated and exploded forward with an Ice Blast.
Shang’s speed multiplied by several times, and he easily sidestepped the Poison Bolt.
The eyes of the Mages widened in shock when they saw their target suddenly reach incredible speeds.
In an instant, Shang reached the Mid True Mage, evading all the different Magic Circles on the ground while doing so.
BOOOM!
As Sword hit the Mana Shield of the Mage, a bolt of violent Darkness Mana exploded out of it.
CRACK!
With one attack, the Mana Shield broke!
One had to remember that Shang’s body was around 85% as powerful as the body of a Mid Commander Stage beast. Together with his insane speed and the Mana-destroying properties of his Darkness Mana, he could destroy the Mana Shield of a Mage of his level in one strike.
Additionally, this was obviously not a very powerful Mage. Shang even guessed that he was a weak one that hadn’t even undergone Mana Tranquility.
However, a Mid True Mage was definitely enough to deal with all the warriors that had undergone the Procedure. After all, they had only had ten years to grow.
SHING!
After destroying the Mana Shield, Sword beheaded the Mage.
The other Mages froze in shock and horror.
This couldn’t be real!
BANG!
Shang exploded to one of them, destroyed their Mana Shield, and beheaded them in another instant.
“Ishah!”
Before the last Mage could react, Shang had already arrived in front of him.
BANG!
The third Mage was beheaded too.
BANG!
Shang immediately exploded towards the Magic Circle before the last person could react.
BANG!
Shang’s hand broke through the Magic Circle, took hold of the thing the person was holding in their hand, and pulled it out.
It was a Communication Crystal.
The person had just summoned the Communication Crystal after Shang had killed the third Mage.
However, Shang had been so fast that the person hadn’t even been able to activate it.
An instant later, Shang’s other hand went to their hand and ripped off a finger.
Shang heard a pained grunt come from inside the Magic Circle as he looked at the finger in his hand…
Or, more precisely, the Space Ring the finger wore.
Shang put the finger into his inner world and took hold of the person’s neck.
Then, he yanked them out.
It was a young man with long black hair. His body was quite powerful, being at around the Initial Commander Stage, but he hadn’t undergone the Procedure.
An unfamiliar face stared with horror at Shang.
However, Shang didn’t need to see the face of the person to know who they were.
The aura the person gave off felt somewhat familiar to Shang.
Together with all the other clues, it wasn’t very difficult for him to guess the identity of this person.
“What a pleasure to finally meet you face to face, Kiva Orvis,” Shang said with a malicious smirk.
Kiva Orvis felt a cold shiver run down his back.
“Or should I say…”
“One?”