Ch. 431..440

Chapter 431 – Hunting

Everything in front of Shang exploded, and he was thrown back into the black fire. Luckily, Entropy couldn't hurt him.

The explosion shook the entire cave, and if everything around Shang weren't made of metal, he would fear a cave-in.

After a couple of seconds, the rumbling finally calmed down.

Splash!

Shang peeked his head out of the sea of blood and looked forward.

A gigantic crater had appeared at the previously closed entrance.

It was over a hundred meters wide and perfectly circular.

For all intents and purposes, it was like someone had detonated several tons of TNT in this place.

There was nothing left of the centipede.

The explosion had eaten up its entire body, leaving nothing behind.

Shang slowly stood up. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"It's fine," Sword answered.

Shang was worried that this much stress on Sword would have taken a toll on it, but everything seemed to be okay.

"Good," Shang said.

"What do you think this thing was?" he asked.

"I don't know. I'm a weapon," Sword answered.

Shang only sighed.

Sword was always like this when he wanted to talk.

Shang thought back to what the centipede had done.

'This kind of ritual it performed with its second head was definitely not normal. I doubt that a True Path Stage beast can learn something like this naturally.'

'The diagram that appeared on the ground was far too detailed and advanced for a mere beast to come up with. In fact, it looked like a complex Magic Circle.'

'However, it definitely was a beast.'

Shang tried to come up with a plausible origin or explanation for the beast's abilities, but this time, he just couldn't find an answer.

He had been able to find out how Vice-Commander Wilbury had found Shang, but this time, there was simply too little information.

'One thing is for certain. It's definitely not a normal beast, and it's definitely not a weak or average one.'

'In fact, in a certain sense, the centipede felt even more powerful than the Ice King, but that isn't necessarily due to its power.'

'The Ice King had mastery over everything, and it was dangerous to every kind of opponent.'

'Meanwhile, the centipede was only powerful in a melee match-up, and its speed also wasn't ridiculous.'

'While fighting it in close quarters, it's probably more dangerous than the Ice King, but a Mage could definitely keep it at bay and fight from range. The spikes shouldn't be that big of a deal for a Mage to handle.'

'It's like this centipede was specifically designed to deal with warriors.'

'That would also explain where it got its abilities from.'

Shang sighed.

'However, I refuse to believe that an Archmage can design something like this, which means, if it was designed by a human, it must have been designed by someone more powerful, and those people don't appear in this place.'

'And if those people wanted to deal with me, they would just come themselves and kill me.'

'It seems like, for the time being, the origin of this thing remains a secret.'

Shang used a little bit of his Domain of Entropy to get rid of the blood on his body.

By now, his body was well on its way to recovery, and it would only take a couple more seconds to fully heal.

'Sadly, the attack destroyed the entire thing. I think that thing would have been worth a lot of money, but I guess that's gone now.'

'But the fight wasn't for nothing. I can feel that I've gained several new shards on the way to the Colossal Sword Star.'

Shang walked forward and felt strangely naked.

Then, Shang remembered that he had sacrificed his armor to deal with the thing.

'I can't ask Jerald for another set without paying. I should hunt some weaker True Path Stage beasts and store their corpses to pay him.'

Shang looked at the cave and noticed that the metal was slowly turning into stone again.

He wasn't surprised by that. Metal summoned by Mana would quickly turn back into Metal Mana after a while.

Shang also saw that the place behind him had huge crevices going through it in a spiral shape. The crevices were also severely burned.

It looked strange and unnatural.

'Well, whoever comes through here in the future will be confused by the spiral.'

Shang summoned some spare clothes and put them on.

After that, he took hold of Sword again and walked deeper into the caves, but he avoided going further down. He didn't want to meet beasts that were too powerful.

Over the next couple of minutes, Shang searched for his next opponent, and eventually, he found them.

It was a humongous toad that nearly filled out the entire tunnel.

'Initial True Path Stage,' Shang thought.

Without waiting, Shang immediately charged at it…

And killed it in a couple of seconds.

Now, the gigantic corpse of the toad lay before him, its head split.

There had been no fancy surprises during the fight. The toad had only summoned some huge boulders and shot them at him, and when Shang got close, the toad tried to kill him with its tongue.

Sure, the tongue had been surprisingly fast, but that was about it.

There was nothing too fancy.

After that, Shang tried to put the corpse away, but it was simply too heavy.

A tedious and disgusting process of cutting the corpse into carriable pieces commenced, and Shang finally managed to put it away.

He did his best to keep the organs in one piece.

In the end, only a pool of blood remained.

'That was easy,' Shang thought.

Sure, the toad's body had been a level above Shang, but Shang's Affinity, speed, technique, creativity, offensive power, and explosiveness more than made up for the difference.

After the fight, Shang continued.

He had fought two True Path Stage beasts now, and he was confident that he now had a good feeling for his enemies' power.

The next beast was another Early True Path Stage beast, and Shang fought without holding back.

However, the fight also ended in just a couple of seconds.

The next one was another Initial True Path Stage beast, and Shang could feel that it was about average.

Starting with this opponent, Shang decided to get back to actually training.

Instead of making use of all of his advantages, he concentrated on only winning with his body and swordsmanship.

This entire process repeated itself a couple more times until Shang was finally done.

Nearly an entire day of hunting and fighting had given Shang 13 corpses of beasts at the True Path Stage.

'That should be more than enough for more ore and another set of armor.'

Then, Shang exited the deeper caves again.

 

Chapter 432 – Walking Through Memories

Shang left the Caves for the first time in a long while.

He jumped out of the hole in the ground and appeared in the Wasteland.

At the moment, it was in the middle of the day, and plenty of warriors and Mages were running around, earning money.

In comparison to 30 years ago, the number of beasts Shang could see had been drastically reduced.

With the increased power of the average warrior, they didn't need to form teams anymore, essentially multiplying the number of hunters.

However, in order to stop the hunters from eradicating the entire beast population, several new rules had to be put into place.

For example, hunting in the Caves now required a hefty entrance fee. Additionally, more beasts in the Wild Forest had been put on the Blacklist so that they could grow up and be hunted in the Wasteland.

The Day of Chaos had also become much more manageable due to the reduced number of beasts.

But when Shang looked at Warrior's Paradise, it looked just like always.

It was still as imposing as back then.

In fact, it had even grown a bit in the past decades. The Earth Mages slowly widened the plateau Warrior's Paradise was on, allowing it to expand.

In the past three decades, it had probably gotten wider by around 200 meters.

Shang traveled towards the street that led to Warrior's Paradise and jumped.

With a bit of finesse and control, Shang could essentially run up the two-kilometer high road and easily land on it. He didn't even need to use his Blasts or a Talisman.

As soon as Shang landed on the road, he looked at the Wasteland again.

Memories entered his mind, and he remembered the first time he had seen this view.

Back then, he had seen how the warriors and Mages managed to jump up to Warrior's Paradise with their Talismans, and he also remembered how intimidated he had been when he had seen the Mages blast the beasts apart with ease.

Shang had been around 15 years old at that point.

Now, he was 47.

32 years had passed.

Back then, he had still struggled with his persona from Earth, and this world had been new and magical to him.

Now, it was just normal.

Shang could also see the occasional student pass him. Not everyone visited all the classes.

When he saw them, he felt like he had been one of them not too long ago.

But now...

"Greetings, Count Sword," one of the students said with a polite bow.

"Greetings, Count Sword," the other ones echoed.

Shang only nodded toward them in acknowledgment.

Back then, he had been one of them, and he had even received quite some ridicule from the other students. After all, Shang had been a weakling when it came to fighting other warriors.

Shang slowly walked to the gates of Warrior's Paradise.

During the mornings and evenings, the gate was always packed, but during the middle of the day, the traffic was fine.

Shang simply walked past everyone.

"Greetings, Count Sword," the guards shouted with respectful salutes.

Shang nodded at them and simply entered the city.

As a Count, he didn't need to be subject to searches and could just enter.

As Shang walked along the streets, nearly everyone politely walked out of his way and greeted him.

Shang was sort of an attraction to these people. After all, they saw their Duke much more often than the mysterious Count Sword.

When Shang reached the marketplace, his eyes fell on a building.

'This was the place where I sold the General Stage Vanishing Snake.'

Back then, the Adept that had run the shop had been unfathomably more powerful than Shang.

Thinking about the shop also reminded Shang of someone.

'I haven't seen Teacher Niria, Astor, Sarah, and Mattheo in over 20 years.'

'I wonder what happened to them.'

As Shang turned to leave, he noticed another building. He had never been inside the building, but the sign woke more memories.

"Gerbon National Resource Trading Firm."

The first time Shang had openly walked through the academy, some youngster from exactly this trading firm had sent his goonies at him.

'Stars Gerbon was his name, right?'

Shang looked at the building for a couple of seconds before continuing toward the academy.

As he thought about the trading firm, he also remembered all the merchants that had sold all kinds of things in the academy.

He still remembered how Shang had purchased the Fire Ore from one of them.

The merchant had told Shang that the ore had come from the distant Volcano Wyrm Zone, which was why it had been so expensive.

Storm Eagle Zone, Empress Cobra Zone, Adamantite Behemoth Zone, Thunder Horse Zone, Volcano Wyrm Zone. That was the path to get to the Volcano Wyrm Zone.

It definitely was quite far away, but for the current Shang, this little bit of distance seemed irrelevant.

Shang walked through the gates of the academy and saw many students training on the fields.

Shang was supposed to meet Jerald in the basement of the academy to inspect all the beast corpses, which was why he was there.

As soon as Shang entered the academy, most of the students noticed him and stared.

Some of the teachers had complicated expressions on their faces.

They remembered Shang, but they were scared of greeting him.

He simply seemed too distant right now.

The loud academy became quieter as everyone started looking at Shang with different expressions.

Most of the students looked at him with shock and humongous respect.

Some of the teachers smiled, some looked respectful, and some others had uncertain expressions on their faces.

Shang stopped after everyone started staring at him.

Then, his gaze wandered around the students on the fields.

"I have once been a student here," he slowly said, his voice echoing throughout the courtyard.

"Listen to your teachers. They have a lot of experience, and to gain such experience, plenty of errors must be made."

"When they say that something might result in something bad happening, listen to them. Instead of repeating the errors of the past, listen so that these errors stay in the past."

"I wish you all a bright future in this academy."

Shang wasn't usually one for speeches, but he felt like this was the right time to give one.

A bit after Shang was done with his speech, a couple of students started clapping politely.

Most of them felt thankful to hear Count Sword speak publicly, and they engraved his words deep into their minds.

Shang wanted to continue walking forward, but his eyes fell on one person.

Instead of walking towards the building, Shang entered one of the training fields and stopped in front of a teacher.

This teacher was very tall, and his stature was wide and powerful. He had a gigantic sword on his back, which was about as big as Sword when it was in its Great Sword State.

Right now, the teacher was looking at Shang with a complex expression and a bit of fear.

Shang looked at the teacher for a bit.

Then, a small smile appeared on his face.

"Long time no see, Astor."

 

433 Chapter 433 – Distance

Yes, the teacher in front of Shang was Astor. Right now, he was at the Early Commander Stage, and his Battle-Strength felt about average to Shang.

"So, you're a teacher now, huh?" Shang asked with a friendly smile.

Astor looked around and saw that everyone was looking at them.

"Greetings, Count Sword," Astor said, taking a step back and bowing politely.

Shang raised an eyebrow. "Is this really necessary, Astor? We're friends."

When Astor heard these words, a surprised expression appeared on his face. But then, his expression transformed into an uncomfortable one.

"I'm sorry, Count Sword, but I have to get back to teaching."

When Shang heard that, a small tinge of sadness appeared inside his chest, but he quickly got used to it.

'Yes, what have I even been expecting?'

"I understand," Shang said. Then, he turned to the students of Astor's class. "Your teacher taught me many things when I was young. He is very knowledgeable and very experienced. You can count yourself lucky for having such a teacher."

The eyes with which the students looked at their teacher became more respectful, and there was even a bit of wonder and shock in their eyes.

Shang nodded once more at Astor and turned around.

'What did I even think when I said that?' Shang thought as he walked towards the main building.

'Astor has probably heard that I returned 20 years ago. Maybe he even searched for me or waited for me to look for him.'

'Yet, instead of doing that, I completely vanished. I never looked for him to talk or anything like that.'

'I've been in the same class as Astor for two years, but 30 years have passed since then.'

'Friends? At most, we are old acquaintances.'

Shang released a silent sigh.

'It feels like not much time has passed for me, but that's due to the long isolation of training. When there is no external stimulus, time passes at a rapid rate.'

'But for others, it must feel like I have been gone for their entire life. Obviously, they wouldn't view me as someone close to them.'

'I doubt that Sarah would react any differently. She would probably just greet me respectfully but with a cold voice, and Elver and I have never been close.'

'It probably wouldn't be difficult to talk to Mattheo, but that's because Jerald is raising him to become a politician. He should be very good at expanding his social circle.'

However, when Shang thought about Mattheo, he felt very distant from him.

Mattheo felt more like a youngster than someone of Shang's age, even though Mattheo was even older than Shang.

'Power, huh?' Shang thought as he looked at the sky. 'Power changes my entire outlook.'

'The friends I had back then don't feel like my friends anymore, and the colossal giants I've looked up to have transformed into people I can easily talk to.'

At that moment, Shang remembered his last trial.

After Mervin had killed himself in the trial, Shang realized what his future would turn into, and this future was now real.

People he once knew had no connection with him anymore.

Shang would continue training in isolation as they slowly progressed in life.

Maybe Astor was already a father?

Maybe Sarah had already begun learning to smith?

They were no longer the same people, and to the same extent, Shang also wasn't the same person anymore.

'Right now, there's only George, Jerald, and Mervin left. I can count those three as my friends, but that's because we are all of similar power and follow a similar goal.'

'As time progresses, these friendships will probably also deteriorate. After all, I'm planning on reaching further than anyone else.'

Shang stepped into the building and walked into a hallway to his right.

'But all of that is necessary. There are so many talented people in this world, and I'm certain that there are many people much more talented than me.'

Shang put his hand on a wall. A moment later, the wall opened, and a staircase that led down appeared.

'Yet, all these unimaginable geniuses didn't manage to become the most powerful person in the world.'

'Is it because they didn't try hard enough?'

'Is everyone else just lazy?'

'Of course not.'

Shang walked down the stairs into the basement.

'If I want to keep up with them and even surpass them, I have to sacrifice more than anyone else.'

'I can't waste my time with friendships, outings, family, romance, or similar things.'

'If I want to become the most powerful, I must dedicate my entire life to my goal.'

At that moment, an image appeared in Shang's mind.

It was a scene where Shang and George were much older, and they were looking at each other like strangers.

It was a sad and heavy feeling.

'However, this is a pain I have to bear if I want to reach the top.'

Shang slowly walked through the basement and opened one of the doors.

Behind the door was a long and high room.

Shang remembered that he had fought the General Stage warriors and Adepts in this very room. Once a month, a secret marketplace appeared here for sensitive wares and even wares for the True Path Stage.

Right now, the room was empty.

Shang slowly walked to one of the walls and leaned on it.

CRK!

Shang quickly stood up again as a crack appeared on the wall.

'I should remember that I'm quite heavy now.'

Shang had to chuckle a bit at the sudden change in mood.

Shang seemed chippier than usual today, but that actually wasn't the case.

He wasn't the biggest fan of his current feelings and his current situation.

However, one shouldn't forget that Shang was 47 years old now.

He was no longer a young adult, and he had come to terms with his life over the past few decades.

As Shang waited for Jerald, he thought about his Star Map.

'I'm a bit over 33% done thanks to that brutal fight against the centipede, but it's still just 33%.'

'My progress will probably accelerate as I learn more, but I still think that it will take another 20 years at least.'

'I have the Star Map, and I train every day, all day. Yet, it would still take me about 50 years in total to comprehend my Path.'

'Honestly, without the Star Map, I probably wouldn't be able to finish this Path in my lifetime.'

'But it will all be worth it.'

'Without a solid foundation, I can't reach the top.'

At that moment, one of the doors opened, and Shang looked over.

Jerald had arrived.

434 Chapter 434 – Invasive Species

As Jerald entered the room, he looked at Shang with a smile.

"You're not wearing your armor?" he asked.

"Yeah, about that," Shang said.

Jerald raised an eyebrow.

"I need a new one."

Jerald's eyebrows rose in surprise. "I take it you had a very tough fight?"

Shang nodded.

Then, he began to recount everything about the centipede and his fight with it. Jerald knew everything about Shang except for his control over Abominations, which was why Shang didn't need to keep anything a secret.

After Shang recounted everything, Jerald's brows furrowed. "Shang, I've fought maybe hundreds of True Path Stage beasts in my life, and I can tell you that not even one of them had any sort of power even similar to that centipede."

"I'm not exaggerating," Shang said. "This is exactly what happened."

Jerald nodded. "I know. If this came from anyone else's mouth, I wouldn't believe them, but I know you."

Jerald rubbed his chin in thought. "This doesn't sound like a beast at all. You said you saw a huge diagram. Do you still remember how it looked?"

Shang nodded. Even though Shang's mind was far below the power of his body, it still was vastly more powerful than a normal person's mind. Because of that, he remembered about 60% to 80% of the complex diagram.

Jerald summoned some paper and handed it to Shang along with a pencil. He knew that Shang probably didn't carry such stuff with him.

Shang reconstructed the diagram as best as he could and handed the paper back to Jerald.

When Jerald looked at it, his eyebrows shot up in shock.

"That definitely didn't come from a beast," he said. "You see how these circles are positioned in relation to each other? That follows the common Marnur Nomenclature for clean and dispersed creation for Magic Circles. When beasts use Magic, they don't use it in such a methodical and clean manner."

"These Runes also follow the classic Old Magic Library Placement. The position-"

"Jerald," Shang interrupted, "You know that I don't understand anything you say."

"Oh, right," Jerald said with a short chuckle. "In short, this is a Magic Circle that follows all the common conventions for smart Spell Casting. This is 100% a Magic Circle that has been designed by a Mage."

"And even if a lot of it is missing, I can tell you that the design of this Magic Circle is far beyond my level. The Runes interact in very unusual, unknown, and strange ways. It's like there are concepts in these Runes that us High Mages don't know about."

Shang raised an eyebrow. "High Mages, as in all of them or only the ones in the five Kingdoms?"

Jerald looked at Shang with a quick and surprised glance. "You think this comes from outside the five Kingdoms?"

"After what you've told me, yes," Shang answered. "You are basically already at the highest level in the five Kingdoms, and I think you can even estimate the power of the Kings. If this Magic Circle shows concepts that not even you know about, it can only come from the outside world."

Jerald looked at the ceiling as he hummed. "That might actually be the case."

"So, what do you think about the centipede?" Shang asked.

"From where it came from?" Jerald asked.

Shang nodded.

Jerald looked at the diagram for a bit longer.

"There has been scientific research into the potential creation of beasts. You know, man-made beasts. The Skythunder Kingdom was once thinking about replacing the warriors with beasts that followed orders and were specifically designed to do one task."

"However, the more the Skythunder Kingdom learned about how to make something like that, the more they realized how incredibly complex and monumental this task would be. In fact, not even the King we had at that time could wrap his mind around all the concepts."

"Because of that, the project was canceled."

Shang looked at Jerald. "So, you think this was one of these man-made beasts?"

"Most likely," Jerald said with a nod.

"Then, how did it get here, and why was it here?" Shang asked.

Jerald hummed some more as he continued looking at the diagram.

Then, his eyebrows rose as he got an idea.

"Invasive species," he said.

Shang's eyebrows also rose. "So, you don't think it was put here deliberately but simply entered this place on accident?"

Jerald nodded. "Probably. If someone that could design or control such a creature wanted you dead, they wouldn't need to use the creature. They could just snuff you out like a candle."

"Because of that, I don't think that you were deliberately targeted."

"I think this thing simply came to this place on accident and lived inside the deep Caves."

"Maybe, in the outside world, these creatures are common and fulfill a certain purpose?" Jerald mused.

"A purpose?" Shang repeated as he thought back to the fight.

He could think of one purpose.

"To deal with physis?" he asked.

Jerald furrowed his brows. "From what you've told me, it sounds very likely. It traps the warrior in a very small area, taking away their flexibility. Its wall of scythes is nearly impenetrable by anyone fighting in close range. It seems like a perfect counter to a physical fighter."

"However, I don't see a reason to create something like that," Jerald said. "From what you told me, all the other Paths have deteriorated into what they are now. You said the God said that the Mages in the outside world reign supreme."

"I don't see why anyone would want to design a creature to kill physis when physis can't even deal with an Archmage," Jerald said.

Shang scratched his chin in thought.

"What about the past?" he asked.

"The past?" Jerald repeated.

Shang nodded. "What if these beasts had been designed many years ago when the other Paths were still in their prime? That would make sense, right?"

A small light appeared in Jerald's eyes. "You mean they are like wild dogs? Dogs that once fulfilled an essential service but became obsolete due to changes in the world?"

"Yes, I can see that being true," Jerald said. "Maybe the centipedes were once used to kill physis, but after all the physis vanished, there was no use for the centipedes anymore. The Mages at the time might have simply thrown them to the wild, and they became a wild species."

That explanation seemed logically sound.

That would explain how the centipede could use such a complex Magic Circle. That complex Magic Circle had probably been integrated into its DNA if this world had something like DNA.

"Anyway, we went a bit off-topic there," Jerald said. "You said you hunted some True Path Stage beasts and want to sell them?"

Shang nodded. "I want more ore for the True Path Stage to continue with my training, and I also need a new set of armor."

Jerald nodded. "The ore is not a problem, but the armor is quite expensive. I'm sorry, but I can't pay that out of my pocket."

Shang nodded. "I wouldn't want you to. How much do you need?"

Jerald grimaced a bit. "It's quite expensive. If I want to break even, I would need the bodies of four Initial True Path Stage beasts."

Shang didn't immediately answer.

"That's it?" he asked after a couple of seconds.

Jerald raised an eyebrow. "Yes, that's it."

"Oh, then we don't have a problem."

Jerald looked at Shang with surprise.

"How many beasts did you hunt?"

"A few."

 

Chapter 435 – Ore

As Shang summoned one beast after the other, Jerald's eyes widened.

Shang had hunted way more than he had thought.

Jerald knew that this was the first time Shang had hunted True Path Stage beasts, and he hadn't expected him to kill so many on his first trip.

Shang sure didn't take it easy.

"Ancestral Boulder Turtle," Jerald said as he saw the corpse of a gigantic turtle. "I was the one to find that species and name it."

"Darksky Specter, they usually live in the Empress Cobra Zone, but I guess this one found its way into the Caves somehow."

"A Mithril Badger? What's a Metal Affinity beast doing in the Caves?"

"Blizzard Spreader. They are usually deep in the mountains of the Ice Wyvern Zone."

"Shang, you have quite an assortment of beasts with different Affinities here. Are you sure you hunted all of them in the Caves?" Jerald asked.

Shang nodded.

"Hmm, does that mean that the Caves actually spread further than just the Storm Eagle Zone?" Jerald mused. "It's possible. If there are no connections above a certain depth, we wouldn't be able to find the weaker ones. It's possible that there are some tunnels leading to other Zones, but they only connect to our Caves on a very deep level."

Shang continued pulling out more beasts, and eventually, Jerald had pocketed all of them.

"But honestly, Shang, you need to use a Transport Ring. The corpses are worth far more when they are in one piece."

"Transport Ring?" Shang asked with a raised eyebrow. "If you mean my Space Ring, it's not nearly big enough to hold such a huge corpse. Additionally, I can't even lift them, making it impossible for me to put them into the Space Ring anyway."

Jerald chuckled a bit. "Shang, do you honestly think that we Mages have never faced this problem? Do you really think that we didn't already find a solution to that?"

Shang rubbed the back of his head. "Sounds reasonable."

"The solution to this problem is a Transport Ring," Jerald said as he took off one of his rings. "They are similar to Space Rings but different."

"They have a much larger capacity, and they are more resilient. Additionally, they have more Magic Circles, which make it possible to store very heavy things."

"The downside is that they are not easily accessible. You need to gather additional external Mana and draw an additional Magic Circle on the ground if you want to store something or take something out. That makes it impossible to use the Transport Rings during a battle or while traveling, but it gives you the option to store an entire corpse."

The ring Duke Whirlwind had on his finger flew over to Shang. "You can take mine in exchange for two of the weaker corpses. I will also design some kind of gadget that allows you to access the ring without needing to draw a Magic Circle. Is that okay?"

Shang nodded. "Thanks."

Jerald also nodded. "How many corpses do you want to exchange for ore, and what kind of ore do you need?"

"I want everything converted into Element-Neutral Mid True Path Stage ore," Shang said.

"All of it?" Jerald asked. "That's a lot of ore, you know?"

"I don't have any other use for the corpses for now. If I need anything else, I will just hunt some more beasts."

Jerald snorted. "Hunt some more," he repeated. "Killing a True Path Stage beast is not something that a High Mage does because they are bored. They might be able to deal with the beast, but they can't lose their concentration, and they need to be mindful of being ambushed by other beasts."

"Yet, you talk about it like you are simply walking into your garden to pluck an apple."

Shang didn't think that hunting some True Path Stage beasts was anything special.

In fact, killing them had been far easier than he had expected, well, except for the centipede, of course.

"I don't see a problem with hunting more of them. I'm planning on using them as my standard sparring partner for now anyway. I will probably spend the foreseeable future fighting True Path Stage beasts to train my swordsmanship."

Jerald chuckled once again. "Quite some grand words coming out of the mouth of someone at the Peak Commander Stage."

Shang furrowed his brows.

"I'm joking, Shang," Jerald said. "I'm praising your power."

After that, Shang and Jerald talked about some general things.

Shang asked if there was news from the Council or the other Dukes. He wanted to know if they tried to deal with Jerald.

Jerald said that they didn't have the time right now. The Magic Purity Kingdom was putting more and more pressure on the Skythunder Kingdom, eating up all the focus of the leaders.

However, the pressure the Blackshadow Kingdom was under had also dropped. The Grandmountain Kingdom was still attacking them relentlessly, but the Magic Purity Kingdom had lessened its offense on them.

Right now, the Magic Purity Kingdom saw the Skythunder Kingdom as an even bigger threat than before.

The addition of the True Path Stage warriors had made it harder for the Magic Purity Kingdom to attack the Skythunder Kingdom.

Shang was glad to hear that there were currently no issues facing the Storm Eagle Zone, except for the normal ones.

After they talked for a while, Shang left for the Caves to continue his training.

However, just three days later, Jerald contacted Shang to tell him that all the ore had arrived.

Shang met Jerald behind his castle.

Jerald only smirked.

SHING!

BOOOOOOM!

A gigantic boulder of ore appeared in front of Shang.

Shang could only look at it with a shocked eye.

This boulder was probably five meters wide and five meters high!

That was a lot of ore!

"That's all for me?" he asked.

Jerald nodded.

Shang went forward and tried to lift the boulder, but it was simply too heavy.

So, Shang used Sword to cut through the boulder and stored the pieces in his inner world.

SHING!

BOOOOOM!

Another boulder appeared on the ground in front of Shang, and it was just as big as the previous one.

Shang could only look with shock at the boulder.

Then, he looked at Jerald, who was only smirking. "That one too?"

Jerald only laughed.

As Shang cut through that one too, a third boulder appeared.

Shang only looked at Jerald in surprise. "How many boulders did you bring?"

Jerald only smirked.

"A few."

Chapter 436 – Rise of Warriors

Jerald dumped six additional boulders beside Shang, shocking him quite a bit.

When Jerald had asked if Shang knew how much ore he would get for the corpses, his concerns hadn't been for nothing.

That was a lot of ore!

Shang put all the ore into his inner world and talked a bit longer with Jerald.

Then, he left for the Caves. His armor would need another two weeks to be completed.

The next two weeks, nothing of note happened, and Shang got his armor. It looked just like the last one and was even a bit better. Now, it could block two Spells of an Early High Mage, which was better than being able to block three Spells from an Initial High Mage.

Thus, another long period of isolated training commenced.

About four years later, some piece of interesting news came to Shang.

George had advanced to the True Path Stage again, and this time, his Path was very good!

It was about as good as Mervin's, which was incredible!

Additionally, George had undergone the Bloodline Infusion compared to Mervin.

By now, a couple of warriors had already managed to reach the Early True Path Stage, and Mervin had also already reached that level. However, with George being back at the True Path Stage, his powerful Path, and his powerful body, he had regained the title of most powerful warrior in the world.

Obviously, George had also used the barbarian strengthening technique, which meant that his body was as powerful as it could get.

With George's incredible talent and experience, he was certain that he was more powerful than the average Initial High Mage.

George also tried hunting True Path Stage beasts, and his power proved to be incredible. It wasn't very hard for him to kill a True Path Stage beast.

Compared to the time George had been helpless against the Exploding Mountain Turtle, George was now much more powerful.

Even though he was one level lower than he had been back then, George was now vastly more powerful than back then.

George even fought an Early True Path Stage beast, and even though he didn't manage to kill it, he forced it to run away.

At the Early True Path Stage, Mervin only managed to equally fight an Initial True Path Stage beast due to the weakness of his body, which demonstrated the difference between him and George now.

After George tested his power for a couple more months, he went to Shang.

And he challenged him to a duel.

The two of them fought.

Who won?

Shang.

And it wasn't even close.

The very reason why Shang hadn't been able to win against Mervin back in the trial was now the reason why he won against George.

Shang could unleash so many strange attacks, and he could even transform his weapon in the middle of the fight, completely transforming his fighting style and rhythm. Whenever Shang changed weapons, George felt like he was fighting a completely new person.

They had been about equal when Shang fought with his Colossal Sword, but as soon as he changed to his Great Sword, he took George by surprise more than once, winning the fight.

Shang hadn't even used Sword's Entropy on George since he feared that he would accidentally kill him.

Even Shang had been surprised by how easily he had won.

George's Path was impressive, but while he was fighting him, Shang felt like George's Path was about equally as powerful as his own.

If he only counted one of his four weapons.

So, now it was official.

George had regained his title as the strongest warrior in the world, but he lost it to Shang afterward.

Just 14 years ago, Shang had lost against Mervin, but now, Mervin also wouldn't be able to win.

Shang had officially become the strongest warrior in the world.

George didn't seem to be surprised. He had expected losing.

However, that was still far better than not fighting at all. Back then, George didn't even dare fight Shang, but now, he had tried it.

George had returned to his younger self, someone that was willing to risk their life for power.

The two of them talked for a long while and talked about the past.

They shared their perspective and experiences when they met each other. None of them were surprised about what the other person had thought back then.

After a while, George left again, and Shang's training resumed.

Another year passed.

By now, there were over 25 True Path Stage Warriors and over 80 High Mages.

When Shang arrived in this world, there had only been one.

Now, there were 25.

Many things could change in over 30 years.

Even the first warriors that had undergone the Bloodline Infusion managed to advance to the True Path Stage, and their appearance immediately made everyone realize that warriors were no joke.

The very moment when the Skythunder Kingdom realized this was when George killed a High Mage of the Magic Purity Kingdom.

Initially, the other soldiers were only fighting to gain time for a High Mage to arrive. After all, the enemy had taken them by surprise.

But then, George had managed to kill the High Mage on his own.

At that moment, the entire world had seemingly come to a halt.

A High Mage had died to a warrior.

It was beyond shocking.

As soon as the news got out, many warriors in the world started training with new fervor.

They could become as powerful as Mages!

It was possible!

The people that wanted to join the Warrior's Academy and undergo the Bloodline Infusion skyrocketed.

Luckily, the Bloodline Infusion had become so simple that it could be performed by a Commander Stage warrior on their own, which meant that it could be performed basically anywhere.

The Warrior's Academy was no longer the only place that offered to do the Bloodline Infusion.

After another two years, it had become normal and expected of warriors to undergo the Bloodline Infusion.

At the same time, due to the addition of the True Path Stage warriors, the frontlines stabilized again, even though the Magic Purity Kingdom had increased their pressure even more.

The help of the True Path Stage warriors had become integral and invaluable.

While the Skythunder Kingdom's frontlines rejoiced at the warriors' arrival, the Council and Dukes didn't like it.

They started to feel threatened.

They had secretly and even openly gone against the warriors in the past, and they feared retaliation.

What about when the warriors became powerful enough to threaten the Council?

What would they do then?

Additionally, they still felt that warriors were beneath them.

Warriors had always only done the peasant work at the frontlines. They had only been cannon fodder so that the Mages could do their work.

Warriors were dogs!

They were there to serve the Mages!

And with that, the focus of the Council and Dukes went from the frontlines back to the warriors.

They had to deal with this threat!

And they knew where they would start!

One more year passed.

Shang was currently training in the Caves again.

Right now, he was 55 years old, and he had been in this world for over 40 years.

From a young boy, he had transformed into a stalwart man that looked to be in their late twenties.

Shang was in the prime of his life.

But today, something happened.

In fact, he got an unannounced visitor.

Shang's Pseudo-Spirit Sense had picked up something that moved towards him.

It was not a human.

It was not a beast.

When Shang saw it approach, he felt like his heart had stopped.

He hoped that his guess didn't prove to be true!

The thing approached and stopped in front of Shang.

Sword left Shang's hands and floated over to the thing, touching it.

What was the thing?

It was George's spear…

And it was alone.

And then, the words Shang feared the most entered his mind.

"George was killed by an Early High Mage," Sword transmitted.

 

Chapter 437 – Progenitor of all Warriors

"Jerald, I need you to come here right now," Shang said to his Communication Crystal.

"Did something happen?" Jerald asked with a serious voice.

"Yes, something serious has happened. Come to the Caves," Shang answered.

"Are you in danger?" Jerald asked.

"No."

"I will be there in five minutes," Jerald said before cutting the connection.

For the next five minutes, Shang only waited in the middle of the cave. The spear had already told Sword about everything that happened, and Sword had told Shang.

The day Shang had feared for many reasons had finally arrived.

He had lost one of his friends, and he knew that there was nothing he could do about it right now.

When Shang had fought Mervin in the trial, he had come to the realization that one day, one of his friends would die, and he would be forced to stand by and only watch.

Shang had put his power before everything else, and this was the sacrifice he had chosen to make.

The Council very likely already had preparations in place in case news got out, and someone came to take revenge.

Either an even more powerful Mage would wait near the killer, or the Council had prepared some kind of surveillance Magic Circle to record Shang's act of killing a High Mage of their Kingdom.

In both cases, Shang would die.

As Shang waited in the darkness, his memories of George played in his mind.

He remembered when George had invited him to his office.

Back then, Shang hated George.

George seemed so cold and brutal in his eyes.

Yet, as more time passed, Shang realized that George had actually sacrificed a lot for the warriors. Without him, the warriors would still be the Mages' dogs.

There would be no Bloodline Infusion.

There would be no True Path Stage warriors.

There would be no basic training techniques for the Caterpillar Class.

And without George, Shang would have never achieved that many points in his trials, effectively making the rewards Shang had already given the world also one of George's accomplishments.

He had blazed a trail for the warrior's Path.

Even when George had already reached 160 years of age, he had still been willing to start anew.

He had gone through the terrible shattering of his Path and had managed to create an even better one.

He had also been the first warrior to kill a High Mage.

George had been a legend.

He had been the progenitor of all warriors.

And the way he had died had been pitiful.

A Poison Early High Mage had staged an ambush in Empress Cobra Zone.

From time to time, George had left the Storm Eagle Zone to fight against different beasts in the Empress Cobra Zone, and that was where the High Mage had prepared everything.

As soon as George arrived near the High Mage, she activated a huge Magic Circle that isolated the surroundings, essentially trapping George in a gigantic cage.

Then, she used millions of Poison Mana Crystals to fill the entire area with poison.

George had aggressively attacked the barrier, destroying an insane amount of Mana Crystals that were used to power it.

However, there had been just too much Mana.

The amount of money expended by using these Mana Crystals probably came to around ten True Path Stage beast corpses.

In the end, the poison consumed all of George's life energy and turned him into a desecrated corpse.

According to the spear, George looked very similar to Kiva Orvis' corpse after Shang had drowned him in poison.

After that, George's corpse was stored in a Space Ring, and the High Mage left.

That was when the spear made its escape.

Before George died, he transmitted his last words to his spear, and the spear buried itself into the ground as George died.

The spear continued digging through the ground until it entered the Caves. As it flew through the Caves, the beasts completely ignored it. To them, the spear was only a flying stone.

And that was how the spear came to Shang.

There were three parts to George's last message.

The first part was for his spear.

He had thanked it for being his companion through these many years.

The second part was for Shang and Jerald.

"Thank you for being my friends in this hostile world. I always missed Earth and wanted to return, but thanks to you two, I managed to find a home in this place."

"Today, I will die not to power but to wealth."

"As my last wish, I want you to kill every single member of the Council and all the Dukes!"

He didn't have much time for his last words, which was why he had left this brief and simple message.

George hadn't wanted to die.

George died angry and aggrieved, and his last message showed that very well.

Instead of wishing only the best for his friends, his entire mind was focused on revenge.

He could only think about revenge in the last moments of his life.

Understandable, considering the circumstances of his death.

The third and last part of George's last message was a technique for warriors.

It was something that he had been developing for a while, and it was nearly done.

It only needed a bit more work.

It was actually ironic.

If the technique had been completed already, George might not have died.

The technique would allow someone to remotely control their weapon with the force of their Path. The power wouldn't be very strong, and it wouldn't be very fast.

However, by using some clever tricks, the technique could put more lift on the weapon than the warrior and the weapon weighed.

George had created a technique to allow someone to fly by standing on their weapon, but they had to be at the True Path Stage first.

The only drawback was that the warrior couldn't fight while in the air since all their power was focused on keeping their weapon in the air.

If George had had the complete version of the technique, the High Mage probably wouldn't have noticed him. After all, he wouldn't have walked to the Empress Cobra Zone but fly there.

Sadly, there were no ifs in the world.

George was dead, and there was nothing Shang or Jerald could do.

Shang could only clench his fist in frustration and rage.

He couldn't do anything right now.

The Council would be prepared if he tried to do anything, and Shang would die.

If Shang had decided to take an easier Path, he would already be at the True Path Stage and would be powerful enough to make a difference.

However, Shang had chosen his Path.

He knew that he would spend untold amounts of time in his Stages since he wanted to always reach the peak of his foundation.

Shang wanted to do nothing more but charge right at the killer, kill them, kill the Dukes, and kill the Council.

But there was nothing he could do right now.

"Shang?"

Shang felt Jerald's Spirit Sense.

Shang didn't answer.

A couple of seconds later, Jerald arrived, and he saw the lonely spear.

Jerald took a deep breath.

"Is he…?"

Shang nodded.

Jerald closed his eyes for several seconds.

"Who did it?!"

Shang could feel Jerald's suppressed rage and hatred in his voice.

 

Chapter 438 – Future Plans

Shang told Jerald everything that had happened, and he could see Jerald's rage and hatred in his eyes.

"The Council," Jerald said with a venomous voice. Shang had never heard Jerald become this emotional before. He had always been very polite, friendly, and jovial, but now, he looked absolutely enraged.

Shang didn't say anything.

"Are you going to take revenge?" Jerald asked with a dark voice and narrowed eyes.

Shang slowly shook his head. "Not yet."

"Not yet?!" Jerald shouted in outrage. "George died, and you're not going to do anything about it?!"

Shang furrowed his brows and looked at Jerald. "I've told you of the Path I have chosen. Going now would be suicide."

Jerald clenched his fists until blood poured out, but then, he took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry," Jerald said. "I've lost control over myself."

"Me asking you to take revenge was stupid and hypocritical of me. I could do it just as well with my power. I'm genuinely sorry, Shang," Jerald said.

"I don't fault you," Shang answered. "We all say horrible things in horrible situations. You were the one that told me that even High Mages lose control over their emotions and do stupid things sometimes."

Jerald released a chuckle, but it sounded very unnatural and forced. Obviously, he was not in the mood to laugh or joke around.

"Do you have any plans?" Shang asked.

Jerald looked to the side. "I've made several plans over the past decades, but it isn't time yet to put them into motion."

Then, Jerald looked at Shang. "All of them require you to reach the True Path Stage first. I need someone that can kill a Mid High Mage."

Shang nodded. "What plans?"

Jerald took another deep breath. "I was stuck between three of them, not sure which one I should choose."

Then, an aggressive light appeared in Jerald's eyes. "But now, I'm sure which one I will choose."

He looked deeply into Shang's eye with a severe gaze. "This is the most dangerous plan, and you will have to fight many High Mages one after the other. You will be the one in the most danger during all of this, and the entire plan's success lies on your shoulders. If you mess up, everyone will die, including me."

"No problem," Shang answered immediately.

Jerald was a bit surprised by Shang's quick acceptance. "You are not afraid?"

"I'm not afraid of fighting," Shang said. "I'm afraid of not being able to fight at all, which perfectly reflects my current situation."

At that moment, Shang's voice began to quiver a bit. "You don't know how much I want to just run out there and kill all the Dukes and the Council."

"I want to kill them so badly."

Shang closed his eye and took a deep breath to compose himself.

"Yet, I am stuck here due to the Path I have chosen."

"Right now, I don't have the power to make a difference, and I won't get that kind of power in the foreseeable future."

"My friend just died, but I can only watch and do nothing."

"I can only train."

"That's it."

Jerald could feel Shang's frustration.

He was in a similar situation right now.

His plan wasn't ready to be put into motion yet, which meant that he could also only sit by and watch.

For the next while, no one spoke a word.

"What does it want to do now?" Jerald asked, referring to the spear.

"Revenge," Shang said. "George's dying wish is its purpose."

"It doesn't matter what it needs to do. It only wants to kill everyone that George wished dead."

Jerald only looked at the spear.

"Can I talk to it?" he asked.

"These kinds of weapons can only communicate with their owner and other weapons," Shang said. "Not even I can talk to it. Sword has to tell me what it says."

Jerald only nodded.

"Then, nothing changes for the foreseeable future," he said.

"Nothing changes," Shang confirmed, "at least, until it is time."

"Until it is time," Jerald said with a nod.

"Do you want to make George's death public?" Shang asked.

Jerald slowly shook his head. "No, it's not the right time. For now, the Council doesn't know that their secret has been exposed. They will probably leave some trails in the Empress Cobra Zone that make it seem like a huge fight between a beast and George has taken place."

"Additionally, they will probably throw George's corpse to a random True Path Stage beast to get eaten. It is the safest way to keep the lie believable."

"George has shown himself only a bit more than you in the last couple of years, and his disappearance won't raise any eyebrows."

"In a couple of months, I will act like I am searching for him, and I will probably find some traces that lead to a beast. I will kill the beast as revenge and return."

"Over the following years, I will act suspicious towards the Council. After all, acting like I completely bought the lie would be unbelievable. They already expect me to suspect them, but without solid evidence, I would be helpless."

"For the next couple of years, the deaths of the warriors will increase while more and more of them will be sent to the frontlines."

"For now, there's nothing I can do about that."

"I have to eat all of this up until you reach the True Path Stage."

"But then, we will take our revenge."

Shang nodded. "Then, that's the plan."

Jerald also nodded. "Shang, I don't want you to rush things for the sake of revenge. If you are not fully prepared, everything will be for naught. I need you as powerful as you possibly can be."

"Don't worry," Shang answered. "I know. I only hope that you are not also gone when the time arrives."

"You don't have to worry about that," Jerald said with narrowed eyes. "As long as several members of the Council or King Skythunder don't attack me, I won't die. I can promise you that."

Shag nodded. "Then, that's good to hear."

Jerald also nodded, and after that, Jerald left.

They had to wait for Shang to reach the True Path Stage first.

After Jerald left, the spear hovered over to the walls of the cave and leaned against it.

It looked just like a normal weapon.

For a while, Shang looked at the spear.

"Sword, if I were to die, would you also want to take revenge?" he asked.

"My goal is to become the strongest weapon," Sword answered. "With enough power, I can take revenge."

Shang only nodded.

Sword was different from the spear.

The spear just wanted to take revenge, while Sword only wanted power.

After asking Sword that question, Shang continued training.

He had to become more powerful!

Chapter 439 – Four Weapons, Four Affinities

Shang continued training inside the Caves.

For multiple years, Shang had seemingly vanished from the face of the world.

People knew about the mysterious Count Sword, but nearly all of them had never seen him.

Some of the people even doubted that Count Sword actually existed. After all, someone must have seen him somewhere, right?

However, deep in the Caves, Shang was training hard every single day.

He only focused on his own power, nothing else.

And his progress was astounding.

When Shang had just reached the Peak Commander Stage, he would have had a shot at killing an average Initial High Mage.

But now, Shang could even fight an Early High Mage, probably.

Shang's physical power had not increased in any way. His increase in power was all due to his diligent training in his Path.

As Shang continued training, George's Spear kept following him. It didn't help or come close, but it stayed in the same general vicinity of Shang.

Shang guessed that he and Sword were the closest people to George's Spear, which was why it was following them.

A couple of months passed.

One day, George's Spear approached Shang of its own volition.

Shang was a bit surprised since the spear had never initiated a conversation before.

Sword left Shang's hands and floated over to the spear, touching it.

"It is asking why you are not making use of your Affinities," Sword told Shang.

"Because I want to train in my swordsmanship," Shang answered, looking at the spear. "Right now, I am forging my Path, and I only use my Affinities in a genuine fight. If I used all my abilities the entire time, my opponents wouldn't be able to live for long."

George's Spear didn't move.

"It says that this was not what it meant," Sword said.

Shang raised an eyebrow.

"It says that splitting your Affinities and swordsmanship into separate categories is stupid," Sword said.

Shang furrowed his brows. "Can you explain what you mean?"

"It says that you should take the ranged technique you earned as an example. Using it without an Affinity makes it far weaker. It is definitely a technique designed for weapons, but its power gets elevated by using an Affinity, something George didn't have access to."

"If you can combine the ranged attack with an Affinity, you should also be able to combine other attacks with your Affinity."

"It has seen us fight multiple times before, but we only use our Affinity like this with the ranged technique, not with everything else."

Shang rubbed his chin with furrowed brows as he fell into thought.

"It says that you are pursuing George's Path, the Path of someone that didn't have access to an Affinity. Warriors like Mervin take advantage of their Affinities and increase the power of their techniques in this way. They never strike with only their weapons. In some form, their Affinity is always part of their attacks and defenses."

Shang thought back to his fight with Mervin about 18 years ago.

Sure enough, Mervin had used his Metal Affinity in nearly every attack. It had made his sword move faster and release more power.

Shang also remembered the different warriors he had fought in the trial. Even the average Late Commander Stage warrior used their Affinity in combination with their techniques.

'How can I integrate my Affinities into my techniques? Even more, how can I integrate them in a way that doesn't constantly sap my life energy?'

Shang thought about his weapons and about his Affinities.

His Colossal Sword was very defensive and with a heavy focus on a counterattack.

His Great Sword was focused on unleashing few but very devastating and explosive attacks.

His Saber was focused on a good number of attacks with a good amount of power.

His Long Sword was focused on rapid attacks that relied heavily on using Shang's life energy and Affinity.

His Fire Affinity was mostly used with ranged attacks.

His Ice Affinity wasn't really used in any of his attacks.

His Light Affinity wasn't used at all.

His Darkness Affinity was mostly used with Shang's Long Sword.

'There definitely is a lot of untapped potential there,' Shang thought.

Then, Shang got an idea.

'Four Affinities.'

'Four weapons.'

'Maybe I can further distinguish the different weapons by also creating attacks that follow one of the Affinities?'

'Not all Affinities are suitable for all weapons. For example, my Darkness Affinity is not very useful with my Colossal or Great Sword. The additional damage it provides is more of a per-hit-thing than a multiplier on existing damage.'

'At the same time, my Ice Affinity can increase the power of my weapon, making it the opposite, but I rarely use it in such a way since it wouldn't be worth the life energy.'

'I don't need to use everything with everything. Sure, I can still use ice and fire to move around, but when it comes to attacks, it should be fine if I design my techniques around a certain weapon and Affinity.'

'How would I assign them?'

'The easiest would be my Long Sword. My Long Sword and my Darkness Affinity perfectly go hand-in-hand.'

'The next one is a bit more difficult. For my Saber, I could imagine fire and ice. With ice, I would increase the power of my rapid attacks, while fire would do the same thing but in a different way. I could also use fire with the ranged technique while using my Saber.'

'My Great Sword seems similar, but it's actually easier to assign a partner to it. My Great Sword doesn't release many attacks, but they are all backed by its powerful weight and power. Fire is just like my Darkness Affinity, a per-hit thing. Ice increases the existing power of my attacks.'

'So, Great Sword should go with ice.'

'That would pair Saber with fire.'

'And my Colossal Sword with Light?'

At that moment, Shang only looked forward with uncertainty.

'I've never really used my Light Affinity. It basically just exists.'

'I mean, a Light Affinity isn't very useful in a fight due to my warrior's body. If I didn't have that, I could use it to heal myself, but using my warrior's body is just way better.'

Shang looked to the side. 'However, everything I know about the Light Affinity is stuff I learned as a Soldier Stage student. I can imagine light being useless in a fight at such a level, but is that still the case at higher levels?'

'I mean, Earth had lasers.'

'I don't think I have the power to create something like a laser, but maybe there is something I can do.'

'But that might not even be the right approach. My Colossal Sword is focused mostly on defense, and my Light Affinity is also mostly focused on defense.'

'Is there a way to use light in a defensive manner without just healing?'

Shang mulled over that thought for a while.

'There might be, but I don't know. This is essentially new territory to me, which means I would need to start from ground zero.'

But then, Shang's eyebrows rose.

'No, I don't have to start from zero!'

"Thank you," Shang said to the spear. "You have given me a lot to think about."

"It says that it only helped because it couldn't look at the talent you were wasting," Sword told Shang.

Shang only smiled a bit. "Thank you anyway."

After that, the spear went back to the wall.

And Shang took out his Communication Crystal.

While the warrior Path would mostly be unknown from now on, the Mage Path was very clear for everyone to see.

Why not ask a Mage?

Shang contacted Jerald and asked about uses for a Light Affinity that were not related to healing.

And Shang finally got his answer.

Yes, that would work!

He could finally make use of his Light Affinity!

Chapter 440 – Changing World

A couple of minutes later, Shang left the Caves and went to where Jerald was currently.

Jerald simply handed Shang several large books, and Shang left for the Caves again.

As soon as he came back, Shang read through all the books.

These books were Spell Compendiums, and they basically listed every standard True Mage Spell known to the Skythunder Kingdom.

Something like that would go for an extraordinary price, but Jerald just gave them to Shang.

Sure, these Spell Compendiums were extremely valuable, but their value was still perceived in gold.

Shang could hunt True Path Stage beasts. If he wanted to repay Jerald, he would only need to hand over a single corpse, and he would have repaid far more than he owed.

Naturally, Shang wasn't interested in learning Magic. He only looked at the Spells and how they worked to gain inspiration for his techniques.

Shang was no longer on a level where he needed to learn other people's techniques. No, he needed to create his own techniques.

Additionally, with Shang's powerful Path, he was more than qualified to create such techniques.

Over the next two years, Shang's Path didn't make much progress. He was fully focused on coming up with new techniques and trying to manipulate his Mana and Affinities well enough to actually use them.

He created a couple of duds, but he also found a couple of useful ones.

After coming up with a good framework for his future fighting style, Shang went on to make his new fighting style an actual reality.

The beginning was hard since this was a new field for Shang.

Three years later, Shang had only made marginal progress.

At least, that was how it felt.

When Shang actually looked at the Star Map, he noticed something.

The Shards that had symbolized Shang's different Affinities were starting to connect to Shang's Paths.

This didn't increase the actual progress of his Path but made it wider and more powerful.

By now, all four Paths were even wider than Mervin's Path, showing their ridiculous power.

Shang realized that he was onto something big, and his determination to continue pursuing this path only increased.

Five years later, Shang managed to fully integrate his Affinities with his Paths.

In the last ten or so years, Shang's Path hadn't advanced upward but had gotten far wider.

Right now, Shang's Path was still stuck at a bit more than 50%, but it couldn't be compared to its earlier version.

From this point onward, Shang focused on progressing his Path again with its new width.

Over the past couple of years, even more True Path Stage warriors and High Mages appeared.

Sadly, the number of deaths amongst the True Path Stage warriors rose.

They started to be sent on reckless missions or just mysteriously vanished.

Most of all, the warriors that died were all warriors that were not too happy with the Mages.

By now, the warriors started to realize that the Council was behind all of this.

Sadly, they simply didn't have the power to go against the Council.

But there was something they could do.

Fewer warriors appeared on the critical frontlines, even when great rewards were promised.

More warriors only did the necessary things that were expected of them but didn't go beyond. They simply did the bare minimum and tried to stay alive.

Additionally, many powerful warriors didn't even announce their new power or show themselves in public. When nobody knew that they existed, they couldn't be forced to fight on the frontlines.

In short, they had given up on the Skythunder Kingdom.

If the leaders didn't respect them, they also wouldn't show respect.

Because of these slow changes, the frontlines between the Skythunder Kingdom and the Magic Purity Kingdom became bloody again.

The pressure on the Skythunder Kingdom increased, and the Council was forced to lower the pressure they put on the warriors.

Sadly, there was no way to announce such a thing.

Everything they had done previously had been done in the shadows. If they announced now that they were no longer doing these things, it would be like telling everyone that they had been responsible for most of the warriors' deaths.

Many things were changing in the world over the years, but for Shang, nothing changed.

He was still deep in the Caves, working on his power.

By now, Count Sword had been completely forgotten.

The general lectures on politics still included him, but he was basically only a footnote, and nobody really cared.

Even if Count Sword actually existed, he had been only a very powerful and talented Peak Commander Stage warrior. By now, there were many Early True Path Stage warriors and even a couple of Mid True Path Stage warriors.

There were even a couple of warriors that reached Mervin's level of power.

The entire world was changing, and even if Count Sword actually existed, he would only be a relic of the past.

He might have been outstanding back then, but would he still be outstanding today?

Also, if that guy actually were so powerful, why wasn't he at the True Path Stage yet? Wouldn't he have shown himself? True Path Stage warriors needed resources and experience. Wouldn't he want to fight Mages? How could he fight Mages if he didn't show himself?

However, even if Shang knew about all of this, he didn't care.

He was working on something important.

His power was increasing day by day, and Shang could see the sheer power his Path symbolized.

Shang remained deep in the underground, and more time passed.

Two years later, some bad news reached Shang.

Ranos had died.

He had most likely been killed by the Council.

Shang could only take a deep breath and continue working on his power.

This was the future he had chosen.

He knew that more and more of the few people he knew would leave him.

The only thing he could do was train.

Power was the most important thing to him.

One year later, Soran died.

He had also most likely been killed by the Council.

Shang still remembered the Vice-Dean. Soran had never truly been Shang's biggest fan, but it was still sad to see one of George's students go.

George's other student, the woman Viera, had been sent to the frontlines as punishment.

She had gone overboard while hunting beasts and had endangered the ecosystem.

Shang guessed that she also wouldn't stay alive for much longer.

It looked like the Council was systematically getting rid of all the important people in the old Warrior's Academy.

One year later, Teacher Niria died.

She had been the one that gave Shang the quota for the Day of Chaos, and she had also been the one that gave him the Darkness Ore.

He hadn't seen her in 50 years.

Then, one year later, Mattheo died.

This had hit Jerald very hard.

Mattheo had been his sole heir, and he had had a bright future ahead of him.

He had been a powerful Peak Commander Stage warrior and a powerful Peak True Mage at the same time.

He had probably been the most powerful person in the Commander Stage aside from Shang.

And exactly that had been the problem.

He was too powerful, and he was Jerald's son.

He was the biggest threat to the Council.

Yet, even though Jerald's son died, he had never urged Shang to hurry up.

He knew that Shang needed a lot of time.

One friend after the other left Jerald's life, and it was very difficult for him.

As more and more deaths happened, the warriors became more and more unruly, which forced the Mages to assume a more authoritative stance.

The warriors were not happy, and more than one of them fought the Mages, that came to bring them to the frontlines, to the death.

The Skythunder Kingdom's power was rising, but with the new developments, it was not rising nearly as quickly as it could.

As Shang heard about these developments, he realized that the Skythunder Kingdom was becoming more and more like the Grandmountain Kingdom.

Shang could only continue training.

Two years later, a major development in the war happened.

The Blackshadow Kingdom had been reduced to only 30% of its size, and in its desperation, it attacked the Spirit Spring Kingdom.

The Grandmountain Kingdom had gained a lot of land, but it had lost even more.

By now, nearly all of its original lands were occupied by the Skythunder Kingdom.

The Skythunder Kingdom had doubled in size, and the Grandmountain Kingdom and Blackshadow Kingdom shared the lands of the original Blackshadow Kingdom.

Right now, the Skythunder Kingdom took up the southern, southeastern, southwestern, western, and northwestern parts of the world.

It had become even a bit bigger than the Magic Purity Kingdom.

They even had to create a subsidiary Council made up of former Dukes to control the western lands.

However, the Blackshadow Kingdom's sudden betrayal changed the entire war.

The Magic Purity Kingdom completely stopped putting pressure on the Blackshadow Kingdom, focusing all its power on the Skythunder Kingdom.

The Grandmountain Kingdom kept attacking the Blackshadow Kingdom to force them to attack the Spirit Spring Kingdom with more aggression.

Meanwhile, the Skythunder Kingdom had to resist the Magic Purity Kingdom and also had to help the Spirit Spring Kingdom against the Blackshadow Kingdom.

The intense brutality on the Skythunder Kingdom's frontlines forced them to conscript nearly all the warriors into battle, but the warriors were not happy at all.

It was only a matter of time before a civil war broke out, and everyone knew it.

The five Kingdoms 50 years ago had been peaceful in comparison to the ones today.

The Grandmountain Kingdom was dying.

The Blackshadow Kingdom was dying.

The Spirit Spring Kingdom was dying.

The Skythunder Kingdom was on the verge of collapsing.

Only the Magic Purity Kingdom was somewhat stable, but they also didn't have it easy.

The entire world had gone to shit.

Shang was 73 years old now, and he looked like someone in their late 30s.

He had been in the Caves for so long.

Right now, his Path was around 80% done.

Only 20% more.

However, these 20% represented another decade of training.

Shang guessed that he would only reach his goal when he was about 85.

What would the world look like in another decade?