Ch. 61..70

Chapter 61 - Affinities

The scout pointed towards the front, and Shang's eyes followed that direction.

It was already pretty dark outside, making it hard to see very far, but with Shang's improved vision and the lights inside the city, it wasn't very difficult to see it.

In the distance, Shang could see a gigantic fortress.

The walls were probably over 50 meters high, and Shang could see several towers with an even more imposing height. The walls and the towers were nearly invisible in the dead of night, and Shang guessed that they were probably dark grey or black in color.

Gigantic bonfires raged on top of every tower, illuminating the entire city.

It was absolutely massive!

Shang guessed that the city was several kilometers wide.

However, all of that wasn't the most surprising and shocking part.

The most surprising part was the location of Warrior's Paradise.

Earlier, Shang and the scout had already been walking on a road that seemingly rose into the air. The road was like the track of a rollercoaster, slowly extending further and further upward with nothing of similar height beside it.

If Shang walked to the side, he would be able to see the border between the Wild Forest and the Wasteland. While the road kept extending upward, the Wasteland kept going downward, expanding the difference in elevation between it and the road.

So, with a lonely road slowly extending towards the sky, where was Warrior's Paradise?

Warrior's Paradise stood on one lonely, gigantic rock.

The walls perfectly aligned with the edges of the rock, making it seem like the walls were part of the gigantic rock.

Shang looked around, but he couldn't see any other similar rocks around.

This singular rock extended upward from the Wasteland for probably over two kilometers!

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Warrior's Paradise was like these ancient, European castles that had been built on the precipice of a cliff. However, in comparison to these castles, Warrior's Paradise was an actual city.

Their sizes couldn't be compared.

A black, burning, solitary fortress that overlooked seemingly the entire world.

It was a monument to human power over nature.

And this monument had been Shang's goal for such a long time!

Warrior's Paradise!

Now, Shang truly understood why it was called Warrior's Paradise.

Warrior's Paradise was surrounded by nothing but wild nature with plenty of powerful natural forces and Beasts. If one were able to survive the fall, one could simply jump over the wall, and they would arrive in a land of slaughter in a minute.

It truly was a paradise for warriors.

"Impressive, isn't it?" the scout said with a smile when he saw Shang's expression.

"Yes," Shang answered slowly.

The scout only chuckled a bit. "Do you know how many citizens are in Warrior's Paradise?" he asked.

Shang looked at the size of the city.

"Probably around 10,000 to 20,000," he said.

The scout only smiled.

"About 500."

Shang looked at the scout in surprise. "What?" he asked.

"There is limited space in Warrior's Paradise," the scout explained. "The Warrior Academy takes up around 30% of the city. The citizens take up another 10%. Around 40% of the city is taken up by merchants and different businesses dealing with different crafts. The remaining 20% are for the soldiers."

"We have around 500 normal citizens living here, but during the day, around 20,000 people are inside Warrior's Paradise."

"In the early mornings, the farmers come to deliver their food. At the same time, over 2,000 hunters arrive in the city to register for their daily hunting activities. Many of the soldiers live with their families in the Farm Line, and they also arrive here early in the morning."

"Only very few rich citizens can afford to live in Warrior's Paradise. Everyone else only comes here to work and leaves again."

As Shang listened to these words, he noticed that Warrior's Paradise was very similar to a concept from Earth.

'An industrial zone,' Shang thought. 'Nearly no one lives in an industrial zone, but everyone goes there to work during the day.'

"What about the students in the Warrior's Academy?" Shang asked. "Where do they live?"

"Some of them live in the dormitories, and some of them live in lodgings in the Farm Line," the scout answered. "Only a few of them live in the dormitories due to the cramped space and stale air. The walls block the violent wind from the surroundings, making the air inside Warrior's Paradise very stale. That's why most of them sleep in the lodgings in the Farm Line."

Shang nodded. "Sounds like the roads are very busy during the day," he said as he looked at the empty road.

"Yep, that's why the road is so wide. It took a lot of money to widen the road to such a degree, but we no longer have traffic jams."

'Traffic jams in a world with mages and warriors,' Shang thought. 'I guess some things never change.'

"Let's keep going. I want to get home before tomorrow," the scout said with a smirk.

"Sorry," Shang said before continuing to run forward with the scout.

"Are there Mages in Warrior's Paradise?" Shang asked while running beside the scout.

"Of course," the scout said with a snort. "Who do you think keeps the city from collapsing? We have around 50 actual Earth Mages in the city, who constantly keep watch over the stability. They are also responsible for expanding the city and for its development."

'So, they're like urban planners or civil engineers,' Shang added in his mind.

"We also have the biggest Mana Austerum in the surrounding Zones. You can't see it right now since it's not illuminated, but in the day, you can see it. It's in the middle of the city, and it's the highest structure in all of it."

"The Mana Austerum catches all the Wind Mana and stores it into Wind Mana Magic Crystals. The Mana Austerum is also the biggest reason why the air inside Warrior's Paradise is so stale. Around 30 Wind Mages are in the Mana Austerum. They keep it running, and they research new applications for Wind Mana."

"The Farm Line has around ten Water Mages. Due to the wind and the dryness, the Farm Line doesn't get much natural rain. The Water Mages are there to keep everything nice and moist."

"We only have the occasional Fire Mage in the city. I think none of them actually live here, but you can see them from time to time."

"Ice Mages are very rare to begin with, and all the Ice Mages are more interested in Blizzard's Edge than Warrior's Paradise. I haven't seen one in a long time."

"Lightning Mages are just as rare, but I think we have two or three of them in the city. They mostly handle some Element-specific problems in the city related to lightning."

"We have about five Metal Mages. They are responsible for forging all the really expensive equipment for us soldiers. I don't get to interact with them since I'm still too weak, but all warriors in the Commander Stage have met them."

"And that's about it for the Mages. As you've heard, from the seven varieties of Mages, we have a lot of Earth, Wind, and Metal Mages. I think we have something like 100 Mages in the city and the surroundings. That's quite a lot of powerful Mages for only one city. After all, all the Mages I told you about are real mages, meaning ones that are equivalent to Commander Stage Warriors."

"There are more Apprentices and Adepts walking around, but I didn't count them just now."

Shang nodded.

This was the first time Shang had actually heard about all the different attributes Mages could have.

Fire, Earth, Wind, Water, Ice, Lightning, Metal.

These were the seven attributes.

At this moment, Shang looked at his left arm.

Did he have an Ice Affinity?

Probably not. After all, his left arm was acting very weirdly when unleashing Ice Mana.

Water? No.

Fire? No.

Earth? No.

Wind? No.

Lightning? No.

Metal? No.

None of the affinities seemingly fit Shang.

So, what kind of affinity did he have?

The scout noticed that Shang became silent, but he didn't mind. He only wanted to get home and sleep. In comparison to a lot of other soldiers, the scout lived inside the barracks in Warrior's Paradise.

The two of them kept ascending the lonely road until they reached the entrance to Warrior's Paradise.

Chapter 62 - Finally Here

The two of them stopped before the absolutely gigantic, closed gates.

"Hey, John! Open up!" the scout shouted.

Shang heard some shuffling coming from the other side of the gate, and a small slit opened.

"Oh, I thought you wouldn't come today," the guard behind the door, John, said.

"I've met a traveler, and I showed him around. Took a bit longer than expected," the scout said, gesturing towards Shang.

The eyes behind the slit moved to Shang.

"That late?" he asked.

"Sorry," Shang said.

Shang heard a groan coming from behind the gate.

Creak!

A small door built into the gigantic gate opened, and a guard in bronze armor stepped outside.

Shang had seen several guards and soldiers from all the different cities and towns, and he had noticed that the lowest-ranked guards always had bronze-colored armor.

However, just because the color was the same didn't mean that all the sets of armor were identical.

The normal guards in the Central Wild had worn normal bronze. It was useful for battle, but it wasn't the greatest. However, these guards also hadn't been very powerful. They had been even weaker than Shang.

Meanwhile, the guards on Blizzard's Edge, who had also worn bronze armor, had been far more powerful. Even though their armor had been colored bronze, Shang had noticed that their armor felt way harder and more powerful.

And now, Shang was confronted with a third kind of bronze armor.

John's armor felt about equally as powerful as the silver armor the commander in Blizzard's Edge had worn.

On top of that, this guard gave Shang a feeling of mortal danger.

This normal guard was far more powerful than Shang.

Shang guessed that the guard was in the middle of the Second Realm, the General Stage. He was about as powerful as the dogs in the Farm Line.

"Fine!" John grumbled as he stepped out. "Put away your coat. Show your weapons, equipment, and valuables."

Then, John looked at the scout as he remembered something. "By the way, William, have you searched him?"

"No," William answered directly.

John frowned. "Why not?"

"Because it wouldn't have made a difference," William said. "If I searched him and I told you that everything's fine, you would've still searched him. So, why should I?"

"That's reckless!" John said with annoyance. "We need to check every unknown person. Otherwise, we'll put the city at risk!"

William slowly looked at Shang.

Then, he looked at John with a raised eyebrow.

They looked at each other for a while.

"Hmph," John grumbled as he averted his eyes. "Fine, fine! You, put your stuff to the side!"

Shang slowly put away his cloak and put it on a prepared counter beside the gate. Then, he took out his sword and placed it on top of the cloak.

Yet, before Shang pulled his hand away, he stopped.

Shang looked at his sword with open eyes.

He looked at his immaculate, black sword.

'Isn't there supposed to be a crack in the sword?' Shang asked himself. 'I'm sure it got damaged in the battle against the Frozen Lake Stag!'

Shang was sure that his sword had been damaged.

Yet, he couldn't see any damage on his sword at this moment.

It was like new!

"Hey, hurry up!" John shouted with impatience.

Shang got pulled out of his thoughts, and he also put his backpack on the counter. Lastly, he put the pouch of gold on the top.

William and John both looked over with surprise when they heard the telltale sound of gold.

William's eyebrows rose in surprise.

Was all of that gold?

John raised an eyebrow when he saw the sack of gold.

Then, he looked at Shang. "You got proof of ownership?"

Shang pulled out the piece of paper that had been inside the sack of gold and handed it over.

John looked at the piece of paper. "Wait a second."

Then, he entered the city again and closed the door.

"Don't worry," William said from the side. "For such sums, we have to get an Adept to verify the integrity of the proof of ownership. When it comes to such sums of money, the proof of ownership is required to have a complex Magic Array on it. That makes it much harder to fake it."

Shang nodded.

"Anyway, how did you make so much money?" William asked.

"I killed a Peak Soldier Stage Frozen Lake Stag in Coldew Village," Shang explained. "The villagers gave me a sled wagon full of Ice Wood as repayment, and I sold it to the Mages in Blizzard's Edge."

William let out an impressed whistle. "Seems like you've showed up at exactly the right moment."

Shang nodded. "Well, it wouldn't have made much of a difference. The village simply would have had a worse harvest next season."

"Pulling such a heavy sled wagon for such a long distance was probably quite annoying," William said.

Shang nodded as his journey shot through his memories.

His hit-and-run on the bandits.

His encounter with that powerful spider.

The beggar bandits.

It sure wasn't easy.

After around a minute, the door opened again, and John walked out.

John handed over the piece of paper. "Checks out," he commented.

John gave the sack of gold back to Shang and looked at the coat with a grimace.

Shang knew why John was grimacing.

First of all, no one liked Pest Cats, and second of all, that coat hadn't been washed in a very long time.

Then, John opened the bag, and his grimace intensified.

Shang felt a bit bad since he hadn't had the opportunity to wash his spare clothes. Also, he was mostly using them as bedding.

John rifled through the bag with a disgusted face and put it to the side after he was done.

Lastly, John looked at the sword. He held it up and lightly knocked on it with one of his knuckles.

CLINGGGGG!

The sword vibrated for a while, and a confused expression appeared on John's face.

Then, he knocked another time on the sword.

Then, another time.

In the end, he scratched the back of his head in confusion and put the sword to the side.

"What's the sword made out of?" he asked.

"I don't know," Shang said.

"You don't know?" John asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know," Shang repeated.

John frowned a bit, but after releasing a sigh, he pushed everything back to Shang.

"You can enter," he said.

John opened the door and walked through it.

William followed him, and Shang was the last one to walk through.

BANG!

The door was closed behind Shang, and John entered another door without saying goodbye.

"We probably woke him," William said with a smile from the side.

"Woke him? Isn't he supposed to be working?" Shang asked.

"What is he supposed to do?" William asked with a shrug. "He's responsible for checking the visitors, and there aren't many visitors that late at night. We have far more guards than jobs in Warrior's Paradise. That's why everyone only has to do a bit of work."

"Anyway," William said as he stretched a bit with a yawn. "I should go to the barracks and sleep. You can find the Warrior's Academy at the west of Warrior's Paradise. It's surrounded by a huge, fancy fence. You can't miss it. They have a nightshift too, so you don't have to wait until tomorrow."

Shang nodded. "Thank you a lot. You've explained a lot of things to me, and you've made everything easier."

William only waved his hand dismissively. "I'm a social person, and I enjoy showing people around. Also, it's my job to help people as a member of the city guards. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Shang said with a slight, polite bow.

Now, Shang was alone again.

Shang took a deep breath as he looked at the city around him.

The buildings were tall, and there was little space between them. The roads were narrow, and many tiny alleys led to different parts of the city.

When Shang saw these alleys, he got reminded of his home on Earth.

The alleys specifically reminded him of his last moments on Earth.

What surprised Shang were the sounds in the city.

There were none.

Shang couldn't hear insects, animals, or anything living. He could only occasionally hear some guards walking around.

The streets were deserted.

Luckily, the braziers on top of the towers illuminated the city enough so that Shang could see where he was going.

Shang looked at one of the alleys to his right. At the moment, Shang was facing south, and William told him that the academy was to the west.

'Should I go through the alleys?' Shang thought as he scratched his chin.

In the end, Shang decided to continue to the south.

He had lived in enough cities in his previous life to know how cities were built. If this city followed the concept of Earth's cities, he should…

'Knew it!'

Shang reached a big intersection in the middle of the city. There were big roads leading to all cardinal directions.

Shang looked at the intersection, and he realized that this was probably a huge bazaar or marketplace during the day.

Right now, no one could be seen here, but Shang saw many smaller stalls and shops with large windows.

Shang followed the big road to the west. William said that the Warrior's Academy took up a huge portion of Warrior's Paradise. So, it shouldn't be difficult to find it.

After walking for a bit, Shang saw a huge fence made of shiny, silver metal.

In the middle of the road was a fancy gate with plenty of decorations.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ When Shang saw the gate, his heart began to beat faster.

This was it!

This was the place where he would become more powerful!

He had lived for over half a year in the wilderness, and Shang hadn't learned from any human warrior in this world.

There had to be an incredible number of unimaginably powerful techniques in this world!

This was where Shang would join the true rank of the Warriors!

The Warrior's Academy!

Chapter 63 - The Sleeping Man

Shang looked at the grand gates for a while.

Then, he took a deep breath and walked towards them.

As Shang came closer, he saw someone sitting right beside the gate. It was a middle-aged man, probably in his forties.

What was he doing?

Sleeping.

He was sitting on a chair, and his entire body was just lazily splayed on the chair.

Was this the nightshift William was talking about?

Shang looked at the sleeping person for a while with a complex expression.

For some reason, this person didn't feel dangerous to him.

However, Shang was certain that he couldn't trust his perception in this case. After all, this person was guarding the gates alone.

Shang stopped a couple of meters away from the sleeping person with an awkward expression.

Should he wake him?

Well, he was supposed to be working.

"Excuse me," Shang said quietly.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ The person didn't react.

"Excuse me," Shang said again as he stepped closer.

The person still didn't react.

Shang looked around at the dark city. He didn't want to wake the sleeping residents, so he couldn't just shout.

Shang scratched his chin. That guy was probably a powerful warrior, and if Shang just stepped forward, the guy might be startled awake. Who knew what the guy would do when startled? The reflexes of a warrior were dangerous.

Then, Shang got an idea.

He stopped a couple of meters away.

Then, he slightly moved his sword before moving it back into its original place.

The person didn't react.

"Are you awake now?" Shang asked.

Shang saw the chest of the person expand as he took a deep breath. Then, he slowly sat up in his chair with a groan as he ruffled his hair.

"That was smart, boy," the man said with some annoyance.

"You were awake the entire time, right?" Shang asked.

The man sighed. "Yeah. Heard you since you walked closer. Simply didn't want to deal with you."

"Sorry, but it can't wait until tomorrow," Shang said.

The guard let out another annoyed sigh as he stood up. "Thanks to you, I'm fully awake now. Thanks a lot," he said sarcastically.

"I had to get your attention some way," Shang answered.

What was the man talking about?

Well, a seasoned warrior had a terrifying perception and terrifying reflexes. Someone talking to them or someone walking around might not wake them, but the silent sound of a moving weapon definitely would get their attention.

Their mind would immediately go into full alert as soon as they heard that silent and deadly sound.

"What do you want?" the man asked with annoyance.

"I want to join the academy," Shang said.

The man looked with annoyance at Shang. "There's still quite a few months until the next trials start."

"I want a special exam," Shang said.

"Got the gold?"

Shang took out his sack of gold and shook it a bit.

The man raised an eyebrow. "Okay," he said with a bit more interest.

SHING!

Suddenly, the man appeared right in front of Shang. Shang's hairs rose in an instant, and he pulled out his sword to block the sword coming for his head.

SWISH!

Shang's block missed as the sword pulled back before they could hit each other. At the same time, Shang jumped backward, fully alert.

"Are you crazy?!" both of them silently shouted in whispering voices simultaneously.

Silence.

"Do you have any idea how loud two clashing swords are?!" the man shouted in a whispery voice. "You would've woken the entire city."

"You were the one attacking me!" Shang shouted back with a whispery voice. "What was I supposed to do, just die?!"

"I was obviously only testing you!" the guy shouted back in a whispery voice. "If I really wanted to kill you, you wouldn't even notice me!"

"Don't you have a better way of testing me?!" Shang asked with a very annoyed voice.

"That's payback for doing the same thing to me!"

"I didn't attack you!"

"So? You still triggered my battle instinct!"

Shang took a deep breath to calm down.

"Alright, it's fine," Shang said. "So, are you happy with my reaction?"

The man had a slightly disappointed but also slightly interested expression on his face.

"Your reaction was extremely fast, and you immediately went for your weapon while evading. However, your way of moving your sword was weird, and it definitely needs work. It's like you've never seen a human swing a sword," the man said.

"I never had any form of training," Shang answered.

That surprised the man, and he looked at Shang with a very skeptical expression.

"That makes no sense," he said.

"But it's the truth," Shang answered.

"How?"

"How what?" Shang asked with annoyance. "You go ask. I answer."

The man's brows furrowed. "Alright. If you've never undergone training, how is your body already in the Peak Soldier Stage at your age?"

"Absorb a lot of Mana, jump from trees," Shang answered.

Silence.

Several seconds of silence.

"What?" the man asked.

"Yes, I've been in the wilderness. There was an Earth Fruit Hedgehog running around. I gave it food. It gave me its Earth Fruits. I eat one fruit, jump from a tree, nearly die, and regenerate."

Silence.

"What?" the man repeated.

"What what?! That's what happened!" Shang shouted back in a whispery voice.

"Stop spouting bullshit," the man said with a frown.

"Dude, I'm not bullshitting you!"

The man was taken aback suddenly.

"Dude?" he asked. "What's that? Is that an insult?"

"It's just a phrase. It's something like bro, man, or similar stuff, but that doesn't matter now. I didn't lie!" Shang answered.

The man released a silent hmph, deciding to postpone the topic for now.

"Fine, then what about your sword? How did you learn how to swing it?" he asked.

"I just moved it around in ways to deal as much damage as possible. I pushed the power, speed, and precision as far as possible. Additionally, I tried to make them flow into each other without a gap. Essentially, I'm trying to get rid of all the awkward transitions between strikes," Shang explained.

The man raised an eyebrow. "Alright, that would explain your weird movements. Show me your set."

"My what?" Shang asked.

"Your set. You know, a choreographed showcase of your Martial Art," the man said.

Shang blinked a couple of times. "I don't have that."

"What do you mean you don't have that?" the man asked with frustration. "Then, how are you training your swordsmanship?!"

"I just do a couple of the same swings. Then, I do some other swings. Then, I combine swings from time to time. I do all that until I'm tired."

As the man listened to Shang, he began to rub the side of his head in disbelief.

He looked exactly like a person that went into a house and saw the house in an incredible mess.

Shang could practically read the mind of the man.

'Where do I even begin to fix such a mess?'

These were probably his thoughts.

"Fine! Forget it," the man said after rubbing the bridge of his nose. "We'll deal with this tomorrow. I can't let you in since you're not a student yet, so you have to wait until tomorrow."

"Fine," Shang said as his posture relaxed. Talking with this man had frustrated him quite a bit.

The man sat down on his chair again.

Then, he saw Shang moving to the other side of the gate to sit down.

"What are you doing?" the man asked.

"Waiting for tomorrow," Shang said.

"Here?"

"Yes, why not?"

"You do know that there are inns around here, right?"

"It's late, and I don't want to wake them. Additionally, I'm used to sleeping outside."

Shang sat on the ground and leaned his back on the gatepost. Then, he took out his sword and put it beside him, nestling it in his arm.

At the same time, Shang put his coat over the front of his body.

The man scratched the side of his head awkwardly.

Then, he sighed.

Plonk!

Shang looked over, and he saw that a second chair had suddenly appeared out of thin air.

Shang looked in shock at the man. "You have a Sparren?" he asked.

"What?" the man asked. "No, I have a Space Ring."

"That's a Sparren," Shang answered.

The man looked with a weird expression at Shang. "No, it's just a Space Ring."

"Yes, but the Sparren is the gem on the Space Ring."

"Okay, but then why didn't you just call it a Space Ring? Did you want to impress me with your vocabulary?" the man asked with a snort.

"No, it was simply the first word that popped into my mind," Shang answered with annoyance.

"Who thinks of some sparring when looking at a Space Ring."

"Sparren."

"Sparren, whatever. Take the chair. I can't look at you sitting on the ground."

Shang looked at the chair with an awkward expression.

"No, thank you," he said.

"What?" the man asked.

"I said, no, thank you," Shang repeated.

"Why no?" the man asked.

"Because It's more comfortable on the floor."

"How is it more comfortable? Chairs are literally designed for humans to sit in," the man answered with annoyance.

"Well, I don't want it. I like the ground," Shang said back.

"Take it," the man said as he kicked the chair over.

"I don't want it," Shang said as he pushed the chair back again.

"Take it! I don't want to see you sitting on the ground," the man said with frustration, pushing the chair back to Shang.

"I don't want it!" Shang said as he pushed it back.

"I don't care if you don't want it! I don't want to see someone sitting on the ground beside me. It's embarrassing! You look like a beggar!"

"So? I don't care," Shang answered.

The man groaned. "Just do it for me, okay?"

"No, why would I? You attacked me earlier," Shang said with a sneer.

"That again!?" the man shouted in a whispery voice as he stood up.

"Yes, that again. I haven't heard you apologize."

"Why should I apologize? You woke me by pulling out your sword!"

"Yeah, because you were sleeping on the job!"

…

This wouldn't be a quiet night.

 

Chapter 64 - Different World

"Wake up," the man said with an annoyed voice. "It's time for our deal."

Shang slowly opened his eyes with annoyance.

The two of them had argued for way too long.

In the end, they had come to a deal.

Shang could sit on the ground for the night, but when people would begin to show up, he would sit on the chair.

Shang stood up, pulled the chair over, and sat down.

"Was that so hard?" the man asked.

"I can also just sit on the ground again," Shang answered with an even voice.

"Hmph," the man only snorted.

In the next couple of minutes, Shang saw the sky slowly light up.

The braziers had been put out a couple of minutes ago, and Shang heard the first faint noises of movement from the surrounding houses.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ It seemed like the 500 or so people directly living in the city had their houses adjacent to the academy.

A couple minutes later, Shang saw the first people exit their houses. They walked with practiced ease to their destinations.

"Bakers and smiths," the man said. "They have to wake up very early."

"Mhm," Shang muttered.

Some minutes later, the sky became bright enough that even a normal person could see in the streets. Due to the high elevation and the walls, the dawn couldn't be seen from within the city.

Some more minutes later, more people began to exit their houses as they all walked in the direction of the city center. Those were probably all the merchants and other artisans.

WHOOOOM!

Suddenly, a loud horn echoed throughout the city, and Shang looked up.

"That's the signal that the gates are being opened," the man explained as he stood up. Then, he walked over to the gate and simply pushed it open.

"It wasn't locked?" Shang asked.

"Why would we lock it? I'm here, after all," he said.

The man stretched a bit as he fixed his clothing. He had to appear presentable to the students.

Some minutes later, Shang heard the sound of a horde of people moving, and a couple of seconds later, Shang saw several youngsters and children walk towards the academy.

Some of them were ten-year-old kids.

Some were already adults.

Some wore bronze uniforms.

Some wore yellow uniforms.

Some walked in groups.

Some walked alone.

However, one thing was the same for every student.

They all wore at least one weapon on their person.

Shang received plenty of different gazes from the passing students. Some of them looked with confusion at him, some with interest, and some with disgust.

"Hello, teacher!"

"Good morning, teacher!"

"Finally done with work, huh?"

Many students greeted the middle-aged man beside the gate.

The children were very polite, while the older ones were more casual.

The teacher gave some polite and curt replies while the students passed him.

"Quite popular, huh?" Shang commented.

"Tch, they only respect my status," the man answered quietly, "but at least they respect something."

"Do you want to start with that topic again?" Shang asked.

"Hmph," the man harrumphed without saying anything more to Shang.

Shang kept looking at the passing students.

They just didn't end!

In fact, the entire street was crowded with people. It was almost like a festival was taking place in the city.

By now, the city had also become very noisy and loud. The number of guards on the walls had also multiplied by several times.

Suddenly, Shang saw a shadow.

The shadow of a person had just jumped from the wall, right into the academy.

"That's the dean," the teacher said when he noticed Shang's gaze. "He oversees the security of the city by night and leads the academy during the day."

Shang's eyes widened in surprise. "Doesn't he need to sleep?"

The teacher only snorted. "People on his level don't need to sleep any longer. Don't forget, the dean is the most powerful warrior in the entire world."

That's when Shang remembered everything he had been told of the Warrior Academy.

Right! The strongest warrior in the world stayed here!

The only warrior that had ever managed to reach the Fourth Realm, the same Realm as Duke Whirlwind!

Shang felt a feeling of wonder when he realized that he had just caught a glimpse of the most powerful warrior in the entire world.

It had only been a glimpse, but that glimpse had meant taking a glimpse at the current peak of physical fighting.

After a couple of minutes, the flood of students slowly subsided. Yet, what replaced the students were the teachers.

Shang saw several people in silver uniforms walking down the street, talking with each other.

They didn't wear armor, but their uniforms were obviously designed to also be used in battle. They seemed light but powerful, hard but flexible.

Some of the teachers were also talking with some older students. Obviously, the barrier between teacher and students wasn't as stringent when the student reached a certain age.

After all, they were all adults at that point.

BOOOM!

Suddenly, a loud explosion came from the top of the city walls.

Shang looked over in shock, and he saw a gigantic ballista on top of a wall.

He saw several soldiers standing around it, all looking over the wall, into the distance. Two of them wore silver armor, while the others wore bronze armor.

The sound had obviously come from this ballista firing.

A second later, the guards high-fived each other.

"Sometimes, Spear Storks fly too close to the city," the teacher explained. "They are Beasts in the Third Realm, the Commander Stage. We can't always send soldiers to hunt them down, so we kill as many as we can from the city."

Third Realm.

Shang was reminded of the Earth Fruit Hedgehog and the Old Ice Octopus in Duke Whirlwind's garden.

Such a majestic beast had died… just like that?

At this moment, Shang finally realized what kind of place he had come to.

The most powerful warrior in the world was here.

Over a hundred real Mages were here.

Who knew how many Commander Stage Warriors were here.

Beasts on the level of the Earth Fruit Hedgehog were regularly killed by some random guards.

The difference was just too vast.

In Duke Whirlwind's garden, the Earth Fruit Hedgehog might as well have counted as a God.

On the outside, Beasts on General Stage had reigned supreme, and Shang had nearly died to one of them.

The most powerful guards had been in the General Stage.

But here…

Here, Commander Stage Beasts died on the daily.

Commander Stage Beasts were nothing special in this place.

Shang couldn't even fight a General Stage Beast, but he had entered a place where not even Commander Stage Beasts were special.

For the first time, Shang felt like he was far out of his depth.

On the outside, he had been a force to be reckoned with. Not even the real bandits had dared to attack him after they had known of his location.

Every beast except for the most powerful ones had been under Shang's mercy.

But here, Shang was only a common youngster.

Every single guard in the city could easily kill him.

There were even several students in the General Stage.

Shang was in a different world.

"Oh? Who's that?" one of the teachers asked the teacher beside Shang.

"He came at night," the teacher answered. "He wants to have the special exam."

"Oh?" the other teacher answered as he looked at Shang.

Shang was taken out of his thoughts, and he looked at the new teacher.

"I have time right now," the other teacher said.

"Follow me. I'll take care of your exam."

 

Chapter 65 - Amnesia

Shang looked at the new teacher.

The new teacher looked like someone in his early thirties. He had long, emerald green hair, and he wore a green suit of leather armor.

This teacher's appearance surprised Shang. First of all, that teacher didn't wear the normal silver getup that all the other teachers wore. Second of all, he appeared a bit on the younger side for teachers. Most of the teachers looked like they were in their forties or fifties.

"Follow him, boy," the first teacher said to Shang with an annoyed tone.

"Oh, right!" Shang answered. Then, he looked at the new teacher and nodded politely. "Thank you."

"No thanks necessary," the green-haired teacher said with a smile. "After all, you're paying for all of this."

Shang only nodded.

The teacher looked at the others. "Talk to you later," he said.

"Don't abuse him too hard," a woman from the side giggled.

"Why do you always have to do this, Melena?" the teacher asked with a groan. "If you keep doing this, the students will one day start believing your crap."

The other teachers only giggled as they entered the academy.

The teacher watched them leave and sighed. "You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your colleagues," the teacher said to Shang.

"You can," came a distant shout from one of the teachers.

"Stuff it!" the teacher shouted back with furrowed brows.

Shang could only hear more laughing.

"Come," the teacher said as he gestured to the school with his head before entering.

Shang followed behind the teacher and looked around. For the first time, Shang could actually see the inside of this legendary academy.

Shang could see empty fields filled with rubble, some clean training places, and even a small forest, which surprised him. Warrior's Paradise was already very limited in terms of space, and the academy just placed a forest here?

"Hide and seek," the teacher in front of Shang said.

"What?" Shang asked.

"Hide and seek," the teacher repeated as he gestured towards the forest. "You won't always fight in open terrain. Sometimes, you are outmatched, and you have to flee. Sometimes, opponents might hide in the area to ambush you. That's what the forest is for."

"Oh, okay. Makes sense," Shang said absentmindedly.

The teacher noticed that Shang was too preoccupied with looking, so he didn't elaborate further.

"The atmosphere between you teachers feels more personal and comfortable than I anticipated," Shang commented suddenly.

The teacher snorted. "Why wouldn't it be? We're colleagues."

"Yes, that's normal, but it's not a given that the relationship between your boss and you is that relaxed."

"Oh?" the teacher uttered as he threw a glance toward Shang. "What gave you that idea?"

"You're not adhering to the obvious dress code," Shang answered. "Additionally, one of the others shouted that you can choose your colleagues, hinting at personnel responsibility."

"Personnel responsibility?" the teacher repeated with confusion while scratching his chin. "That's an interesting word. I've never heard of it before, but I can take a good guess at its meaning."

"Anyway, quite impressive of you to see these details. It might seem obvious to you, but not everyone notices these things. A lot of people look at what I wear, and they think that I'm just some janitor or something. After all, my uniform isn't as lavish as the other teachers' uniforms," the teacher said with a chuckle.

"Where did you learn of these things? From which family are you?" the teacher asked.

Shang felt a bit awkward after receiving that question.

"I'm not from any family," Shang said.

The teacher looked at Shang with a skeptical expression. "So, you learned that all on your own?"

"That's the difficult part," Shang said. "I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"Yes, I don't know," Shang confirmed. "My oldest memory is from when I woke up in Duke Whirlwind's garden a bit more than half a year ago."

After hearing that, the teacher stopped walking as he looked at Shang with a strict expression. "With your bright mind, you can probably understand why that story sounds so unbelievable. There is also plenty of reason to keep one's affiliation with certain families and organizations a secret."

"However, you have to know that this academy is run by the strongest warrior in the world, and he's a very altruistic person. He isn't interested in politics, and he only wants to further the advance of humans in terms of physical power."

"All your past political affiliations are irrelevant here. Yes, we might be in Duke Whirlwind's territory, and yes, we might have a deep connection with him, but the dean has made it very clear that we accept everyone."

"So, with all of that said, are you still adamant about the fact that you lost your memory? I must warn you. We have ways to check if your claim is true," the teacher explained.

"Yes, because that's what happened," Shang said calmly.

The man looked at Shang with a skeptical expression. "Alright, then let's test that right now. Please don't resist."

Shang only stood there without moving.

The teacher pointed his finger at Shang's forehead and then…

He started to cast a spell.

Shang was surprised when he saw that the teacher was casting a spell.

Wasn't this supposed to be a warrior's academy?

Didn't the guy wear leather armor and a long spear on his back?

Why did that guy suddenly start casting a spell!?

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ The teacher took several seconds to finish his spell. Obviously, he was unused to casting spells or, at least, to casting this specific spell.

Additionally, Shang felt the words the teacher said to be familiar.

Hadn't he heard similar words before?

When the teacher was finished, some Mana came out of his finger and entered Shang's mind.

Now, Shang remembered where he had heard that before.

Duke Whirlwind had cast the same spell to check if everything was alright with Shang's mind.

However, the Duke hadn't even needed a full second to cast that spell.

After traveling through Shang's head, the Mana came out from the back of his head.

The teacher looked at the Mana, and his face showed surprise.

"So?" Shang asked.

"Well, it seems like you've spoken the truth," the teacher said with a surprised expression. "I can see that something in your mind doesn't make sense."

"Can you tell me more about it?" Shang asked, fully knowing what the answer was going to be.

The teacher sighed. "Sorry, but I'm only training in Magic to supplement my fighting style. I'm a Magic Warrior, if you've heard the term before. I know some spells not related to combat, but using them is very difficult and draining for me."

"The only thing I can test is to see if the Mana coming out of your mind is normal-looking or not. We mainly use that spell to check if someone's memory has been tampered with. That's basically the only thing we can do with it."

"Alright," Shang said with a nod.

The teacher scratched his chin in surprise.

He had been certain that this kid had lied to him, but, apparently, the kid hadn't.

Amnesia, huh?

Who would've thought?

Then, the teacher wanted to continue leading Shang to the academy, but he stopped when he noticed how weird Shang's reaction had been.

How would an amnesiac person act when someone had just cast a spell on them that demonstrated their amnesia?

Wouldn't they immediately ask for ways to cure it? Wouldn't they be anxious or hopeful?

Yet, Shang acted like it was only normal.

"Someone has done that to you before, right?" the teacher asked.

Shang nodded.

"And you perceive that person to be even better at casting magic than me, right?" he asked.

Shang nodded again.

"You don't even know how good I am at casting spells, and you assume that I'm automatically less skilled than that person?" the teacher asked with a frown. "Any half-skilled Adept can cast that spell. What made you so sure that I'm less skilled?"

Shang only looked at the teacher.

"I haven't seen you fly through the air."

This shocked the teacher.

Flying?

There were only less than ten people in the world that could fly, and this guy was telling him that he talked to one of them?

However, the teacher quickly remembered what Shang had told him.

Shang's earliest memory was of him waking up in Duke Whirlwind's garden.

So, wasn't it logical…

"Did you meet Duke Whirlwind in his garden?" the teacher asked.

Shang nodded.

The teacher took a deep breath and released a sigh.

"Alright, if he can't see what's happened to your mind, I don't even need to attempt. Let's continue. We don't have all day."

With that said, the teacher continued.

Shang only looked at the teacher.

Shang was pretty sure that the teacher was regretting his earlier words about Shang not being able to tell whether someone was more powerful or not.

After some seconds of increasing the teacher's discomfort by only looking at him, Shang followed the teacher.

In the front, the teacher only rubbed his face.

When cheeks flushed with blood, they often itched.

 

Chapter 66 - Pen

After a while of walking, the two of them entered the academy.

The building itself looked like a typical school, just more… royal?

There were plenty of designs and edges that reminded Shang of the Baroque period on Earth. The building simply looked very old but very expensive.

However, the feeling that the building was old came from Shang's perception when he had been on Earth. After all, all of the buildings that looked like that were old. Yet, the building Shang was currently in looked to be rather new, and it was in top condition.

The halls were grand, and Shang could see many weapons hanging from the walls. Shang's sword was shaking on his back due to all the powerful ore around him. Luckily, Shang's cloak hid his sword's shaking.

Shang followed the teacher up some stairs, and after going down a long corridor, the two entered a hall.

The hall wasn't very big, but it also wasn't small. It was around ten by ten meters. A large table with a couple of chairs surrounding it was at the edge of the hall, making the layout of the hall a bit awkward. Having the table in the middle felt more natural.

"Take a seat. I'll call the two other people," the teacher explained as he took out a small crystal from his Space Ring. "We need three people for an official exam."

The teacher spoke a couple of words into his crystal and put it away again. After that, the teacher walked over to a drawer on the side and took out some papers.

The teacher put the papers in front of Shang. "You know how to read and write?" he asked.

For a second, Shang thought that this question was ridiculous, but he remembered that he was in a different world now. Being able to read and write probably wasn't common.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ "I can," Shang said as he looked at the papers in front of him.

Forms.

'I thought I got rid of all that bureaucracy when I left Earth,' Shang thought with annoyance.

Shang quickly took the pen-

'A pen?' Shang suddenly thought as he looked at the pen in his hand. 'Shouldn't I get a quill and inkwell?'

Shang looked with surprise at the pen. The pen looked like a crudely made ballpoint pen, which weirded Shang out.

A ballpoint pen?

In this world?

"You don't need an inkwell to write," the teacher said, pointing at the pen. "That's what we call a pen. It has an integrated inkwell. You only need to press down to write."

Shang looked at the teacher for a bit and then back at the paper with furrowed brows.

But in the end, Shang simply accepted the reality that is a pen in a world filled with Mages and warriors.

Shang filled out all the questions on the form. The questions were very basic. Shang was asked about his name, family, knowledge, combat style, combat experience, and many other relevant things to his chosen profession.

While filling out the forms, two other teachers entered the hall. They greeted the first teacher and sat down beside him.

One of them was a young woman with fiery red hair, while the other one was an old man with grey hair. The woman was probably in her twenties, while the old man was probably in his seventies.

"Viera, what are you doing here?" the first teacher asked the young woman while Shang was still filling out forms.

"I'm hunting later in the day today," Viera said with a smile. "I want to enter the Canyon on the evening."

The first teacher furrowed his brows. "Are you certain? You haven't been in the Commander Stage for a long time. Going to the Canyon now might be a bit too soon."

"I know," Viera said, "but I need to feel some danger again. Hunting Commander Stage beasts at the edges of the Wasteland isn't exciting anymore. I feel like I'm going to lose my battle instincts if I wait longer."

The first teacher still looked with uncertainty at Viera. "Do you want me to accompany you as insurance?"

"Soran, if you accompany me, there won't be any danger at all," Viera said with a slight chuckle. "That would defeat the entire purpose."

Soran, the first teacher, only looked with a worried expression at Viera. "Well, if you're certain that you're doing the right thing, go ahead. Just tell me when you plan on being back. I don't want to worry for the entire night."

Viera only chuckled a bit. "Aww, you're cute, Soran. Sometimes, I think you're my teacher, not my senior."

While filling out his forms, Shang threw a covert glance at Soran and Viera.

'Close physical contact initiated by her, higher voice, many chuckles, constant eye contact, compliments.'

'She's either someone who enjoys toying with men, or she has the hots for him.'

Suddenly, Viera shot a stern glance at Shang. "What are you looking at?" she asked with a dark voice.

Shang looked Viera in the eyes.

"You distracted me. Of course I'm going to look at the source of distraction," Shang said evenly before going back to filling out his form as if nothing had happened.

Viera was taken aback by Shang's words and tone.

She had expected Shang to cower back at her admonishment and apologize, but Shang had only answered in a very direct manner.

"Seems like he's not buying your bullshit."

Viera looked at the third teacher, the old man, with an angry gaze. "Do you have to word it so crude?" she asked with annoyance.

The old man only laughed. "You acted all flirtatious in front of him. Of course he's not going to jump back after your outburst. He has seen your sweet side now, which makes your angry side not as ugly."

Viera's face became red at being called out. "Mervin! Stop saying random stuff! If there are rumors being spread on the school property tomorrow, it's your fault!"

Mervin only snorted. "The rumors have been going around for months at this point. The only reason why you haven't noticed is that you basically live in the Wasteland."

"Rumors? What rumors?" Viera asked in shock.

Mervin only smirked. "What else? It's that-"

"I'm done," Shang suddenly said as he pushed the forms to the other side of the desk, to the three teachers.

"Shut up! Don't interrupt him!" Viera said with an annoyed voice as she threw Shang a venomous glance. Then, she looked back at Mervin with a nervous expression. "What kind of rumo-"

"Looks good," Soran suddenly said, interrupting Viera. "Some of the things on the forms make seemingly no sense, but I've seen stuff like that plenty of times. We just have to see how you fight, and we'll get everything figured out."

Viera looked with annoyance at Soran, but she only bit her lower lip as she suppressed her rebuttal.

Shang shot a knowing look towards Soran.

Shang knew that the stuff he had written down was probably far from ordinary. After all, when it asked about Shang's combat style, Shang had simply said sword. When it had asked about the techniques Shang had learned, Shang had simply crossed out the page.

Yet, when it asked about Shang's combat experience, Shang had run out of space on the paper.

Every single person would make a doubletake at that form and ask Shang several questions for clarification.

However, Soran had simply waved the form off like everything was alright, and Shang knew why.

Soran didn't want to confront Viera's romantic feelings.

He obviously knew about them, judging by his actions, but he avoided directly acknowledging them.

Clap! Clap!

Soran clapped twice into his hands to get the attention of the other two teachers. "Alright, the official exam starts now. Please keep the topics not related to the examination out of the examination."

Mervin only laughed while Viera frowned with annoyance.

Meanwhile, Soran looked at Shang with a devious smirk.

"Well then, let's begin, shall we?"

 

Chapter 67 - Sword, Yes?

Shang nodded. He had waited for this examination for way too long.

Soran answered with a nod of his own and turned towards Mervin. "Mervin, you're the sword instructor. Could you get us a fitting opponent for Shang? You know how examinations work."

Mervin nodded and wanted to stand up but stopped. "Shang? That's his name?" he asked.

"That's at least what he wrote onto the form," Soran said as he waved one of the forms around.

Mervin shot a weird glance at Shang.

"Weird name, kid," he said before leaving.

Viera only snorted, showing that she didn't like what Mervin had just said.

Soran only awkwardly looked at Shang. "You have to excuse Mervin. He's an old but very capable teacher. As you might have noticed, he always speaks his mind."

"No, he's right," Shang said. "Shang is a weird name."

Soran's face transformed into a representation of confusion.

That was not the answer he had expected.

"Well, alright then. As long as you don't take what Mervin said personally," Soran said.

"How is it not personal?" Shang asked. "He literally commented on my name. It doesn't really get any more personal."

Soran moved his hands forward like he wanted to stop an expensive vase from falling to the ground. "That's not what I meant."

"I know what you meant," Shang said.

Soran pulled back again as he looked at Shang with a slightly frustrated expression. "Then why didn't you say so?" he asked with forced politeness.

"Why didn't you word it correctly?" Shang answered.

"You," Soran said as his hands very lightly indicated that he wanted to strangle Shang. Then, he took a deep breath to calm down. "Fine. It's fine. The situation's resolved," he said.

Shang didn't answer anymore.

On the side, Viera shot a strange look at Shang.

This kid wasn't like most other kids.

Was something wrong with him?

After some time passed, Mervin returned with a young man.

Shang looked at the young man, or more precisely, boy.

He couldn't be older than 16.

When Shang saw the boy, he felt a slight feeling of threat.

By now, Shang was very good at judging his opponent. The slight feeling of threat he felt meant that the other side was capable of injuring him, but that was it.

He wasn't a real threat.

After all, even a Pest Cat had the capabilities to injure Shang.

The young man looked at Shang with burning eyes.

Two teachers and the Vice-Dean were here!

He had to prove his worth in front of them!

"This will be an exhibition match," Soran explained. "You two will fight each other. Shang, this match won't decide if you can join our academy or not. It's simply there so we can get a better look at your fighting style."

"Please, you can fight over there," Soran said as he gestured to the empty half of the hall.

'So that's why the table's at the side,' Shang thought.

Shang walked over to one end of the hall as he looked at his opponent.

Shang's opponent took out his sword. It was a one-handed sword focused on a mixture of speed and power. It wasn't as thin as a rapier, but it also wasn't very broad.

Clk!

The silent sound of something metallic moving could be heard from Shang, but none of the present people could see what Shang was doing. His sword had been hidden beneath his cloak the entire time.

The teachers nodded when they saw that. Keeping one's weapon hidden made it harder for the opponent to prepare themselves.

"You can start whenever you want. This fight is not-"

BANG!

The sound of Shang jumping forward with a lot of power reverberated throughout the hall, interrupting Soran's words.

Shang's opponent hadn't been ready for Shang to suddenly attack, and he quickly lifted his sword to block.

However, he didn't know from which direction Shang would strike.

Shang's sword was still hidden behind his cloak.

As Shang approached, his opponent quickly changed his block to a chop. In the academy, he had learned that the only option was to attack when one couldn't find a proper defense.

Shang saw the sword swing towards him, but he had already known that would happen.

Shang wasn't arrogant. He knew exactly that his opponent knew more about how to wield a sword than him. So, entering a sword battle with him would be stupid.

Shang saw the sword swing down. Shang put all his power into his sword arm and directly targeted the opponent's sword.

BANG!

The two swords hit each other, creating sparks as they bounced away.

SHING!

However, Shang's sword immediately shot into the ground. Shang had blocked a chop coming from above, but instead of pulling his sword back into a combat-stance, Shang let go of his sword!

The opponent put all of his power into recovering his sword, leaving him open.

Meanwhile, Shang wasn't blown back since he had let go of the source of pushback.

Pulling off such a maneuver took a lot of practice, but Shang had had enough practice.

At the moment, Shang's opponent was out of balance as he tried to pull his sword back.

BANG!

Shang's shoulder rammed into his opponent's torso, taking the air out of his lungs.

Shang pushed his opponent over and fell on top of him. Then, Shang moved around his opponent's body with practiced ease.

CRK!

"AAAHHH!"

The young man shouted in pain as Shang violently kicked the sword away, breaking at least one finger in the process.

Then, Shang used the opening to get behind the opponent.

Lastly, Shang put his arms around his opponent's neck and head in a sleeper hold, simultaneously pulling him away from his sword.

The young man's mouth opened in pain and terror as he tried to resist.

Yet, as more time passed, he began to see stars until he only saw black.

When Shang saw that his opponent had gone limp, he let go, making sure that the man wouldn't hit his head on the ground.

Then, Shang stood up and cracked his neck.

After that, Shang looked at the teachers.

The teachers only looked with open mouths at Shang.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Soran looked through the forms again to make sure that he hadn't misread.

Combat Style? Sword.

No, it definitely said sword there.

Some seconds later, the young man on the ground groaned as he slowly regained consciousness. Right now, the young man's mind was filled with nothing but confusion.

What had happened?

Why was he here?

And then, he looked with shock at his right hand and the two broken fingers on it.

Suddenly, everything came back to him, and he looked at Shang, who stood in the middle of the hall right now.

"I was told this would be a sword fight!" the young man shouted with a voice filled with a mixture of panic, pain, and anger.

Shang threw the young man a short glance.

'Interesting. He's more concerned with how I fought than his broken fingers. I guess injuries are pretty normal in the academy.'

Meanwhile, the teachers only looked at each other with uncertainty.

This wasn't what they had expected.

Soran looked at the forms again and then at Shang.

"Sword, yes?" he asked.

Shang nodded.

Chapter 68 - Michael

Soran took a deep breath to calm down.

"Then why didn't you use your sword?" he asked.

"I did," Shang answered. "Without it, I couldn't have created an opening."

"This is not what I meant," Soran said with a frustrated voice. "You used a sword, yes, but you didn't use it to win."

"Yes, I did," Shang answered. "Without it, I couldn't have created an opening."

Soran's right eyelid twitched as Mervin began laughing.

"He did use a sword to win," Mervin commented from the side with a smirk.

Soran threw a threatening look at Mervin, but Mervin didn't care.

"Why didn't you use your sword the entire time? Don't you know that throwing your weapon away is basically suicide in a battle?" Soran asked with furrowed brows.

"How is it suicide when I won?" Shang asked.

"There could have been other opponents around, and after you took down your current opponent, you might not have the time to retrieve your sword," Soran said.

"But there aren't any other opponents," Shang said matter-of-factly. "The only other people in this room are you three, and if you three decide to attack me, having my sword wouldn't make a difference."

"Yes, but what if-"

"But there isn't," Shang answered.

"You don't know what I would have said!" Soran answered with a seething tone.

"Doesn't matter," Shang said. "You started your sentence with what if, which means that it isn't something that has happened."

Soran sucked in a violent breath of air through his nose. "Alright, fine! So, why didn't you use your sword till the very end?" he said with suppressed rage.

"Because that's stupid," Shang answered.

This was not the answer Soran had expected, and he looked at Shang with a confused expression.

"Why?" was all he asked.

"Because he's had tutoring on how to fight with a sword while I hadn't," Shang said, pointing at the young man, who had stood up by now. "He's obviously better at using a sword than me. I was in a disadvantageous position, so I moved the fight into a favorable position for me."

Mervin broke out into laughter as Soran lifted his hands. He angrily formed them into fists before opening them again. It was like he imagined how it felt to strangle Shang.

Then, Soran relaxed as he let out a long sigh.

"That was the point," he said.

Shang lifted an eyebrow in a skeptical expression.

"That was the entire point," Soran repeated. "This exhibition match was supposed to show you what proper teachings can accomplish. This match was supposed to teach you something."

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Shang asked with an annoyed expression. "I wouldn't have done that if I had known the goal of the exhibition match."

Soran's eyelid twitched again. "I was going to, but you attacked before I could tell you."

"But you said that we can begin whenever we want," Shang answered.

"Yes!" Soran shouted back, "but it's normal to wait until the introductions and the explanation regarding the fight were finished!"

"Then why didn't you say that we could begin whenever we want at the end of your explanation?" Shang asked.

"You fu-"Soran said before catching himself.

Mervin only broke out into more laughter.

Soran completely ignored Mervin at this point.

Soran took another deep breath to calm down.

"Shang, listen," he said calmly. "We are trying to help you. We are trying to teach you something. We are not your enemies, and you don't have to be so uncooperative. We are all on the same side."

"Uncooperative?" Shang repeated with furrowed brows. "You told me what I should do, and I've done what you said. What is uncooperative about that?"

"It is common courtesy to wait until everything's clear," Soran said with slightly narrowed eyes.

"And how am I supposed to know that?" Shang asked.

Soran's expression transformed into a very skeptical one. "Because it's COMMON courtesy. People COMMONLY know about it," he said.

"Okay, cool, and how long have I been amongst humans?" Shang asked.

Soran's eyes widened as realization struck.

The other two teachers looked at Soran with confusion. In their mind, Soran was supposed to shout back.

Soran took another deep breath and slowly put his right hand to his forehead. "I'm sorry. I forgot about that."

This surprised Mervin and Viera.

Where did that change suddenly come from?

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ "It's fine," Shang answered. "So, what now?"

The other two teachers still looked with confusion at Soran while Soran slowly stood up.

Then, Soran walked around the table while looking at the other young man. "Please go to the Water Mage," he said. "After that, you can return to class."

For a second, Shang was confused about why Soran had sent the young man to a Water Mage, but after seeing the young man's broken fingers, Shang made a connection in his mind.

'Do Water Mages have healing capabilities?' Shang thought.

"I didn't lose!" the young man shouted with panic and nervousness. It was almost like his dream was breaking apart in front of him. "He cheated!"

The entire atmosphere in the room changed as the three teachers shot admonishing looks at the young man.

"What's his name?" Soran asked without looking back.

"Michael from the Brestow family," Mervin answered.

"Michael," Soran said slowly. "In battle, we can't be sure about the powers of our enemies. Some Mages dye their hair and clothing just to look like a Mage with a different affinity. Sometimes, some warriors walk around with a gigantic halberd on their backs when their real weapon is a hidden dagger in their sleeve."

"When you enter a battle, you have to keep in mind what your opponent can use to hurt you. Yes, to some extent, we were also at fault since we fed you incorrect information about your opponent, but in the end, you are still responsible for your own battles."

"You both have about equally powerful bodies, and you had a chance to win. Taking your opponent by surprise is one of the most important factors in winning."

"I'll chalk up your current outburst to your broken fingers and your loss of consciousness earlier. I'll forgive it this time, but I don't want to hear something like that again."

"Do I make myself clear, Michael?" Soran said with a strict voice.

By now, Michael didn't look angry anymore.

In fact, Michael looked very afraid, ashamed, and nervous.

He knew that he had screwed up big time.

"I'm sorry, Vice-Dean. In my fear of appearing too weak, I appeared too weak. I have lost, and that's that. I will remember your teachings, Vice-Dean," Michael said with a voice filled with shame.

Soran nodded, and a smile returned to his face. "Then everything's fine. Please, go to the Water Mage and return to class. We're sorry for the inconvenience."

"Yes, thank you, Vice-Dean," Michael said with a polite bow. Then, he turned to Mervin. "Thank you, teacher."

Then, surprisingly, Michael turned to Shang. "I'm sorry for my earlier words," he said.

Shang was a bit surprised.

In Shang's mind, this boy was just that, a boy. He hadn't expected a teenager to genuinely admit to their mistake that easily.

Michael could have left without talking to Shang, and everything would have been alright.

"It's fine," Shang said. "And sorry for the broken fingers. I got lost in the fight."

"It's okay," Michael said. "I'm used to injuries. So, see you in class, Shang."

Shang nodded.

Then, Michael left the hall.

Meanwhile, Soran had arrived at the place where the young man had just been.

SHING!

Soran took out his spear and held it in his right hand.

As soon as Soran took out his spear, it was like Shang was assaulted with an apocalyptic pressure.

It was like a gigantic dragon had just looked into Shang's eyes.

"I will reduce my power to the Mid Soldier Stage, two levels below you," Soran said.

SHING!

Soran pointed his spear at Shang.

"How about I show you what you can do with proper training?"

 

Chapter 69 - Battle With Soran

Breathing became difficult for Shang. Even though the person in front of him wasn't showing any killing intent, Shang could still feel the sheer power behind him.

However, it wasn't only his power. There was also a certain confidence or willpower inside him.

Shang felt like there was no sense in resisting. It was like his own motivation was suppressed by the sheer pressure of his opponent.

But Shang wasn't a mere teenager.

Shang had gone through a lot of training, and he had also fought on the world stage on Earth. The pressure he had felt back then was even more oppressive than the pressure he was feeling right now.

How? Were his old opponents stronger than the Vice-Dean, Soran?

Of course not.

The circumstances and eventual repercussions were different.

If Shang had lost his fights on Earth, his life would have been ruined. He had trained for months on end to succeed in only a single fight, and that fight would decide Shang's entire future.

But this fight?

Nothing would happen.

This was not a fight that would decide his future, but a fight that would teach Shang something.

Winning or losing made no difference.

So, even when the opponent was the most powerful opponent Shang had ever had, losing wasn't bad. It was expected.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Shang slowly took out his sword again, and he looked at Soran. "You said I can attack with the intention to kill, right?" he asked.

"You can," Soran answered with a slight nod as he readied his spear.

BANG!

Then, Soran suddenly charged forward, taking Shang by surprise.

Shang had expected that Soran would simply block all of Shang's offenses and teach him. But now, he was attacking him!

For a moment, it became difficult for Shang to react, but he had an advantage that allowed him to react in time.

His body.

Soran had said that he would make himself two levels weaker than Shang, and he had done so. Soran's speed was more than manageable for Shang, and that was the only reason why Shang was able to react in time.

Soran's spear directly went for Shang's head, and it became bigger and bigger in Shang's vision.

Shang quickly shot his sword upwards. His plan was to throw the spear to the side with all his power. Since he had a more powerful body at the moment, he could ruin the balance of his opponent by striking the weapon.

WHOOSH!

Yet, Shang's sword missed!

Soran only smiled as he slightly pulled his spear back.

That was when Shang realized that Soran had already planned this beforehand. Soran wasn't using more power than he was allowed, and he hadn't stopped his spear in a reactionary sense.

It had been planned from the very beginning.

Suddenly, the head of the spear angled downward, the spear bending in the process.

In that short moment, Shang realized what had happened.

Soran had pushed his spear forward at an angle, but before Shang had even decided to block it, Soran had pushed the butt of his spear to the side.

The wooden shaft of the spear was very bendy, and the rotation of the actual spear took some time to reach the tip.

At this very moment, the butt of the spear was pointing towards Shang's torso while the tip of the spear was slightly pointing to the side. Soran didn't even need to continue pushing. The sheer force of the bent spear would shoot forward as the spear became straight again, catapulting the head of the spear into Shang's abdomen.

Shang couldn't get either of his arms to intercept the spear. Yes, Shang had a more powerful body, and he was definitely also faster, but he hadn't been interrupted by his opponent but by himself.

Shang had wanted to stun his opponent by using all his power to throw the spear to the side. Because of that, Shang had to fight against his own power to regain his balance, not his opponent's power.

Shang couldn't block the head of the spear.

Yet, Shang's eyes narrowed as his instincts took over. These weren't the instincts of an MMA fighter but the instincts of someone that had lived in the wilderness for months, fighting powerful beasts all the time.

BANG!

Shang was thrown to the side.

However, the eyes of Soran, Viera, and Mervin widened in surprise.

Shang had gone into the attack of his own volition!

The first and most basic reaction someone had towards an attack was to protect themselves. If someone saw a punch coming toward their face, they would quickly put their arms in front of their face. If someone saw an attack coming towards their abdomen, they would put their arms and legs in front of their torso while trying to either jump back or turn to the side.

These were basic instincts.

Yet, Shang stepped forward while slightly rotating his abdomen.

If Shang had done nothing, the spear would have straightened, and the tip would have slightly pierced Shang's abdomen. Soran didn't want to injure Shang too seriously after all.

But by stepping forward and rotating, the side of the spear's head slapped Shang in the abdomen. The sharp edge of the spear left a deep cut in Shang's abdomen, but that was it. A thrust with the spear would have punched through Shang if it were performed with the intention to kill, which would obviously be worse than this outcome.

At the same time, Shang's arms wrapped around the spear, keeping it from leaving his body.

Shang had the more powerful body, and he had to take advantage of that fact.

Soran raised an eyebrow as he saw Shang grip his spear with his left hand while still keeping his sword in his right.

Then, Shang exploded forward!

He pulled Soran to him by pulling on the spear as his sword struck in Soran's direction.

Soran only smirked.

Whoooop!

The spear suddenly bent to the side, throwing Soran to the side. It was almost like the spear was not following physics anymore!

Shang noticed what had happened.

Soran was using Shang as the base of a lever. Soran was essentially using the principles of a pole vault to throw himself to the side.

At the same time, the spear in Shang's hands tried to pull itself out of his grasp. Soran was using the entire power of his body to bend the shaft out of Shang's hands.

However, one of the very first things a fighter on Earth learned was to disarm people. Because of that, Shang used some fingers from his right hand to block the exit of the spear.

The part where the fingers curled around something was easy to break out of with some rotation. Shang knew that which was why he was reinforcing that part with his other hand while still keeping his sword.

Soran nodded in praise when he saw that.

Then, Soran shoved his spear forward with all his force.

Shang strengthened his grip on the spear and managed to keep hold of it.

Clink!

Yet, the spear vibrated once and hit the hilt of his sword, throwing it out of Shang's hand.

Like it had a mind of its own, the sword gracefully flew towards Soran, who caught it.

Then, Soran pointed the sword at Shang with one hand while keeping his spear in the other.

Silence.

For a moment, Shang looked with cold eyes at his sword.

He knew that his own sword couldn't injure him. If Shang shot forward, Soran would try to stab Shang with the sword, but it wouldn't work.

Then, Shang could use that chance to start an unarmed fight on the ground with Soran, which would essentially mean that Shang would win.

"You win," Shang said.

But in the end, Shang decided against it.

First of all, Soran had already shown a cavalcade of techniques, and it was very possible that he would have even more. Saying that Shang would be able to tackle Soran to the ground would be very, very optimistic. In short, Shang's victory wasn't even close to assured.

Second, Shang was certain that the ability to not cut one's user wasn't common for a weapon. Shang still wasn't certain how other people would perceive his weapon if they knew of its abilities.

Lastly, Shang also had the ability of his left arm, but he kept it secret for the same reason. If Shang could tell his own affinity, he wouldn't be afraid of revealing it. However, his affinity was special. Even the God had called it special.

Also, if Shang used some Mana-related abilities with his left arm, Soran might do the same. Shang didn't forget that Soran had called himself a Mage Warrior, and up to now, Soran hadn't revealed any Magic abilities.

Soran only smiled as he threw the sword back to Shang.

"Well fought, Shang!"

 

Chapter 70 - Flaws

"Thanks," Shang answered Soran.

When Soran heard Shang's words, he nodded in appreciation.

Why?

Because a lot of kids tried to appear too prideful or motivated. They would proclaim with a frown that they were sad they hadn't won or something similar.

However, that didn't make them seem endearing or motivated but stupid.

This had never been a fight where victory was up for grabs. If they said that they weren't fine with losing, it would only show their childishness. It would show that they weren't able to distinguish a winnable fight from an unwinnable one.

If someone truly thought like that, the chances were high that they would start a fight they couldn't win, and they would die early. If someone didn't think that but said it regardless, they would only be a people pleaser.

Accepting when someone was superior to oneself was one of the most important rules a warrior had to learn. It was an essential skill for survival.

"Hey, Soran, how about you let the kid actually show his skills?" Mervin said from his chair. "This entire fight was supposed to show us his sword skills."

Soran only smiled awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head. "Sorry. I just wanted to show him how annoying it can be when someone suddenly attacks out of nowhere."

"Anyway," Soran said as he looked at Shang. At the same time, his spear vanished, and he lifted his arms. "Let's see your sword skills. I won't fight back, but I will block and evade. Just treat my arms as shields. You don't have to worry. By using Mana, my body becomes so hard that you can't damage it."

Shang nodded as he readied his sword.

At the same time, the other three threw glances at Shang's abdomen.

There was still a cut on Shang's abdomen, but it was quickly healing.

This told the teachers two things.

First of all, Shang acted like he didn't even notice his injury, which gave more credibility to his claims of how he was training his body.

Second, Shang's injury was already closing, which meant that he had a warrior's body.

What was a warrior's body?

In this world, a warrior's body was seen as a disadvantage. In essence, having a warrior's body meant that one wasn't able to actively push Mana towards one's mind. Without a way to actively push Mana towards one's Spirit, one wasn't able to become a Mage.

Of course, in a world where Magic was the only way to true power, this was a bad thing.

It wasn't entirely impossible to practice Magic with a warrior's body, but it basically made no sense.

Why?

Because the mind would only become more powerful by the passive Mana-radiation of the strengthened body. In short, this meant that one's body had to vastly surpass one's mind in power to strengthen it.

Mages trained by pushing their Mana into their minds. In the beginning, Mages would retain normal bodies until they became Adepts. When they became Adepts, the power of their mind would slowly strengthen their bodies.

This meant that an Early Adept would have a body equal to an Early Soldier Stage warrior.

That was an entire Realm lower.

Of course, one could also train both at the same time, but that would consume double the resources and double the time for only a minuscule increase in strength.

Someone with a warrior's body would be forced into training the opposite way.

If they wanted to become Mages, they would need to become a warrior in the General Stage first before they could start learning Magic. When the warrior had already reached the Second Realm, they could learn to cast spells at the same levels as a beginner Apprentice.

In short, it made no sense.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Someone with a warrior's body was essentially forced into the path of a warrior.

However, having a warrior's body wasn't only a bad thing. The good thing about having a warrior's body was that the body kept most of its Mana stored in the body itself, not the mind.

This gave the person with the warrior's body a faster rate of regeneration.

How many people had a warrior's body?

Around 2% of the students in the academy.

It was a bit more common outside the academy since a lot of peasants were peasants because they couldn't practice Magic.

But, of course, the academy still preferred students that had a warrior's body. After all, this was an academy for warriors.

While the watchers were taking note of Shang's injury, Shang began to unleash a relentless offense on Soran.

Shang shot forward and quickly unleashed a slash, which was blocked by Soran's arm.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Shang attacked more and more times as Soran jumped around the room to keep Shang on his toes.

Soran was even jumping on the table, the backs of chairs, and other furniture.

Shang, obviously, jumped after him every single time, also using the environment to his advantage.

Surprisingly, no furniture got damaged.

One would think that with Shang's instincts and offensive, he would destroy the furniture. After all, it wasn't his style to hold himself back.

And that was true. He wasn't holding himself back.

So, why was the furniture not damaged?

Control.

A good warrior had to realize when they had to stop their attack and adapt.

If the enemy didn't evade, a good warrior wouldn't hit the surroundings. Their attacks would hit the enemy.

If the enemy evaded, it made no sense to continue the attack, which would result in Shang not hitting the furniture.

Only someone that wasn't able to take in their surroundings and adapt to them would mindlessly continue attacking when they couldn't hit the enemy.

When the other two teachers saw that, they nodded in appreciation again.

Up to now, Shang had shown extraordinary habits and battle instincts.

These were the habits of someone that had been in many real fights in their life.

However, they had also noticed some glaring flaws in Shang's style of battle, which showed that Shang hadn't truly fought humans before and that he hadn't been in a truly chaotic battle before.

They suspected that Shang had only fought beasts in one-on-one duels before.

Soran decided that they had seen enough to make a judgment, but he still wanted to show Shang one of his glaring flaws.

Soran stopped in front of a column.

Shang attacked Soran, and Soran blocked the attack with his left forearm.

Then, Soran lightly stepped to the side.

Shang wanted to charge after him.

BANG!

Suddenly, Shang's vision warped violently as white stars sprung up everywhere.

Out of reflex, Shang jumped backward but fell over. One of his hands went to his head.

Shang felt blood coming from his head.

Shang looked to the place where he had just been and saw a thick vase made of stone rolling to the side, a bloody spot on it.

When Shang had attacked Soran near the column, Soran's foot had slightly shaken the column.

The vase above the column tipped over, and it fell on Shang's head.

That thing was hard and heavy.

This was one of Shang's glaring flaws.

The enemy fully consumed his vision and mind, making him blind to his surroundings. Shang could still see how his enemy interacted with the surroundings, and he could also use the surroundings to his advantage, but that only included the surroundings immediately involved in the battle.

Shang wasn't paying attention to anything else, and he wasn't thinking about checking his surroundings from time to time or listening to the noises.

If Shang had been paying attention, he could have heard the column behind Soran shake.

Sadly, his vision had been consumed by Soran.

"Alright," Soran said with a smile. "That should be enough."

"Want to hear your evaluation?"