Ch. 611..620

Chapter 611 - Early Fusion Realm

After clearing everything with the Keeper and buying his Grade Five Mind Flow Pellets, Shang walked up the stairs towards the exit.

He exited the branch and pushed himself through the root.

As soon as Shang had exited, he already felt that the atmosphere was very different from usual.

Usually, everything appeared normal, but now, everything around Shang felt brighter and hotter.

Even the Yellow Sunbreaker's roots felt quite hot.

Yet, about a kilometer away, the dense Mana slowly thinned out until there was no special Elemental Mana left.

Shang's mind focused on the Yellow Sunbreaker for several seconds, making sure that it noticed him.

However, the Yellow Sunbreaker didn't react at all.

That was exactly what Shang wanted.

Since Shang's inner world could now absorb the Mana from the outside, his inner world would also be filled with Fire and Light Mana.

Usually, Mages comprehended Concepts by simply sitting in such an area and focusing on the world.

But Shang wasn't a Mage.

Shang believed that he could comprehend Concepts faster by actively combining them with his techniques.

He would focus on the very thing he wanted to comprehend and would swing his sword, trying to make use of these things.

Of course, Shang couldn't train like this on the outside.

First of all, only the Keeper knew that he was a warrior. Shang was isolated in the training rooms, but he wasn't isolated here.

Second, Shang would also need to train his Fire Affinity, and he wouldn't show that to the Keeper.

Even Agon had known about the Child of Calamity.

Shang refused to believe that a Mage Lord didn't know about the Child of Calamity.

​ Shang knew that he was the ultimate enemy of everything living.

Even such a cold and opportunistic organization as the Temple of Blood wanted humanity to survive and thrive. The more powerful humanity was, the more jobs they would get.

Because of all of these reasons, Shang would train inside his inner world, and since his mind wouldn't be able to take note of his surroundings in the real world, he had to make sure that the Yellow Sunbreaker wouldn't attack him.

And that was why he had focused so intently on the Yellow Sunbreaker.

He wanted to gauge its reaction.

Luckily, it wasn't interested in the slightest. It didn't care that Shang was looking at it.

A human also didn't care when an ant was looking at them.

Shang walked down the small hill where the Yellow Sunbreaker was perched and found a good spot.

He sat down in a cross-legged position and mentally prepared himself.

'I need to consume the Mind Flow Pellets with my real body. I just purchased a huge number of them, and if the Keeper doesn't see me eat them, she might grow suspicious.'

It was a bit annoying for Shang to exit his inner world about every four hours, but it wasn't a big problem.

He was so quick at switching back and forth that he wouldn't even lose any focus.

It was a bit like eating a snack while working.

However, before Shang started to train, he wanted to do something else first.

Shang focused on his body and all the Abominations he had absorbed over the last 50 years.

He had reached the peak of the Initial Fusion Realm, and he could breakthrough whenever he wanted.

At the True Path Stage, Shang had needed to integrate his new Imposes into his small breakthroughs, but he didn't need to do that now.

Everything would hinge on the big breakthrough in the future.

Some seconds later, Shang willed the hidden power inside his body to burst forth and fill his entire being.

WHOOOOM!

A small wave of Light and Darkness Mana shot out of his body. If Humanity weren't active, Fire and Ice Mana would have appeared as well.

However, there wasn't that much Mana Shang had given off, and just a moment later, all the Mana in the surroundings wildly entered Shang's body.

It was almost like someone had shot a hole into a bucket. First, the water in the bucket shot to the side, but then it all started to gather again and rush through the hole.

At this moment, Shang was absorbing Mana like crazy.

All the Fire and Light Mana in Shang's surroundings vanished. He had absorbed all of it.

Yet, just an instant later, it had been refilled by the Yellow Sunbreaker.

It didn't even notice that some of its Mana had vanished.

Some seconds later, Shang's body stopped absorbing Mana, and Shang took a deep breath.

He had reached the Early Fusion Realm, and his mind had reached the Early High Mage Realm.

The Archmages in Shang's branch all knew several level two Concepts, and they were all focusing on level three Concepts, and Ice Princess even knew one.

Level one Concepts were nothing to them.

Most High Mages also knew more than one level one Concept.

Comprehending a level one Concept was something great for a True Mage but not for a High Mage.

So, comprehending the Concept of Addition shouldn't be too difficult with the mind of an Early High Mage.

After breaking through, Shang started.

Shang threw the first Mind Flow Pellet into his mouth and immediately entered his inner world.

If one looked closely at Shang, one would realize that his Spirit Sense had vanished.

This always happened when Shang entered his inner world.

Obviously, the Keeper had noticed that several times already in the past, but Shang had given her a good explanation.

Deep Meditation.

Sometimes, he was undergoing meditation that was so deep and concentrated that he even lost track of the outside world.

It pulled all of Shang's focus inward.

Mages meditated a lot, but ironically, this Deep Meditation would actually be counterproductive for Mages.

Mages needed to comprehend their surroundings, not themselves.

How were they supposed to learn about fire when they were only looking at their minds and organs?

But the Keeper wasn't suspicious about Shang's weird training method.

After all, he wasn't a Mage.

He was a warrior.

Additionally, since Shang's Battle-Strength was so crazily high, the Keeper thought that Shang probably knew what he was doing.

But, of course, this Deep Meditation didn't actually exist.

It was just Shang entering his inner world.

As soon as Shang entered his inner world, he took out his first sword and changed it to its Saber State.

And then, Shang focused on the heat part of Fire and the augmenting and healing parts of Light.

Addition represented the increase in energy.

If an object was hotter, it had more energy stored inside it.

If an object was heavier, it had more energy stored inside it.

Shang had known since he had been at the General Stage that his Light Affinity represented an addition of mass, and he had also made use of that with Brilliance and Dusk.

Light could increase the weight and mass of an object.

The increase in mass was also how light actually healed people.

It consumed Mana or life energy and converted it into matter, which was skin, bone, blood, organs, and so on in the case of healing.

After four hours of swinging and experimenting, Shang exited his inner world, ate a Mind Flow Pellet, and entered his inner world again.

And again.

And again.

His training had begun.

 

Chapter 612 - Special Mission

Shang kept training, but eventually, he consumed all the Grade Five Mind Flow Pellets he had bought.

However, they had already shown quite a good effect, and Shang had gained plenty of inspiration.

He was not only focusing on comprehending the Concept of Addition but also on how to apply it to his fighting style.

After using up all of the Mind Flow Pellets, Shang also summoned some beasts to fight against. He didn't want to fight them while being under the effects of the Mind Flow Pellet since it made it harder for him to focus.

Shang wasn't training against anything too difficult. He was mostly summoning powerful Mid Archbeasts, which were just one level above him.

Every couple of days, Shang would return to his real body and check in on things.

Just as expected, he was still just sitting near the Yellow Sunbreaker.

Well, to be honest, it would be quite surprising if anything happened to Shang here. After all, a Mage Lord was literally not even a kilometer away from him.

One day, while Shang checked on his real body, someone contacted him.

"Come back to the branch," the Keeper transmitted to Shang. "The Yellow Sunbreaker needs to feed every decade, and we are already pushing it. If I don't allow it to consume a beast, it might become interested in you."

Shang nodded and stood up.

Then, he walked back to the branch.

"There is something else," the Keeper transmitted. "A very interesting mission might appear soon, and it pays very well. You are the best choice for the job, and for your sake, I would advise you to be ready for it."

Shang wasn't quite sure about this.

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't mind accepting such a mission. If this mission really paid that well, it would be a huge waste not to accept it. After all, Shang could more than make up for the lost time by consuming Mind Flow Pellets.

However, there were two suspicious things.

First of all, it was suspicious that the Keeper told Shang to be ready for it. Sure, Shang had a special set of skills, but there were also several other Named Agents. Just Ice Princess alone was extremely powerful.

Even more, even if there were not a single fitting Named Agent in this branch for the mission, the mission could simply be given to a different branch. For example, one of the gatherer families Shang had annihilated had been in the territory of a different branch.

So, why specifically tell him to be ready?

Second, not even the Territory Lord could foresee what kind of missions would appear in the future. As soon as the missions were created, they would already be forwarded to the relevant branches.

So, how could the Territory Lord know that a client would soon arrive with a mission?

This was very unusual.

However, Shang was sure about one thing.

The Temple of Blood didn't want to kill or hurt him.

If they wanted to do that, there would be no reason for such an elaborate setup.

The Keeper could just tear Shang apart with her mind and make an example out of him, telling everyone that he had been planning to betray the Temple of Blood.

This meant that going on this mission shouldn't have any nefarious intentions…

At least not towards Shang.

Shang went into the branch and entered one of the training rooms.

Shang didn't feel it due to the Isolation Barrier, but a couple of hours later, the entire branch began to shake.

The Yellow Sunbreaker was battling a beast.

Of course, the Keeper wouldn't allow a beast to fight the Yellow Sunbreaker that was too powerful.

The fight was difficult, but the Yellow Sunbreaker was the clear favorite from the very beginning.

Naturally, the Yellow Sunbreaker won and pulled the corpse into the earth with its roots.

While all of this was happening, Shang kept focusing on the Concept of Addition without entering his inner world.

His progress had slowed down by quite a bit, but there was nothing he could do.

This was his job, and if necessary, he had to be available.

The pay was more than enough.

Shang remained in this position for three months.

It was quite annoying that he couldn't train under optimal conditions, but if the Keeper said that the mission paid well, it should be worth it.

And then, the Keeper finally contacted him.

"The mission is here," she transmitted to Shang.

Shang stood up and walked out of the room.

As he walked past the middle of the branch, he noticed something.

Trapper was here, and he was looking at Shang warily.

Shang walked past him, but his steps hesitated for just the slightest of moments.

There was someone else here, and that person wasn't sitting in the middle of the branch.

Ice Princess was standing before the Keeper, and her expression was not friendly.

In fact, she was filled with cold hatred and caution.

When Shang noticed Ice Princess, he knew what this mission was.

"Why do you disrespect me by assigning a partner to me?!" Ice Princess said coldly. "I am more than capable enough to deal with a Late Archmage!"

"This one isn't so simple," the Keeper said. "She is very talented. In fact, she doesn't even belong to this area, and she's only here because of political reasons."

"This is a very important mission, and I can't risk failure," the Keeper said. "Because of that, I am assigning White Ghost as your partner for this mission."

"White Ghost will scout out the surroundings and give you an opportune moment to strike. A well-timed ambush will help you immensely."

"You think I believe you?" Ice Princess asked with a chilly voice. "Giving us partners might be rare, but it happens. Yet, whenever it happens, you never assign White Ghost to anyone. You even decline every time when someone asks for him as a partner!"

"What are you planning?!" Ice Princess asked directly.

The Keeper slowly turned around, looking at Ice Princess with an emotionless stare.

"I have my reasons for this assignment."

"You have no choice in the matter."

At that moment, Ice Princess felt some heat come from behind her, and she looked back.

Shang was standing just a meter behind her.

She hadn't noticed him at all.

Shang knew exactly why he was sent to accompany Ice Princess.

He didn't say anything.

 

Chapter 613 - Hidden Plan

Ice Princess kept looking at Shang with cold and hate-filled eyes.

'She seems to suspect something,' Shang thought.

Shang would have expected Ice Princess to argue about getting a partner, but her reaction had been a bit too strong.

Either she thought that Shang was supposed to keep watch over her, or she thought that Shang was supposed to kill her.

However, Shang was pretty certain that it wasn't the second possibility.

Ice Princess was too proud of her own power to think that anyone could possibly believe that an Early Archmage could defeat her.

"Fine," Ice Princess said after a while, looking back at the Keeper.

"Good," the Keeper said.

Then, she focused on Shang and transmitted the mission to him.

Target: Traveling Late Archmage.

Description: The target has the appearance of a young woman with greenish-grey hair and a butterfly tattoo on her right cheek.

Reward: Ten Grade Six Mana Crystals.

After inspecting the mission, Shang turned around and left without saying anything.

He didn't even ask anything of the Keeper.

Ice Princess kept eyeing Shang with a venomous glare, but she eventually followed.

The two of them came out of the branch, and Shang used his medals to get past the roots. He didn't want to show Ice Princess that he could just lift the roots.

Shang waited in the front until Ice Princess stepped past him.

He didn't say anything, but his intent was clear.

Ice Princess should go first.

At this point, Ice Princess stopped honoring White Ghost with her attention and decided to ignore him.

She took to the sky, and Shang simply followed her.

As soon as she took to the sky, she started to shoot forward with all her speed. Obviously, she either wanted to embarrass Shang or she directly intended to leave him behind.

Naturally, Shang couldn't keep up with her in the normal way. As long as he only used his World Connection to fly, he could equal the speed of a Mid Archmage but not the speed of a Late Archmage.

So, Shang had to use Ghost Step a couple of times. Ghost Step looked very similar to Mana Step, but it didn't cost as much Mana as usual. Additionally, the speed difference between the two wasn't that monumental.

Shang could keep up with Ice Princess like this.

Ice Princess acted like she ignored Shang, but she actually paid close attention.

When she saw that Shang had actually managed to keep up with her, a cold glimmer appeared in her eyes.

Shang noticed, but he couldn't tell what exactly she was thinking about.

The two of them traveled for several minutes. The mission target wasn't anywhere close to the branch. In fact, it was on the border of the Keeper's territory.

The two of them still received the locations of all the Ancestral Beasts in the surroundings, even when they had already exited the Keeper's Spirit Sense.

Shang still had no idea how the Temple of Blood actually managed to pinpoint the locations of all the Ancestral Beasts.

It took them nearly an hour to arrive at the location of their mission.

It was around 25,000 kilometers away from their branch, which meant it was outside the Keeper's Spirit Sense.

It was also around 25,000 kilometers away from the next closest branch. In a way, this location was the furthest place from any kind of branch.

In hindsight and by knowing that this mission was suspicious, Shang could see the red flags immediately.

However, if one didn't know that Ice Princess was most likely planning something, one wouldn't think much about it. After all, missions happened everywhere, and just like every place in this territory, there was a gatherer family close to this place.

This place wouldn't appear suspicious. It would be just another mission.

Additionally, it wasn't the agent choosing the mission but the Keeper choosing the agent for the mission. That would make such a mission even less suspicious.

Before they even stopped, Shang found their target.

In comparison to Ice Princess, his Spirit Sense had a range of 250 kilometers.

At the moment, the target was just sitting on a big boulder, far away from any big beasts.

Surprisingly, she was completely alone.

There was no member of any of the gatherer families close to her.

There were no cities or towns near her.

There also wasn't anything valuable near her.

There also wasn't any special kind of Concept being shown in her surroundings.

There was nothing.

This place was about as normal and unassuming as it could get.

But this also meant that there was actually no reason for the target to be here.

What was she doing?

There was only one answer.

She was waiting.

And since Shang already knew that this mission was quite suspicious, he could tell what she was waiting for.

She was waiting for Ice Princess.

'I see,' Shang thought. 'This is probably one of Ice Princess' friends, and she arrived to take her away.'

'If Ice Princess just came here on her own, everyone would grow suspicious, but if she were chosen as the perfect agent for this mission, she wouldn't evoke any suspicion. After all, it would be the Keeper choosing her.'

'Ice Princess may be incredibly arrogant, but she isn't stupid, and I'm pretty sure that she has taken every precaution to not appear suspicious.'

'Yet, the Keeper still found out.'

'I don't know how, but the Keeper still found out, and that's why I'm here.'

'Yet, I'm still a bit unsure.'

'I can imagine the Keeper thinking that I can kill a Late Archmage, but I'm not sure if she thinks that I can kill two Late Archmages.'

'Additionally, if I fail to take down the target and Ice Princess, the Temple of Blood's secrets will be unveiled, and one of those secrets would even be the location of the Territory Lord.'

'If the Natural Selection Company got hold of the Territory Lord's location, they could surround her location with their three Mage Lords. That would most definitely end in the Territory Lord's death.'

'Yet, instead of a Sweeper, she sent me.'

'Is she trusting me with her life?'

'Never.'

'So, there must be something else to her plan.'

 

Chapter 614 - Deduction

Shang and Ice Princess came closer to the target.

At the moment, Ice Princess didn't act in any suspicious way, but Shang knew that it was only a matter of time.

However, even if he was quite sure of his deduction, he still waited for the confirmation.

In the end, the Keeper hadn't told Shang that he was supposed to kill Ice Princess. They might have had an implicit understanding, but such implicit understandings couldn't be trusted. After all, none of them ever verbalized their stance on the matter.

As soon as they reached a distance of about a hundred kilometers from the target, Shang noticed that the target had moved a bit.

While normal Archmages only had Spirit Senses with a range of 50 kilometers, there were still talented Archmages with a greater range. After all, Shang also had a far bigger Spirit Sense. It was logical that there would also be others that could achieve something like that.

Ice Princess was powerful, but Shang didn't think that she had a 100-kilometer-wide Spirit Sense. This probably meant that the target had such a big Spirit Sense.

"Stop," Ice Princess said coldly.

Shang stopped.

"The target should be close. Do your job," Ice Princess said coldly.

Shang's job was to scout out the target and give Ice Princess information on their whereabouts.

Shang didn't turn to Ice Princess. "I've already completed my job," Shang said.

Ice Princess' eyes turned colder.

"My Spirit Sense is greater than yours," Shang said. "I can see our target right now."

"And she can see us," Shang added.

Ice Princess didn't react.

"She is alone, and there are no Magic Circles," Shang said slowly as he slowly turned toward Ice Princess.

"You can attack whenever."

Silence.

"I don't need you to tell me what to do," Ice Princess answered coldly after a couple of seconds. "I will complete my task. You wait here."

Ice Princess moved past Shang.

"No," Shang said. "I am also part of this mission, and I will keep watch. I will accompany you while staying hidden."

"If there is a good opportunity, I will strike," Shang added with an emotionless voice.

Ice Princess looked at Shang with cold hatred in her eyes.

She wasn't sure if Shang had meant their target or her with that last remark.

Silence.

The atmosphere between the two became tenser and tenser.

Several seconds passed.

SHING!

And at that moment, their target summoned her Focus and used Mana Step to quickly travel toward the two of them.

However, she still would take a bit to arrive.

"Our target has noticed us," Shang transmitted to Ice Princess. Voice transmissions were nearly instantaneous. "If you want to kill your target, you should get ready and attack her."

Ice Princess didn't answer, and she kept focusing on Shang.

A moment later, the target reached a distance of about 50 kilometers from them.

"Well, if you won't do it, I will," Shang transmitted to Ice Princess.

SHING!

Shang used Ghost Step and vanished from Ice Princess' view.

At that moment, Ice Princess gritted her teeth, summoned her Focus, and readied several Spells while charging toward their target.

Their target was also readying several Spells while charging toward Ice Princess.

Both of them narrowed their eyes and scanned their surroundings.

Obviously, if they were enemies, they wouldn't do that. They would be too busy focusing on each other instead.

A moment later, the green-haired Mage closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Ice Princess had already told her about White Ghost and his abilities.

They both knew that they couldn't find White Ghost with their Spirit Senses, which only left sight.

Of course, that was only true for average Mages.

However, the green-haired Mage wasn't an average Mage.

She closed her eyes so that she could focus more on her instincts. Over many dangerous battles, she had honed an incredibly advanced and precise instinct, and this instinct had saved her life several times already.

This time, she was using it to feel Shang's approach.

At the moment, Ice Princess hadn't shown any direct signs of betrayal yet.

Because of that, Shang couldn't attack Ice Princess yet, which meant that he would attack her first.

At least, that was what the green-haired Mage thought.

Would Shang actually care about something like that?

The green-haired Mage kept focusing on her surroundings as she came closer and closer to Ice Princess.

By now, both of them had readied several Spells.

The short instances of time seemed to stretch into eternity as both of them waited for Shang's attack.

Yet, it never came.

And before they knew it, they arrived at each other's side.

Both of them had several Spells, but they weren't unleashing them at each other. Instead, they were just looking into each other's eyes.

Surprisingly, White Ghost hadn't attacked the target, even though this had been his best opportunity to do so.

It would be a stupid idea to let both of them meet up and combine their powers.

But that was exactly what White Ghost had done.

The two of them were a bit confused, but they decided to just accept the new situation.

This was actually good for them.

Inside the forest on the ground, Shang focused on the two of them.

Usually, he would have attacked Ice Princess first and then focused on the green-haired Mage. After all, he didn't care whether Ice Princess showed signs of betrayal or not.

However, things were very different this time.

All of these suspicious signs…

The fact that the Keeper knew about the mission several months before it appeared.

The fact that the Keeper specifically wanted Shang to do it.

The fact that the Keeper knew about Ice Princess' upcoming betrayal.

The fact that the Keeper didn't send a Sweeper.

The fact that she seemingly trusted Shang with her life.

And, lastly, the fact that Shang knew that the Keeper didn't want to hurt or kill him.

There was only one possible explanation.

'This is a test.'

'Someone from the Temple of Blood is watching me at the moment.'

 

Chapter 615 - Dual Affinities

So, what was Shang's plan?

He was quite sure that he was being watched by some powerful person from the Temple of Blood. However, he couldn't be sure why he was being watched.

Was it a test for the position of Sweeper?

Was it a loyalty test?

Was it a way to make him unveil some of his secrets?

Was his Battle-Strength being tested?

Depending on the answer, it was best to show different things.

If all of this happened simply to test his loyalty, the best course of action would be to take out his Communication Crystal and inform the Keeper that Ice Princess had betrayed them.

Shang wouldn't need to kill anyone, and he wouldn't need to show his power.

Technically, Ice Princess' betrayal was not his problem. He was not a Sweeper.

Named Agents were instructed to try to stop the betrayer if they were confident in their power, but they were also free to simply retreat. In both cases, the Keeper of their branch had to be informed.

However, what if this was a test to see how strong Shang actually was?

Theoretically, if Shang's Battle-Strength were actually as outstanding as the Keeper had claimed, Shang should have the ability to fight the two Mages or delay them at least.

If Shang just decided to retreat and call the Keeper, it essentially meant that Shang didn't have the Battle-Strength that the Keeper claimed.

At least, that would be what the watcher of this situation would think.

Shang's grip around his Long Sword hardened.

'I don't think that the Keeper would want to unveil my secret for nothing. I don't trust in her goodwill, but I trust in her intelligence. Antagonizing me now would be pointless. Either she would gain a powerful enemy, or she would have to kill one of her best Named Agents. There's no benefit either way.'

'Fine,' Shang thought as his stance lowered. 'If you wanted to kill me, you would've just done so. Because of that, even if the person that sees me finds out I'm a warrior, they won't kill me or spread my secret.'

'I'll deal with those two, but I won't show my Fire or Ice Affinities.'

'Usually, I would be confident in being able to take them down, but with only half of my Affinities, this won't be that easy.'

All of this had only taken a tiny moment, and the two Mages above Shang were still planning what to do next.

"Careful!" the green-haired Mage shouted as she unleashed her Spells.

She hadn't seen Shang, but her instincts were screaming at her. Her instincts were telling her that she had to be careful and that something was targeting her friend.

Several spirals of metallic wind shot past Ice Princess, curving around her body and shooting into the distance.

The foreign Mage had a dual Affinity of Wind and Metal.

Dual Affinities were vastly rarer than Mixed Affinities.

Mixed Affinities were things like Temperature, Poison, or Twilight. They were one thing that was made up of two things.

On the other hand, dual Affinities represented two separate things one person had an Affinity for.

The two things were still separate and their own thing, but that also meant that the person had a full Affinity for both of them.

If one person had 100 points of talent for their one Affinity, someone with a Mixed Affinity of Poison, for example, would have 30 points in Darkness, 30 points in Water, and 100 points in Poison.

30 points in Darkness and Water was not even nearly enough to make it part of someone's main strength. At most, it would help them comprehend Mixed Concepts involving Darkness or Water.

They would still need to focus all of their mind on poison-specific things.

However, with a dual Affinity, the person would have 100 points in two things each. This meant that they were just as talented in two things as a normal person was in one thing.

For Magic, having dual Affinities was objectively better.

But just like with everything else, there was a tradeoff.

Both Affinities demanded attention.

While a normal True Mage could become a High Mage after comprehending a level one Concept, a person with dual Affinities needed to comprehend two level one Concepts.

Sure, it was better to comprehend more Concepts regardless, but this restriction made it impossible for someone to lead a mediocre life.

Either they went all the way, or they failed.

A High Mage with dual Affinities was either above average at least or not a High Mage at all.

A person with dual Affinities couldn't just comprehend one level one Concept, reach the High Mage Realm, and live out the remainder of their days with a relatively high status.

All or nothing.

Success or failure.

Folding was impossible.

The foreign Mage had dual Affinities of Wind and Metal. This meant that she had comprehended two Pure level two Concepts before reaching the Archmage Realm at least.

Sure, this was basically true for every Named Agent in the Temple of Blood, but this was only the bare minimum.

Almost certainly, this Mage had comprehended three level two Concepts before reaching the Archmage Realm.

Maybe even four, but Shang doubted it. The foreign Mage felt dangerous to Shang, but not that dangerous.

As the spirals of wind and metal swept past Ice Princess, a white light appeared in front of them.

It was difficult to discern, but if one looked closely, one would be able to discern the shape of an illusory crescent blade flying toward Ice Princess.

BANG!

The spirals of wind and metal shot through the shining crescent, destroying it and turning it into mere shards of light and shadow.

However, there was no person behind the crescent.

WHOOM!

At that moment, illusory images appeared around the two Mages.

Over a hundred illusory images depicting White Ghost were surrounding them.

It was like White Ghost was haunting this area, being everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

Ice Princess narrowed her eyes, gathering three of her prepared Spells in her hands, while the foreign Mage had summoned a violently twisting shield of metal and wind.

Then, the actual fight began.

 

Chapter 616 -Too Smart

BANG!

Ice Princess crushed the Spells she had gathered above her hand, and an instant later, gigantic icicles exploded out from the two of them, wildly spinning around them and destroying all of the images.

The two of them were not some helpless damsels.

The foreign Mage closed her eyes, her hair serenely billowing in the ethereal symphony of Mana around her.

It was like she was fusing with her surroundings.

Suddenly, her eyes shot open, and a bright light appeared in them.

Her right hand immediately pointed towards a direction diagonally below her.

BANG!

A terrifying spiral of metal shot in that direction, its speed far faster than one would expect the Spell of a Late Archmage to be.

CRACK!

The sound of two powerful and hard things colliding reverberated throughout the area.

The foreign Mage's spiral was redirected to the side, but the thing that had blocked it was also thrown into the distance, breaking through tens of different trees.

Shang's original plan had been to distract the two of them with the bright crescent he had unleashed earlier, build up his Distortion Domain around them, and then unleash an attack.

However, the newest Spell from the foreign Mage had just ruined that plan.

'She's stronger than I expected,' he thought.

Right after Shang was blasted away, Ice Princess spotted Shang and readied herself to unleash all her Spells at him.

At the moment, Shang was still being flung away by the foreign Mage's Spells, and he couldn't defend himself from Ice Princess' Spells.

Yet, the foreign Mage put her arm in front of Ice Princess, stopping her with furrowed brows.

"Don't waste your Mana," she transmitted. "He isn't the danger. He's only buying time."

Ice Princess' eyes exploded with rage, but it wasn't directed at the foreign Mage.

It was directed at White Ghost.

Because of him, their carefully laid plans were ruined, and they had to improvise now.

The two of them immediately turned towards the northeast and used Mana Step to leave.

Both of them used five Mana Steps, traversing a distance of over a hundred kilometers.

The next second, they used another five Mana Steps, but they slightly changed their directions.

With the first five Mana Steps, they should be outside of White Ghost's Spirit Sense, even if his Spirit Sense were bigger than normal. With the second five Mana Steps, they would change their trajectory unpredictably, significantly widening the cone of their possible trajectory.

First, they could only be in the front.

Then, they could be in the front, front left, or front right.

Then, left, front-left, front, front-right, or right.

And lastly, they could have gone anywhere.

The longer they hadn't been found, the less likely the chance of discovering them was.

They stopped using Mana Step and focused on recovering their Mana storages while flying further away.

A second of silence passed.

Suddenly, the foreign Mage's eyes opened wide, and she unleashed several Spells in one direction.

WHOOOM!

Several spears shot through a mirage of White Ghost, but they didn't hit anything solid.

Ice Princess gritted her teeth.

White Ghost was still there!

Somehow, he managed to follow them!

"You can't flee," the voice of White Ghost reverberated throughout the surroundings.

Usually, Shang avoided talking during a battle, but this time, there was a specific goal as to why he was talking.

The foreign Mage furrowed her brows.

"He's bluffing," Ice Princess transmitted in an instant. "He had trouble keeping up with my regular flying speed before."

"What makes you think he didn't put on a show?" the foreign Mage asked with a voice transmission.

"He's only an Early Archmage," Ice Princess answered.

"You have seen his mastery over illusions, subterfuge, and stealth," the foreign Mage transmitted back. "What makes you think he isn't actually a Late Archmage?"

"Do you know anything about this colleague of yours?" the foreign Mage asked with a transmission.

Ice Princess gritted her teeth.

She realized that she actually knew nothing about White Ghost.

Ice Princess knew a lot about all of her colleagues, but White Ghost was the only exception.

White Ghost was, fittingly enough, as elusive as a ghost.

He had already been a Named Agent as a Peak High Mage, and he had even taken care of an entire gatherer family led by an Early Archmage.

Was that something a Peak High Mage could do?

No.

The foreign Mage was right.

White Ghost was most likely a Late Archmage. There was a slight possibility that he was a Peak Archmage, but Ice Princess doubted it. A Peak Archmage could earn much more money in other branches.

Ice Princess had thought about many things just now, but the thinking speed of a Late Archmage was frighteningly fast.

In truth, not even a tenth of a second had passed.

"What's your plan?" Ice Princess asked.

Surprisingly, none of Ice Princess' arrogance seemed to come out in front of the foreign Mage.

Apparently, Ice Princess accepted the foreign Mage as either an equal or a superior.

"His Spirit Sense is bigger than normal, and he's also quite fast," the foreign Mage transmitted. "Using several Mana Steps to flee will only exhaust our Mana storages."

"The longer he is near us, the more likely the chance of an Ancestral Mage from the Temple of Blood finding us."

"The only way out of this is to kill him quickly."

Ice Princess nodded in response to the foreign Mage's words.

Shang noticed that the two of them were preparing more of their Spells, and he realized that his plan had worked.

Keeping up with the speed of two Late Archmages using Mana Step to flee was extremely draining on Shang's stamina.

If they kept fleeing, Shang would most likely need to give up.

That was why he had talked earlier.

He needed them to think that they had to kill him to escape, which was actually not the truth.

Ice Princess had had the correct thought.

Shang was at a lower level than them, and as long as they fled, they would be able to escape.

However, Shang had banked on the fact that the talented foreign Mage thought more highly of others than Ice Princess.

Because of that, she had assumed that Shang had hidden everything about himself and his true power.

Shang's plan had only worked because his opponent was smart.

If the foreign Mage were gullible and stupid, the two of them would have simply continued escaping, and Shang would have had no choice but to give up.

Most of the time, the reason for a plan succeeding was because the target was not smart enough, but this time, the plan succeeded because the target was too smart.

'Now, I can attack them without fearing that they might escape.'

 

 

Chapter 617 - Light And Darkness

The two of them were preparing more Spells, but Shang almost immediately attacked them.

The two of them had just used several Mana Steps, and Shang didn't want to give them an opportunity to recover.

The foreign Mage was closing her eyes again, and Shang knew that she would most likely feel his attack coming.

Shang's right hand let go of his Long Sword.

SHING!

His Long Sword vanished, and a Colossal Sword appeared in Shang's right hand.

A bright burst of light came out of the Colossal Sword, and Shang swung it forward with all of his power.

As the Colossal Sword swung forward, its white light darkened as just the tiniest smidge of yellow joined the color scheme.

Shang' hadn't comprehended the Concept of Addition yet, but he had already found a slight way to alter one of his attacks.

The Keeper knew that Shang was comprehending light through fire, and this tiny bit of fire shouldn't raise any eyebrows. After all, there was nearly no fire in the attack, and it only had a minor role in everything. By all intents and purposes, Shang still looked like someone focusing on Twilight.

The attack was nowhere perfect, but Shang managed to add Brilliance to his Saber State's Hidden Sun.

Shang was using the energy-rich base of Hidden Sun and added more energy by increasing its mass with Brilliance.

This was the first attack focusing on the Concept of Addition Shang had ever unleashed.

Sadly, Shang would still need many more years to comprehend the Concept of Addition, and this was the best he could do.

WHOOOM!

As Shang's swing finished, a spinning crescent of light shot at the two Mages with incredible speed.

Of course, as soon as the bright light appeared, the foreign Mage had already taken note of Shang.

BANG!

One of her fingers pointed at the spinning crescent, and a spear of metal, supported by the power of wind, shot at it.

SHING!

But before the spear could hit, Shang switched to his Long Sword and used Ghost Step.

The instantaneous nature of Ghost Step made Shang arrive beside the white crescent before the spear. Shang's arms were already perfectly positioned, and he switched his Long Sword to his Colossal Sword again.

Shang only needed to move his Colossal Sword by a mere few centimeters.

DING!

A short and bright burst of light left Shang's Colossal Sword.

SHING!

The metallic spear shot past Shang.

It had missed the crescent!

Shang had just redirected the trajectory of his own ranged attack with a combination of Refraction and Reflection!

The foreign Mage's eyes opened wide in shock.

This Mage was fighting in a way she had never seen before!

Not only was he using a sword, but he was also voluntarily coming close to his enemy's Spells!

Nevertheless, the foreign Mage shot several more Spells at the white crescent.

"Keep your Spells ready in case he gets close," the foreign Mage transmitted to Ice Princess.

Ice Princess didn't know why a Mage would want to get close to their opponent, but she trusted the foreign Mage and nodded.

SHING!

Suddenly, Shang appeared beside the white crescent again.

WHOOOOOOOM!

A humongous explosion of light engulfed everyone, disrupting their Spirit Senses and sight.

DING!

The two Mages could feel the sound of the white crescent being redirected again reverberating through their distorted Spirit Senses.

They knew that the foreign Mage's Spells were about to miss the white crescent and that the enemy's attack would soon reach them.

Yet, it was impossible to tell where the attack would come from.

"Release it!" the foreign Mage transmitted to Ice Princess.

Ice Princess unleashed all her Spells, and a dome of sharp icicles appeared around them.

The dome immediately started spinning, and the Light Mana in the surroundings was distorted and destroyed by the spinning dome of icicles.

BANG!

Suddenly, a huge part of the dome got obliterated, and some of the overflowing power also hit their Mana Shields.

Luckily, the damage was negligible.

The foreign Mage had already prepared several more Spells while Ice Princess had defended them.

She immediately focused on her instincts again, and she quickly found her opponent.

WHOOOOOOOM!

Just when she found Shang, a domain of deep darkness consumed them.

Their Spirit Senses didn't get distorted this time, but they also couldn't get past their black surroundings.

The world turned nearly completely black for the two of them.

Nearly.

There was one singular, white spot in the eternal darkness.

It was White Ghost.

However, White Ghost looked different.

Even the foreign Mage could tell that he looked different from normal, even though she had seen him for the first time only a couple of seconds ago.

He was so thin.

It was almost like White Ghost wasn't a living human but a dried corpse.

It was like there was no life in his body.

Yet, even in this thin and weak form, it was like he was the only thing in this world of unending darkness.

By now, only an idiot would believe that White Ghost was at the Early Archmage Realm.

This was not something an Early Archmage could do.

At the moment, White Ghost wasn't charging at them but just standing in the middle of space in the distance.

Then, he lifted his left arm…

And gently spun it.

WHOOOOM!

A moment later, the world of darkness seemed to listen to him, and the dense darkness became aggressive.

Ice Princess and the foreign Mage felt their Mana Shields quickly being consumed.

The foreign Mage didn't hesitate and made her Spells explode around her.

She knew that such a domain of darkness had to be used up by canceling it with different Mana.

The darkness immediately consumed her Wind and Metal Mana.

BOOOOM!

Then, Ice Princess also unleashed her Spells.

BANG!

After half of her icicles were used up, something changed.

One of her icicles seemingly tore the world of darkness apart, and like a black piece of cloth, the darkness was carried away by the spinning icicles.

An instant later, all the darkness was scattered, and they had returned to the real world.

Shang had sacrificed a lot of his life energy, but in front of two Late Archmages, his sacrifice didn't mean much.

But Isolation had done its job.

SHING!

Shang used Ghost Step, and he arrived directly in front of the two of them.

And at that moment, the foreign Mage unleashed another three Spells at him.

 

 

Chapter 618 - Handicap

Time seemed to stop.

The thin and frail silhouette of Shang stood in front of the foreign Mage as three spirals of spinning metal were shooting at him.

This was the moment that would decide the outcome of this battle.

The white crescent.

The white world.

The black world.

All of this was to make the two of them use up all of their Spells.

Two Late Archmages could conjure Spells at a terrifying rate, and Shang's only option to get past that was to use up all of his resources in a single barrage of attacks.

As long as Shang could get past the last three Spells, nothing would be between him and his enemy.

Yet, the three swirls of metal were about to hit him.

If he retreated now, Ice Princess would be able to ready the next barrage of Spells.

Shang swung his Long Sword with both of his hands.

CRKSH!

The first spiral of metal hit him.

The left half of Shang's abdomen below his torso exploded off his body, scattering across the world.

A Mage's body would have exploded from such an attack, but Shang's body was powerful enough to survive this Spell.

Shang's sword continued swinging forward.

CRKSH!

The second spiral hit, and Shang's upper right exploded off. The right side of his chest and his right arm were blown into the distance.

Only a thin area of biological mass connected Shang's upper-left half with his lower body.

Yet, the Long Sword continued swinging forward, supported by Shang's left arm.

And then, the third spiral hit.

CLING!

The last spiral hit the sword.

The sword was blown out of Shang's left arm, flying into the distance.

And at that moment, Shang's mind went wild.

'I won!'

SHING!

The world transformed yet again.

It was like a second sun had suddenly appeared in the sky.

It was Shang's Colossal Sword, filled to the brim with Light Mana!

Earlier, when Shang had bathed the world in light to hide the white crescent, he had actually absorbed the majority of the light with his Colossal Sword.

This wasn't just a simple summoning of light but Brilliance.

This was where half of his life energy had gone to.

The other half had vanished when Shang had summoned the world of darkness, Isolation.

Yet, Shang's body was nearly destroyed, and the Colossal Sword was insanely heavy.

WHOOOOOM!

Suddenly, the Mana in the world around Shang gathered behind the Colossal Sword and pushed forward.

World Connection!

The brightly shining Colossal Sword slashed down.

No one could see it, but inside the brightly shining ball, the Colossal Sword burned with black flames.

The world had suddenly transformed, and the two Mages felt like the will of the world wanted to kill them.

It was like their surroundings wanted to do nothing but end their existence!

It was like the world was pushing them into the brightly shining Colossal Sword!

They couldn't react.

And then…

Dusk arrived.

BOOOOOM!

CRACK!

Their combined Mana Shield exploded!

They took a shocked and terrified breath.

The white light vanished.

The Colossal Sword vanished.

And then, the foreign Mage felt a body arrive in front of her.

White Ghost's chest lightly hit her chest…

And it stopped.

The foreign Mage's terrified and shocked eyes slowly looked up, and she saw the white cloth directly in front of her eyes.

Time seemed to stop.

In the foreign Mage's mind, White Ghost had just stopped in front of her.

Why?

Shouldn't she be dead?

In her panic-filled mind, she suspected that she might survive.

It was hard for her to feel what White Ghost was thinking at the moment.

This was how the foreign Mage perceived her current situation.

Yet, from an onlooker's perspective, things looked very different.

At the moment, White Ghost's withered left arm stretched past the foreign Mage…

And the hand at the end of it was tightly squeezing Ice Princess' neck.

As the foreign Mage was looking in shock and uncertainty at White Ghost in front of her, Ice Princess' body was withering at a visible rate, her skin turning black and her muscles vanishing.

Shang was absorbing her life energy to recover.

A moment later, Shang's newly recovered right arm slowly moved toward the foreign Mage's head.

The foreign Mage didn't even notice it.

Shang's big hand engulfed the left half of her head.

And then, he squeezed.

It was like someone was scooping up snow from the ground.

The foreign Mage died in an instant, and Shang absorbed her life energy.

A moment later, the two dried corpses started to fall toward the ground, and Shang took a deep breath.

'Not using my Fire and Ice Affinities definitely made things difficult. I also only had access to two of my four States, and I even had to keep Silence a secret.'

'If I had access to everything, I could have used a weaker Dusk, followed by Star Shatter, followed by Silence to quickly take care of them while using my Ice and Fire Bursts to move faster without using up so much of my life energy.'

'Things would have been far easier.'

Shang took another deep breath.

'But it worked out.'

'I showed incredible Battle-Strength while keeping my status as the Child of Calamity a secret.'

'The more powerful I am, the more the Temple of Blood would want to foster me.'

'Yet, it is always better to leave the other side the impression that I didn't show my power on purpose.'

'Like this, they will be under the illusion that I never planned on joining and that they made the decision to include me in their inner ranks.'

'They were the ones that found me.'

'They were the ones that convinced me to join them.'

'There's no reason to doubt my allegiance.'

Shang took out his Communication Crystal.

'Yet, to make it truly believable, there's one last thing I have to do.'

"Mission complete," Shang told the Keeper.

"Sadly, Ice Princess was eaten by a wolf."

Silence.

'Appearing too loyal and perfect is bad.'

 

 

Chapter 619 - Wolf

The Keeper didn't answer for several seconds.

This was such an obvious lie that Shang was basically just directly making fun of her.

He could just have said that Ice Princess had betrayed them. There was nothing wrong with taking care of a traitor. There might even be a reward.

Yet, Shang came up with such an obvious lie.

"What really happened?" the Keeper asked through the Communication Crystal.

"Why ask a question you already know the answer to?" Shang asked with an even voice.

Silence.

"I'm not throwing my life away by fighting such a strong wolf," Shang added.

Suddenly, Shang felt quite an aggressive aura coming out of his Communication Crystal.

Things seemed different than the last time.

When Shang had killed Desert Storm, the Keeper hadn't acted like this, but this time, she didn't like the answer.

"What really happened?" the Keeper asked again with a serious voice.

"You already know what happened," Shang repeated.

"She was eaten by a wolf."

"What kind of wolf?!" the Keeper asked immediately.

Silence.

For several seconds, there came no answer from the Communication Crystal.

"What kind of wolf?!" the Keeper repeated.

"Give me a second," Shang said. "I'm doing something right now."

"What can you possibly be busy with right now?!" the Keeper nearly shouted.

No answer for several seconds.

"It was a Late Archbeast wolf with a Wind Affinity. It's currently about 80 kilometers away from me," Shang said.

The Keeper gritted her teeth.

It was like White Ghost wasn't even trying to sound believable!

"Retrieve her corpse!" the Keeper ordered.

"How?" Shang asked.

Silence.

"What do you mean, how?!" the Keeper asked. "Just kill the damn wolf!"

"That wolf just killed a Late Archmage without any troubles. I'm not fighting that," Shang answered.

The Keeper gritted her teeth.

"What about the target of the mission?!" she asked.

"I have her corpse."

"How did she die?"

"I killed her."

Silence.

The silence was very long, and Shang couldn't tell what the Keeper was thinking about right now.

"But you can't kill the wolf?"

"No."

Silence.

"Why are you making this so difficult?" the Keeper asked after several seconds with a calmer voice. "I know that she was about to betray us. You don't have to act like a wolf ate her."

"But it did," Shang answered. "Although it's taking its sweet time with it," he grumbled.

"Killed her then," the Keeper said after taking a deep breath. "You don't have to act like a wolf killed her."

Shang noticed that the Keeper was very different from usual.

Usually, it was an unspoken agreement that Shang would kill whomever he was sent on a mission with, and the Keeper knew that very well.

She had sent Shang with Ice Princess, knowing that she would betray them.

But then why was the Keeper suddenly acting like Shang wasn't supposed to kill her?

"You thought that she would betray the Temple of Blood," Shang said. "Yet, you still sent me on a mission with her. Why?"

Usually, this wasn't a question. It was obvious that the Keeper sent Shang with Ice Princess on the mission so that he would kill her.

But, apparently, that wasn't the case this time.

For a couple of seconds, the Keeper didn't say anything.

Then, she took a deep breath.

"She was supposed to escape successfully and deliver incorrect intel."

Silence.

"I sent you with her to make it seem like I honestly wanted to kill her so that she wouldn't suspect that I actually let her escape. I sent you because you are powerful enough to be a threat but not strong enough to win against Ice Princess and Samantha Wildfern together."

"According to the plan, you were supposed to inform me. Then, I would send a Sweeper and tell you to keep following them without risking your life, but due to their higher Realm, they would inevitably get away before the Sweeper arrives."

"Ice Princess would unveil everything she knew to the Wildfern Family, and they would trade the information to the Natural Selection Company. The Natural Selection Company would pay a hefty price for the information, but it would lead nowhere."

"This would sour the relationship between the two families, taking pressure off us."

Silence.

Shang was so close to breaking his Communication Crystal.

'This means that no one was actually watching!' he thought with burning anger.

'I actually didn't need to keep my powers a secret! Literally nobody was watching!'

'I risked my life for no reason whatsoever!'

Shang didn't say anything for quite a while.

He had thought that he had seen through the Keeper's plan, but he had actually completely overlooked this possibility.

Shang had thought that the Keeper knew how powerful he was and that this was some kind of test to see if it was worth investing more resources in him.

Shang had essentially managed to fight 2.5 levels above himself and win, which would put him among the truly talented people of an Empire.

He suspected that the Temple of Blood actually had the backing of one of the Empires, and he had thought that maybe some Mage Lord of this Empire was evaluating his power from the shadows.

Everything would make sense in this way.

Eventually, Shang took a deep breath.

"You can't fault me for the sudden appearance of this powerful wolf," Shang said.

"No, I can't, and I won't," the Keeper said. "I made an incorrect call. I didn't expect that a Late Archbeast could be so powerful. Did the wolf eat the entire corpse?"

"Yes, everything," Shang answered.

"What about the target's corpse?" the Keeper asked.

"Still here," Shang answered.

"Throw it to the same wolf with all the belongings," the Keeper said.

This was unusual, but Shang understood why he should do that.

The target wasn't supposed to die this time.

Shang lifted the dried corpse and its belongings with his mind and threw it at the wolf that had just finished eating Ice Princess' corpse.

It was just some random wolf Shang had found.

When the corpse flew towards the wolf, it became startled and fled for several kilometers.

A couple of seconds later, it slowly came back and kept watch over its surroundings.

This was suspicious.

But after about a full minute of nothing happening, the wolf eventually wolved down the corpse.

"The wolf ate everything," Shang said.

"Took long enough," the Keeper answered. "Come back to the branch. We need to talk about your future."

 

 

Chapter 620 - Choice

After dealing with both corpses, Shang flew back to the branch.

He got past the roots of the Yellow Sunbreaker and entered.

Trapper still sat in the middle of the branch, and when he saw White Ghost return without Ice Princess, he knew what that meant.

He felt a complex mix of emotions.

He was frustrated that he hadn't been the one to "dominate", "conquer", and "ruin" Ice Princess.

He was angry that Shang made it forever impossible for Trapper to realize this dream of his.

He felt glad that the arrogant bitch Ice Princess finally got what was coming to her.

But more than anything, he felt shocked about White Ghost's power.

White Ghost could kill Ice Princess on his own?

But then, he realized something.

It probably wasn't White Ghost that had killed her!

White Ghost had probably only watched her while a Sweeper took care of everything.

However, Trapper still became much more careful in front of Shang.

This was now the second time when someone from their branch had died after going on a mission with White Ghost.

By now, Trapper was sure that White Ghost was the Keeper's most-trusted Named Agent.

From now on, Trapper would make sure that he never showed even the slightest inkling of betrayal in front of White Ghost.

Shang stepped past Trapper without paying him any heed.

Then, he stopped in front of the Keeper.

"I completed the mission," Shang said. "Since Ice Princess is dead, I should get the entire reward."

The Keeper didn't immediately react.

After some seconds, she turned around, but instead of only turning her head a bit, her entire body actually turned to face Shang.

When Trapper saw that, his eyes widened.

The Keeper very rarely moved from her position. Since she was the Territory Lord, nearly her entire mind was occupied with thinking about bigger things than just this branch. Because of that, she rarely reacted to anything happening in this branch in any major way.

After all, she had to overlook dozens of branches.

A bit later, her eyes focused on Trapper, who moved his body back by a bit.

"Go into a training room and activate an Isolation Barrier or leave the branch for a bit. I will call you back," she said.

Trapper looked at Shang for a bit with confusion and shock.

"Sure thing," Trapper said before entering one of the training rooms and activating the Isolation Barrier.

Now, only Shang and the Keeper were left…

Or, more specifically, Shang and the Territory Lord.

"Your talents are wasted here," the Territory Lord said.

Shang didn't answer.

"I want to talk with you about your future. I think we can make better use of your talents someplace else."

"Usually, I lead this kind of discussion with everyone that can fight with a Mage two levels above themselves. The important part here is the word fight. Winning is not necessary."

"Being able to fight someone two levels above yourself means you can jump 1.5 levels. Being able to win against someone like this means you can jump 2 levels."

Shang didn't say anything and just listened.

"I knew that you could jump two levels for a long time. Under normal circumstances, that would be more than enough for me to have this talk with you."

"But I'm not a Mage," Shang interjected, "right?"

The Territory Lord nodded solemnly.

"We have never accepted any non-Mage in our inner circle since they are all too weak. Additionally, joining the inner circle means that the Temple of Blood will lose a mountain of resources. We are investing in new people in the hope that they will one day become Mage Lords and lead the Temple of Blood."

"So, even if you could jump 1.5 levels, investing more resources into you will most likely end in a net loss for us."

"You traveled to the Sky Lantern so that you may gain inspiration on how to reach the next Realm. I know that all too well."

"Yet, even when you gain inspiration, you can't guarantee that your plan will actually work, and you also can't guarantee that your Battle-Strength won't suddenly fall significantly."

"Additionally, even if you knew of a surefire way to reach the Sixth Realm with an incredible Battle-Strength, you can't guarantee that you will be able to do the same thing with the Seventh Realm."

"Investing in powerful Mages is already risky, and investing in you would be even riskier. In fact, investing in you would be akin to throwing a bunch of Grade Seven Mana Crystals into the wilderness and hoping that there would be more of them the next time we look."

"It's not realistic."

"But things are different now," the Territory Lord added. "You took care of two Late Archmages in a very short period of time. Even more, one of them was the daughter of the Wildfern Family's Treasury Master."

When Shang heard that, he took a deep breath.

When he had heard the target's name earlier, he had already suspected that this might have some consequences.

However, Shang hadn't expected that he had killed someone this important.

The Wildfern Family was on the same level as the Natural Selection Company, and they had four Mage Lords.

Their Treasury Master was one of those Mage Lords.

And Shang had just killed a Mage Lord's daughter.

Even though Shang had the backing of the Temple of Blood, this was still very dangerous to him.

It was possible that the Temple of Blood's neighboring territory, the one on top of the Wildfern Family's territory, would suffer severe setbacks due to this.

The Treasury Master of the Wildfern Family might directly come out and patrol his territory, killing every single member of the Temple of Blood he could find.

In an act of desperation, the Temple of Blood might even decide to sacrifice Shang in hopes of appeasing the Treasury Master.

"You're not stupid," the Territory Lord said. "You know that this situation is problematic."

"I know that it is not your fault. I was the one that misjudged your power, and I was the one that sent you on the mission."

"However, all of that doesn't matter."

"I'm strong."

"You're weak."

"Even if I came forward and decided to take all the blame, the Temple of Blood would still make you their scapegoat."

Shang didn't move, but his Spirit Sense kept focusing on the Territory Lord. "But that's not what will happen," he said. "If it were, we wouldn't be talking right now."

"That depends on you," the Territory Lord said. "If you are valuable enough, the Temple of Blood won't sacrifice you."

"And how am I supposed to prove my worth?" Shang asked.

The Territory Lord looked at Shang with a serious expression.

"You need to trust me," she said. "You need to tell me everything about yourself."

Shang didn't show any reaction.

A second later, the Territory Lord summoned a small Magic Rune in her hand.

Shang knew this Rune.

This was an SKP.

"I need you to create a temporary SKP for this conversation," the Territory Lord said. "The temporary SKP allows me to tell you secrets I'm normally not allowed to tell you. As long as we delete the SKP after the conversation, there won't be any problem."

Shang's Spirit Sense focused on the Rune.

"But you are not creating one for yourself."

The Territory Lord didn't answer.

"You want me to trust you, but you're not trusting me."

The Keeper only looked with an emotionless gaze at Shang.

"I have a choice."

"You don't."

"Trust only goes both ways when all parties are similar in strength."

"Either you trust me, or you die."