Ch. 621..630

Chapter 621 - Taste Of The Future

Shang didn't show any reaction for a while, but he knew that he actually didn't have a choice.

Even if he were to use Entropy, he would probably need to sacrifice his entire body just to injure the Territory Lord.

She was right.

The gap in power was just too big, and Shang didn't have any choice.

The Rune for the SKP floated over, and Shang put it into his mind.

And then, he took it out again and handed it back to the Territory Lord, but this time, the Rune was grey and filled with Mana.

To Shang, it felt like just a moment had passed, but they had actually been talking for a long time just now.

The Territory Lord inspected the grey Rune for a while before destroying it.

"So, what happens now?" Shang asked.

"I'm not sure," the Territory Lord said. "You've told me about several things that complicate matters. The fact that you know a way for True Path Stage warriors to reach the Impose Realm, as you called it, is already worth a lot."

"We've already talked about how weak physis are. The concept of a True Path Stage warrior doesn't even exist. They have literally only existed in Area 23, and I wouldn't even know about them if you hadn't told me just now."

"While True Path Stage warriors are not that useful, they represent a possible expansion for the Temple of Blood. Due to their different sets of powers, they might be more suitable for certain missions than Mages."

"However, that also represents a huge investment and expenditure for the Temple of Blood, and that's not something I can decide whether to implement or not."

"But then, there's also your problem with the Lightning Manor," the Territory Lord added.

'So, I even told her about that, huh?' Shang thought.

Shang thought it was a bad idea to tell the Territory Lord about his conflict with the Lightning Manor. In fact, Shang would believe anyone that unveiled such a secret to be an idiot.

Yet, Shang had been the one to unveil it.

Was he supposed to call himself an idiot?

In fact, the current Shang didn't know as much about the Territory Lord as the Shang from a couple of minutes ago.

The other Shang had more information available to make a decision, while the current one didn't.

In the end, Shang could only trust in his other self.

He hoped that he knew what he was doing.

"We've talked about many possibilities," the Territory Lord continued. "For now, I can't tell you how things will continue, but I can tell you with quite a lot of confidence that you're valuable enough. I don't think that the Temple of Blood would want to make you a scapegoat."

Shang didn't show it, but he felt quite relieved.

These kinds of situations put Shang under even more pressure than an extremely dangerous fight.

In a dangerous fight, Shang's survival depended on his own power and his actions. Shang was extremely confident in his power and his ability to perform under pressure, which meant that a very dangerous fight wouldn't put as much pressure on him.

Yet, in this kind of situation, Shang's fate was left to others. His power to influence the outcome was minimal.

That brought a lot of uncertainty into everything.

"I need to talk with someone about how to proceed," the Territory Lord said. "You can continue training."

Shang nodded. "What about my payment for the mission?"

Surprisingly, the Territory Lord snorted. "No matter what my discussions with the others will produce, you won't care about the reward. Either you will not be wanting resources in any way soon, or you will be dead."

"And if nothing changes?" Shang asked.

The Territory Lord looked at Shang with a bored gaze before turning around.

Then, she threw some Grade Six Mana Crystals to Shang without saying anything.

"I need some Grade Five Mind Flow Pellets," Shang said after catching the Mana Crystals.

The Keeper took a deep breath.

She took the Mana Crystals back and threw a box of Mind Flow Pellets to Shang.

Shang didn't show it, but he was quite shocked when he inspected the box.

So many Mind Flow Pellets!

That was probably 50 Grade Six Mana Crystals worth of Mind Flow Pellets!

"A taste of how your future will be from now on," the Keeper said without turning around.

Shang didn't say anything for quite a while.

"What do I need to do in exchange for this?" Shang asked.

"Not betray the Temple of Blood," the Keeper answered. "The Temple will continue to invest more into you. In the best case scenario, you will never leave it, become powerful, and bring it to new heights."

"However, you can also leave in the future as long as you can guarantee that you have no ill will towards the Temple and as long as you give the Temple of Blood more than it has invested in you."

"We are a profit-oriented organization. You can negotiate with us, and you will find us quite receptive to trades when there's money to be made," the Keeper said.

Shang's Spirit Sense focused on the box of Mind Flow Pellets for a while.

"That sounds too good to be true," he said.

"Shang," the Keeper said.

Shang didn't show any reaction to his name. He had already expected that he had told the Keeper about it.

"You are right when we are talking about elite soldiers. Powerful soldiers have to do what the leaders want them to do."

"However, you will only become an elite soldier when your talent has dried up. When you stop progressing at a rapid rate, it's time to start the repayment process."

"At that point, you might need to do things you don't want to do."

"But as long as your growth doesn't slow down, the Temple will not work you to the bone, and it will keep investing more into you."

"And if everything goes well, you will be one of the leaders of the Temple of Blood, and you get to decide on how to repay us, but by that point, you already own parts of the Temple of Blood, and repaying us is just shoveling money from your left pocket to your right pocket."

"Don't stop growing. As long as you become more powerful, you won't miss a thing."

 

Chapter 622 - Finally, A Way

After a while, Shang left the branch of the Temple of Blood to continue comprehending the Concept of Addition in front of the Yellow Sunbreaker.

'As long as I keep growing more powerful, huh?' Shang thought.

'I don't think things are that easy.'

'It might have been that easy for the Keeper, but it doesn't mean that it will be that easy for me.'

'The Temple is not investing resources into the creation of Sweepers. Sweepers are not important enough to invest in. That means that my talent and potential peak in the future must be, at least, at the Peak Sixth Realm. Additionally, they would probably even want me to be quite powerful in that Realm.'

'While I am certain that I will reach that power, other people might not.'

'It's also possible that they will take my current speed of growth as a representation and trade me to someone else for a lot of resources, believing that my rapid growth will stop soon.'

'Things definitely aren't as simple as just becoming more powerful.'

Sadly, there was nothing Shang could do about all of this right now.

He had already done his best to show his value, and now, he could only wait.

Whether he decided to put his everything into training or sleep for several years, his fate wouldn't change.

But just as always, Shang still put his everything into training.

Power.

Power was his existence, goal, motivation, worth, hobby, and love.

There were about nine other Archmages in the world that were about as powerful as him, and two of them were definitely more powerful than him.

The foundation of power for all of these people had already been built, and from now on, it all depended on how one built upon that foundation.

Every additional level will become more and more difficult.

Reaching the General Stage was easy. Shang even had to be careful not to reach it on accident.

Reaching the Commander Stage was hard. Comprehending a Domain took a lot of work and even a dangerous fight.

Reaching the True Path Stage had been agonizing. Shang had trained in isolation for around 50 years without pause or doing anything else.

Reaching the Fusion Realm had been even harder. Not only had Shang needed to fine-tune his Mana pathways, which had temporarily weakened his Battle-Strength, but he had also needed to create a Beast Core and even comprehend an Impose before even reaching the Early True Path Stage.

Then, he even needed tens of Grade Six Mana Crystals to comprehend World Connection.

Shang had reached the True Path Stage when he was a bit over 80 years old, but he reached the Fusion Realm only when he was about 310.

More than half of his life had passed.

In Earth terms, Shang would have been around 55 years old when he reached the Fusion Realm.

It was late.

And now, things would get even more difficult.

However, if Shang managed to complete it, his number of competitors would drop.

Even if Shang's Battle-Strength didn't grow anymore, by the sheer fact that every peer of his would drop one by one, he would eventually become the strongest one.

Sacrificing so much had been worth it.

By sacrificing everything he was and owned in order to gain more power, he had reached his current place.

Once more, Shang confirmed that the Path he had chosen was the correct one.

Without waiting for long, Shang threw a Mind Flow Pellet into his mouth and entered his inner world.

He needed to comprehend the Concept of Addition.

Shang didn't know how much time had passed.

After who knew how long, Shang had used up the entire box of Mind Flow Pellets, but he kept on going.

Shang comprehended quite a bit. The Concept of Addition was quite an interesting oddity, and it was very different from the level one Concepts of Light and Darkness.

In fact, the Concept of Addition was different from basically every other Concept Shang had heard of.

Subtraction and Addition were absolutely unique.

What made them so unique?

Well, the Concepts of Fire acted upon Fire Mana.

The Concepts of Time acted upon Time Mana.

The Mixed Concepts, like Summer Drizzle, acted upon several kinds of Elemental Mana.

And what kind of Mana did the Concept of Addition work on?

Based on how other Concepts worked, one would think that it worked on Light and Fire Mana.

But that was where it differed.

The Concept of Addition worked upon every kind of Mana.

Fire Mana, Light Mana, Darkness Mana, Ice Mana, Space Mana, Time Mana, Life Mana, Death Mana, and even Neutral Mana.

The Concept of Addition worked not upon all kinds of Mana, but upon the very principle of Mana itself.

'Addition and Subtraction can work on their own, but they are most powerful while supporting something else.'

'Addition, Subtraction, Temperature, and Twilight, huh?'

Shang was pretty sure that he was onto something, and he actually decided to forgo some of his physical training so that he could concentrate more on these connections.

For a long time, Shang only sat inside his inner world, not doing anything.

Eventually, Shang's focus went back to his inner world, and he took hold of his Colossal Sword.

He swung forward.

SHING!

Bright light illuminated Shang's inner world.

Then, Shang swung a second time.

Seemingly nothing happened.

There was no light whatsoever.

Yet, for the first time in forever, Shang actually smiled brightly.

It worked!

It actually worked!

He had searched for a way to use all of his four States at once for centuries.

Now, he saw the first success.

Shang put the Colossal Sword to the side and grabbed his Long Sword.

He fed it some ore, and the Long Sword became a Saber.

Shang swung forward.

Nothing seemed to happen.

There was no fire or light.

Shang only smirked and held his Saber.

Then, he slowly dropped it.

And it hit the ground.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

It was like Shang's entire inner world was shaken.

It was like something of unimaginable weight had just hit the ground.

'Light represents the addition of mass, but the power of light is scattered.'

'With the Concept of Addition, I can control in what way I want to add something.'

'Make it brighter without making it heavier.'

'Make it heavier without making it brighter.'

'Don't go 50/50 but 100/0 or 0/100.'

'With some more work, I'm sure that I can use my techniques for my Colossal Sword State in my Saber State.'

'I finally have a way I can combine my States!'

 

 

Chapter 623- Barrage

Shang had finally comprehended the Concept of Addition.

For the first time in a long while, Shang actually returned to the real world.

At that point, Shang also realized something.

He had been gone for probably years, which meant that no one had been able to contact him for that amount of time.

Most likely, Shang's fate had already been decided by the higher-ups, and the fact that Shang was still alive meant that they didn't decide to use him as a scapegoat.

Shang stood up and slowly walked over to the branch.

He entered and passed by one of the newer Named Agents and Fire Pillar.

Based on how the newer Named Agent was looking at Shang, Shang could already confirm that Fire Pillar had fed the new Agent some horseshit.

However, all of that didn't matter. Shang might very likely leave soon and go somewhere else. If the Temple of Blood decided to invest in him, he would very likely be sent somewhere else.

Shang stopped behind the Keeper and waited.

"You kept me waiting for 13 years," the Keeper said. "Together with the 14 years you used last time, you have sat in front of the Yellow Sunbreaker for 27 years."

'27 years is about what I expected,' Shang thought, but he didn't answer.

"Was it at least worth it?" the Keeper asked.

Shang nodded.

"Show me," the Keeper ordered.

Shang didn't move, and the Keeper could feel Shang's suspicion and hesitation.

Asking about someone else's Concepts and powers was rude and could also be considered hostile. After all, if one knew what someone else could do, one would be able to counter the other person's powers and create a plan to kill them.

"Your life is no longer your own," the Keeper said.

At that moment, Shang was involuntarily reminded of something.

Mervin had said something similar back when Shang had still been a Soldier Stage warrior.

However, the intention and meaning behind these statements were very different.

Mervin meant that Shang shouldn't train in a suicidal manner since, if he died, he would inflict pain on everyone around him.

In comparison, the Keeper meant that Shang's freedom was now severely restricted. The Temple of Blood would invest a lot of resources into him, and they would make very sure that these resources didn't go to waste.

They were about to invest a lot, and they expected results from Shang.

'I guess that settles it,' Shang thought. 'My life is about to change significantly.'

'However, that's a good thing. I'm receiving resources in exchange for freedom and agency.'

'But isn't that what I have been doing for the past centuries?'

'It's just one sacrifice amongst many.'

"Fine," Shang answered. "I have no problems with showing you my results, but I don't want to show them to the Named Agents."

Shang directed the Keeper's attention to the two people sitting in the branch.

Two seconds later, the two Named Agents looked at the Keeper with surprise before they left the branch.

Obviously, the Keeper had sent them away.

The Keeper turned around and looked at Shang with her cold, ocean-like eyes.

Shang summoned his Long Sword and summoned some light.

"Wait," the Keeper said. "You said you use your Long Sword for Darkness. Aren't you supposed to use your Colossal Sword for that?"

"Usually, yes," Shang said, "but this is different."

"I comprehended something that allows me to bridge the gap between my States."

The Keeper nodded and motioned for Shang to continue.

Just now, Shang had demonstrated the normal usage of light, and now, Shang would show the other usages.

An instant later, the branch became even brighter, and the Keeper nodded.

Then, Shang put his sword to the ground and lightly touched it with a finger.

CRK!

The floor didn't break, but one could definitely hear that it was under more stress than before.

"The Concept of Addition," the Keeper said.

'Just as expected. The Concepts are already known,' Shang thought. 'Trying to keep something secret that everyone knows about would evoke suspicion.'

'That means she probably also knows about the Concept of Subtraction.'

"Yes," Shang said. "I comprehended the Concept of Addition."

"Good work, but what is your plan?" the Keeper asked. "Why focus on a Concept when you are a warrior? Also, why did you specifically choose to comprehend this Concept instead of the much more logical Concept of Twilight?"

Shang hadn't been asked such invasive and personal questions in literal centuries.

It felt very different and alien, and it demonstrated very well how Shang's life was about to change.

Everyone had always given Shang his space and let him comprehend and train whatever and however he wanted.

But privacy was a thing of the past.

"I want to change my States," Shang said. "I will use the Concept of Addition for a new State, which will create an additional Impose that can be added to my World Connection."

"After that, I will comprehend the Concept of Subtraction and do the same thing," Shang said.

The Keeper looked at Shang for a bit, and it was difficult for Shang to discern what she was thinking about.

"You are no longer alone," the Keeper said. The sentence sounded friendly and caring, but it had an entirely different meaning when coming from the Keeper.

"The Temple of Blood is about to trust you with a lot of resources, and it expects reciprocity."

"You are a very careful person, and I can understand why. However, the Temple of Blood requires honesty."

"If we ever find out that you have lied about something, we will immediately severely restrict you in every aspect of your life. After all, if you lied about one thing, you could have lied about many more things."

"You chose your words very carefully just now," the Keeper added. "You didn't lie, but you were also not honest. You wanted to know how much I know and how much you have told me."

"This kind of mindset has to change!" the Keeper commanded with a strict voice that bordered on shouting.

"We have decided to invest in you."

"We are allies!"

"Seeing you succeed means seeing our investments pay off!"

"We are not interested in hurting you since that would transform our investments into losses!"

"So, stop trying to keep things to yourself and trying to siphon information out of us!"

"I know that you have four States! You told me!"

"Next time, be honest and directly tell me that you want to use the Concepts of Addition and Subtraction to combine two States each, not expand upon them!"

"This has very different meanings!"

"Am I understood?!"

 

 

Chapter 624- New Life

The current situation was very strange to Shang.

For over two centuries, he had kept only to himself, not daring to tell anyone about anything related to his powers.

He couldn't let anyone find out that he was the Child of Calamity.

Because of that, he had to keep secret that he had four Affinities.

Because of that, he had to keep secret that he had four States.

Additionally, Shang also had an entirely separate issue that also forced him to keep secrets.

Shang was being pursued by the Lightning Manor. They knew that they were essentially searching for the strongest warrior in the world, and if anyone found a really powerful Fifth Realm warrior, they would be easily able to connect the two people.

Because of that, Shang even had to keep his identity as a warrior a secret.

He even had to keep his name a secret.

Hell, the Lightning Manor probably even knew that Shang was missing an eye he couldn't regrow, which meant that Shang even had to keep his appearance a secret.

Shang had even killed innocent people just because they might have potentially found out some little clue about some irrelevant secret of his.

Secrets upon secrets upon secrets.

And now, he was suddenly supposed to be honest?

Right now, it was like Shang was standing in front of a dark abyss.

He had to walk forward into the darkness, into a place he had never been before.

This reminded Shang of the time he stood at the edge of Area 23.

He also hadn't known what would await him.

Back then, Shang had also been forced to enter a place he had never been to before. He didn't even know what it looked like.

Shang had taken the plunge back then.

After many minutes or even hours of falling, Shang had eventually broken past the last layer of clouds.

Water.

He had only seen water.

And the place he had jumped from?

It was just a huge plateau, about 2,000 kilometers wide and maybe 100 kilometers high.

A gigantic plateau in the middle of a humongous ocean.

That was Area 23.

With one jump, Shang's world had become bigger.

The thing he had viewed as the world had transformed into just a random plateau in an endless ocean.

Then, Shang had traveled toward the east for several days.

He had seen a couple of other plateaus with his Spirit Sense, but he hadn't gone close to any of them.

Eventually, he reached the shore and found several High Mages and True Mages walking through the wilderness and collecting things.

Shang had left Area 23 and entered the real world.

And, right now, Shang felt very similar to back then.

390 years.

Shang's body in this world was about 390 years old, but even if one added his distant life on Earth, Shang would only be a bit over 400 years old.

Yet, for the last 240 of these 390 years, Shang had lived in absolute secret.

Secrecy was a defense.

If no one knew Shang's secrets, no one would be interested in killing him.

If no one knew Shang's powers, no one would feel safe enough to attack him blindly.

If no one knew Shang's goal, no one would feel threatened.

If no one knew Shang existed, no one would even interact with him.

Secrecy was survival.

And now, Shang was forced to abandon this weapon.

He was forced to tell others about his secrets.

Shang would have never done that.

If he had a choice, he would never do that.

In his mind, the past Shang that had decided to tell Jerald about his background had also been an idiot.

It was unimaginable to him that anyone would voluntarily come up with the idea to tell anyone about the fact that Shang knew the God of the world.

Everyone believed in the Mage God, and if Shang suddenly started claiming that the real God was some crazy lunatic, they might just decide to kill him for disrespecting their God.

It was insane.

It was an unnecessary risk.

Shang hated taking unnecessary risks.

But this time, he was forced to.

Shang took a deep breath.

There was no more reason to hesitate. Hesitating would only slightly delay the inevitable, and it might even ruin his future.

"Yes," Shang said.

"I'm sorry."

Silence.

"I have lived in secrecy for around 240 years. Trusting others is challenging for me."

Saying these things was very difficult for Shang.

"You don't need to trust us," the Keeper said with annoyance. "You only need to trust that we are smart enough not to throw money out of the window."

"This has nothing to do with trust, companionship, love, friendship, or whatever. This is all about profit. We share a goal, and betraying each other won't benefit either of us."

"Don't trust in us. Trust in our effective mindset for business," the Keeper said.

Hearing these words made it easier for Shang to accept his new reality.

'Right, I don't need to trust them with my life or anything. As long as I am showing potential and growth, they would be stupid to throw me away. I only need to trust in their intelligence.'

'Of course, only to a certain degree.'

"I will do so," Shang said. "If you suspect that I might keep things from you, tell me. I want to be honest, but I might subconsciously decide to keep things secret just because it's what I'm used to."

The Keeper furrowed her brows. "You're an adult, not a child. I'm not here to help you in correcting your attitude. You are supposed to have the correct attitude already, and you are supposed to make it fit."

Shang took a deep breath. "Fine, I understand."

"Good," the Keeper said.

When was the last time?

When was the last time Shang had been forced to bow his head like this?

Shang's mind went further and further back in time.

The Grandmountain Kingdom.

Shang was in his 20s back then.

This had been such a long time ago.

"Now," the Keeper continued, "why didn't you decide to focus on the Concept of Twilight?"

 

 

Chapter 625 - Tightrope

As soon as the Keeper asked that question, Shang was thrown into a problematic situation again.

Yes, he was supposed to trust them and tell them truthfully about his powers, but he couldn't possibly tell them the real truth right now.

Obviously, Shang decided to go with Addition and Subtraction first since that represented the concept of Entropy better. Additionally, the contrast between Addition and Subtraction made it more fitting for a dual wield style. Twilight and Temperature didn't fit very well.

Lastly, comprehending Temperature would have been extremely difficult since Shang would be focusing on two Elements that weren't related to his Affinity.

Addition was related to Shang's supposed Twilight Affinity since it included light.

Subtraction was related to Shang's supposed Twilight Affinity since it included darkness.

But Temperature?

Fire and Ice?

How was that related to Light and Darkness?

So, Shang couldn't possibly be honest.

"Because I want to keep it as a joker," Shang said.

The Keeper furrowed her brows. "Explain."

"I have four States, and my goal is to reduce them to one."

At that point, Shang's mind had to come up with a possible explanation he might have used to explain why he had four States.

This wasn't easy at all, and it put Shang's mind under a lot of pressure.

He was walking a tightrope right now, and if he lost balance, he might die.

He couldn't lie, but he also couldn't be completely honest.

He had to be perfectly in the middle.

"As you probably already know," Shang said slowly, "I noticed that the way others reached the True Path Stage was not strong enough for my liking."

The Keeper's expression didn't change.

"I had to somehow create more Paths since perfecting one Path wasn't enough for me. Because of that, I decided to use Ice and Fire as secondary Elements. Ice is related to Darkness, and Fire is related to Light."

Shang's mind was going wild as it tried to come up with a believable lie that he had also used during a time he didn't remember while also trying to appear honest and natural in his delivery in front of a Mage Lord.

"I made Light and Darkness the two ends of my States since I knew that fusing them would be the easiest. The problem was fusing everything else."

"Addition and Subtraction are easy fusions since both of them include parts of my Affinities. After that, I would be left with two things, each with parts of my Affinities. That should theoretically make it easier to fuse. The Concept of Twilight will then be used as a bridge to connect the two."

"If I had chosen Twilight first, I would have needed to comprehend the Concept of Temperature, and since I have no Affinity for either of the two components, I would be left with one State that I have a great Affinity for and one with no Affinity. That should be extremely difficult to fuse."

"That's why I chose Addition and Subtraction," Shang said.

Shang was doing his absolute best, but he still hesitated and stuttered slightly in a couple of places.

There was just too much he had to pay attention to.

The Keeper only kept looking at Shang, not reacting in any way.

Several seconds of silence passed.

The atmosphere was beyond tense.

Then, the Keeper sighed.

"Seems like we can't trust you," she said.

"What are you talking about?" Shang asked with annoyance. "I was honest."

"No, you were not," the Keeper said.

"I know that you have four States because you have four Affinities. You told me, and the reason why you chose Addition over Twilight is that you can't train in your Fire and Ice Affinities without revealing that you have them," the Keeper said with a cold voice.

"But I don't," Shang said. "Yes, I know that I am extremely powerful, but I refuse to believe that there is someone with four Affinities out there. That would just be ridiculous."

"Shang," the Keeper said with a dark and threatening voice. "I didn't make this up. You told me. You were the one that told me about it. There's no point in arguing."

"Okay, but that simply isn't true," Shang said.

The Keeper snorted. "Are you telling me you lied?"

"Seems like that's the only explanation," Shang quickly answered.

The Keeper raised an eyebrow.

"I don't remember our conversation, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that I do not have a Temperature Affinity!" Shang said with conviction.

"I have no idea why I said what I said, but it simply isn't true."

"It isn't even a good lie! Nobody can have four Affinities at once. It's not even clear if there's someone with three!"

"I assure you that I do not have a Temperature Affinity!" Shang shouted.

The Keeper remained silent as she looked at Shang.

Several seconds passed.

"That's it? You're still denying it?" the Keeper asked.

"Of course I am!" Shang shouted. "My life is on the line! Also, the more I think about it, the more I think that you are the one actually lying!"

WHOOM!

A dense pressure appeared around Shang, and it became difficult for him to move.

"What did you just say?" the Keeper asked with a very cold and threatening voice.

"You're lying!" Shang shouted as his body could barely move.

"And what, pray tell, makes you think so?" she asked with a venomous voice.

"Because if I had lied, I would have come up with a better one!" Shang shouted.

Silence.

The Keeper's eyebrows rose.

She looked at Shang for a couple more seconds without saying anything.

"I've never seen you so invested in something," the Keeper said as the pressure around Shang vanished.

Shang didn't answer.

"You're always so distant and emotionless. I almost feared that you were just a machine following a predetermined path."

"Yet, you can still become invested and actually shout. Who would've thought?"

Then, the Keeper turned around and looked away from Shang.

"Seems like I'm not as good at lying as you."

 

 

Chapter 626 - Solving Problems

Shang didn't seem any different than usual, but deep inside, he felt like he had nearly died, which might actually have been true.

'I did it, somehow,' Shang thought without showing anything on the outside. 'Going on the offense had been the right call.'

Shang wanted to sigh so badly, but he couldn't show any uncertainty on the outside.

"So, what now?" Shang asked. "Do I just get resources now?"

"You're a special case," the Keeper said, still looking away from Shang.

"Usually, we would assign you to a very powerful Ancestral Mage to study under them, but you're not a Mage. Assigning you to any Mage might not only not help you but even restrict your growth."

"You're the highest authority when it comes to training as a warrior in the entire world. No one has the necessary knowledge to contradict what you think is best since your way has been proven to show the greatest results."

"Under normal circumstances, your teacher would evaluate your growth and request resources from us based on what they would think would be best for you."

"We can't do that with you."

"Of course, the Temple of Blood won't just give you free rein since you can't guarantee that you will reach a level of power that makes you valuable to us."

Shang didn't move.

"Because of that, we decided to make it a bit different for you."

"We're not going to blindly invest in you, but just pay you very, very well for your work. This will produce short-term results that will prove that you might become valuable in the future."

Usually, Shang would have already told the Keeper that she should get to the point. However, he decided against it.

Earlier, the Keeper had only been Shang's employer.

Now, they were deeply connected.

Because of that, Shang just listened.

"You don't only represent a potentially powerful Sixth Realm warrior but also a potentially new division for the Temple of Blood."

"Warriors," Shang said.

"Correct, warriors," the Keeper confirmed.

"The Temple of Blood will give you a great number of resources for every True Path Stage warrior you can produce. Additionally, the rewards exponentially increase the higher the warrior's Battle-Strength is."

All of this sounded very familiar to Shang.

"You want me to create an academy?" Shang asked.

"How you do it is up to you," the Keeper said. "We want True Path Stage warriors. You get money. We don't care how you do it."

"There are several problems," Shang directly answered.

"Name them," the Keeper said.

"I can't show my face in public," Shang said. "The Natural Selection Company will connect me to White Ghost."

The Keeper almost immediately answered. "We will make someone take the fall for you. We are going to send someone that fits the White Ghost persona and make them purposefully screw up a mission and get killed. A couple of years later, you can walk around outside."

Shang remained silent for a bit.

That easy?

Okay, that solved one of the problems.

"I have no background and no track record. People would expect to have heard of such a powerful warrior," Shang said.

"We already have a background story for you," the Keeper answered immediately. "Additionally, our Agents in several different cities will change the records of some families and organizations. If anyone investigates your background, they will find some small incriminating information. Just enough to make it seem like that's what you were trying to hide, but not enough to actually try something drastic."

Shang was quite surprised.

The Temple of Blood solved two huge problems that Shang had in nearly no time at all.

"What about the Lightning Manor?" Shang asked.

"For now, they won't be a problem," the Keeper said. "Yes, they are searching for you, but you are essentially one of many thieves in a big city. Some of their people know about your aura and your characteristics, but no one is really investigating. They're just waiting to find you somewhere by coincidence."

"Additionally, you are not even in the Lightning Manor's territory anymore, and the Lightning Manor's members only very rarely leave the Lightning Manor's territory," the Keeper said.

"But they will find me at some point, right?" Shang asked.

"If you perform well enough, yes," she said, "but at that point, they won't care about your crimes anymore."

"So what if you killed some random Peak High Mage temporary employee? They can just send or contract a new one. When they find you, they would be far more troubled and interested that someone in the Twilight Dusk Family's territory is using their hard work to produce their own warriors."

"Imagine them having hundreds or maybe thousands of True Path Stage warriors in a century or two. Then, they hear about a group of warriors in the Fifth Realm in a neighboring territory. They investigate, and they find out that one of their warriors is responsible."

"They wouldn't care even in the least about your previous crime. Yet, the only thing they can do is watch. They can't just send one of their people to kill someone in the Twilight Dusk Family's territory without informing them."

"What do you think will happen then?" the Keeper asked.

Shang could only think of two possibilities.

"Either they try to kill me in secret or they negotiate with the Twilight Dusk Family," Shang said. "And I think that the first possibility won't happen. Sure, they would be angry that other Emperors now also have warriors, but to them, warriors are basically only a farming tool or a special breed of dogs."

"Warriors are not that important to them, and I doubt that they would risk such a huge political fallout just for some warriors."

"That's right," the Keeper said. "At that point, you're not some random warrior anymore."

"At that point, you will be the focal point of a trade between two Empires."

Shang took a deep breath. "And, at that point, I would also pay back everything that the Temple of Blood has invested in me. Is that right?"

"Correct," the Keeper said. "The Twilight Dusk Family will receive a lot of money from the Lightning Manor, and they will pay us a tiny bit of that, but that tiny bit is already worth a Mage Lord or more."

"And, during all of this, you will be the one that reaps the most benefits. Just killing you after paying so much for you would be a waste of resources."

"Instead, they would be the ones investing in you instead of us."

"The Lightning Manor gets a Fifth Realm for their warriors."

"The Twilight Dusk Family gets a huge amount of money."

"The Temple of Blood gets all its investments repaid severalfold over."

"You get to join and work for an Empire."

"Everybody wins."

Silence.

"Are you allowed to tell me all of this?" Shang asked.

"It's up to my discretion," the Keeper said. "Usually, I wouldn't tell this to anyone, but you're a special case."

"You've gone through enough intrigue and tragedy to understand how the world actually works. I think you're smart enough to avoid doing anything stupid when your prospects look so good."

Shang didn't answer for several seconds.

"You're right," Shang said.

 

Chapter 627 - Town

"Show your pass."

Shang stood in front of two huge gates, almost 200 meters tall.

This was the entrance to a city, something Shang hadn't been to in a very long time.

At the moment, two Mages sat in some chairs beside the gate.

Surprisingly, they were only Late High Mages, which was unusual.

Most cities Shang had been to had Archmage guards, but this place only had Late High Mages as guards.

However, that actually made sense. After all, this wasn't actually a city but a town.

In Area 23, this town would have counted as probably the biggest city in the entire world, but out here, it was just a town.

The town had a diameter of barely five kilometers, which was quite a lot for Area 23 and for Earth, but it wasn't that big for this world.

In Aterium, Ancestral Mages could create such a huge town in a matter of days. Construction time basically didn't exist. After all, powerful Mages could just summon huge columns of stone, earth, and metal that perfectly fit the attributes the Mages wanted.

The only problem was citizens.

Why would anyone visit a new town? After all, everyone was already living in other towns and cities.

But wait, what about villages?

Villages didn't exist.

High Beasts were abundant.

Archbeasts were also rather common.

Ancestral Beasts sometimes appeared.

Who could defend a village from those?

The village would need a very powerful Archmage to deal with the day-to-day problems, and that Archmage would also need to have a method to get rid of an Ancestral Beast somehow.

But would such a powerful Archmage want to create a village?

No, they would just directly make a town. A village didn't even nearly give enough taxes to make all the work worth it.

Because of all of this, villages didn't exist, and everyone was already living in towns and cities.

It was very difficult to create a new town due to the lack of citizens, but if one managed to do it, one would earn way too much money.

Shang took out a metallic sheet and showed it to the two guards.

This was a citizens' pass, something that was issued by the town or city one lived in. If one decided to move, they would need to show their old pass to verify that they were not some criminal. After that, they would get a new one, and the old one would be destroyed.

This was one of the biggest issues why Shang couldn't have entered a city earlier.

He didn't have an old citizens' pass to show, which made it impossible for him to enter any towns and cities.

Back when Shang had traveled to the Twilight Dusk Family's territory from the Lightning Manor's territory, Shang had mainly waited near the entrances of the cities and towns to find a group.

There had been very few towns that let him in either way, but they were truly rare.

Yet, with the Temple of Blood's help, Shang had easily received a citizen's pass.

In the past few years, Shang had seen the advantages of being part of a powerful organization. Problems he couldn't have solved on his own just dissolved like they had never mattered.

When Shang showed his pass, the eyes of the two guards widened in shock.

What was this supposed to mean?!

Realm: Early Impose Stage.

What the hell was an Impose Stage?!

The two guards immediately suspected that Shang had shown them a fake pass, and they used several tests to verify the pass.

Shang didn't say anything during all of this.

The guards grew more and more shocked as all the tests came back positive.

This was actually real?!

As a last resort, one of the guards contacted the city that had issued the pass.

After several minutes of bureaucracy, one of the guards finally got someone that could verify the pass.

"Yes, we issued that pass," the person on the other end of the Communication Crystal said.

"Sir, could you please elaborate? You must understand that it is difficult to believe that this pass is real," the guard said with a lot of respect and care.

The guard was talking to someone from a major city. Nearly every employee was an Archmage, and he couldn't risk angering the other side.

"You're standing in front of a scary-looking guy with no eyes, right?" the other person asked.

The guard glanced at Shang.

"Yes," he said.

"Yes, his name is Shang, and he doesn't have a last name," the other person said. "I still remember when he showed up in our city. One of my employees asked for help since she had no idea how to create his pass. I think that was about 120, maybe 130, years ago."

"You're calling regarding the Realm field, right?"

Nervously, the guard nodded but then remembered that the other person couldn't see his nod. "Yes, sir."

"Yeah, that was a memorable day. Turns out, the guy is not a Mage," the other person said.

The two guards froze and didn't say anything for several seconds.

Not a mage?

Then, they looked at Shang with confusion.

Then why did they even bother? Non-Mages were all weak and worthless.

Why go through all this trouble?

"Oh, let me give you a warning," the voice from the Communication Crystal said. "Don't make a mistake and underestimate him. More than one Mage underestimated him and treated him like trash. Most of them aren't alive anymore."

The two guards took deep breaths. "Wait, so is he a criminal?"

"No," the voice answered. "He just challenged them to life-and-death duels, and the Mages always agreed since they thought that they would earn some easy money by killing and robbing him. He made a loooooot of money that way. In fact, he's kind of a small celebrity in our city. It's a bit of a shame that he's moving to your town. Although, he might just directly purchase your town with all that money."

"Do you need anything else?"

The guard with the crystal didn't answer for a while before the other guard lightly shoved him.

The guard quickly shook his head. "No, sir. That was everything. Thank you!" he said.

"Have a good one," the voice from the Communication Crystal said before cutting the connection.

Over 500,000 kilometers away, inside a humongous city, a Mage with black and white hair leaned back on his chair after putting his Communication Crystal away.

"Shang is a worse name than Secret," Mosuma said with a chuckle.

 

 

Chapter 628 - Exchange

The two guards put the Communication Crystal away and looked at Shang.

Ever since arriving, Shang hadn't said a single word, which made him seem kind of spooky.

The guards didn't say anything for a couple of seconds.

They were not certain how powerful Shang was, but he had to be powerful. After all, the person from the big city said that Shang might directly purchase the town.

"What Realm does the Impose Stage equate to?" one of the guards asked nervously.

"Fifth," Shang answered with an emotionless voice.

The two guards swallowed.

That's high.

Shang slowly extended his right hand, and the two guards felt a bit scared.

All of this felt unnatural to them.

A physi that's more powerful than them with no eyes, who doesn't talk at all?

Spooky!

The two guards looked at the outstretched hand anxiously.

Some seconds passed.

"My pass," Shang said.

"Oh!" one of the guards uttered. "Do you intend to move here, or are you here to visit?"

"Visit, for now," Shang answered.

"That will be five Grade Three Mana Crystals, sir," the guard said carefully.

Shang didn't do anything for several seconds, and the atmosphere became even tenser.

"I don't have such small Mana Crystals," Shang said.

"Oh, that's fine! We can change!" the guard said before taking a deep breath. Interacting with this person was stressing him out.

SHING!

Shang summoned a Mana Crystal and showed it to the guards. "I don't have it smaller."

The guards' eyes nearly fell out of their heads.

That was a Grade Six Mana Crystal!

The entire yearly income of the town was calculated in those!

"Maybe, we can't change," one of the guards said nervously. "I don't think we have that much cash just lying around."

"What now?" Shang asked evenly.

"I think we can skip the entrance fee this time," the guard said with a nervous smile. "You were willing to pay, and it's our fault that we don't have the necessary money to give you the change. You can just enter."

Then, the guard handed Shang's citizen's pass back to him.

The guard was about to create a small opening in the town's barrier, but before he could, a small rock hanging from his belt shone in a yellow light.

"Oh, my apologies," the guard said, looking at the shining rock. "An Archbeast has been found in the town's vicinity. We can't open the barrier right now. We would ask you to wait for a couple of minutes. The Town Lord will deal with it soon."

The Town Lord…

'This truly is just a small town,' Shang thought. 'The Town Lord has to act personally just to kill an Archbeast.'

Instead of answering, Shang took out his Long Sword.

Surprisingly, the two Mages weren't nervous at all, but it wasn't for the reason one might expect.

The concept of a sword didn't connect with the concept of danger to them.

Swords weren't dangerous at all.

They were things normal people played with.

Now, if Shang had suddenly summoned a Focus, the two of them would immediately become scared.

But a sword?

Who cares?

Shang slowly turned around, his head facing a certain direction.

Then, Shang swung his sword.

Nothing happened.

A moment later, a small hole opened in the barrier, and a brown-haired Archmage flew through it.

It was the Town Lord, and he was here to deal with the Archbeast.

But just one second later, something happened.

The stones on the guards' belts stopped shining, and the Town Lord suddenly stopped in the sky, looking at a metallic sheet with a raised eyebrow.

Shang silently put his sword back, nobody noticing the movement.

"You can have the corpse," Shang commented.

The two guards looked at Shang with confusion.

The Town Lord looked at Shang with narrowed eyes.

The Town Lord seemingly inspected Shang for quite a while.

"You killed it?" he asked.

Shang nodded.

"How?"

Shang's finger tapped the sword hanging from his side.

"With my sword."

The guards became shocked yet again, and the Town Lord's eyes narrowed.

"Please wait here for a moment," the Town Lord said. "I need to verify."

Shang nodded.

The Town Lord flew away from the town for a couple of seconds before he arrived at the place where the beast was supposed to be.

When he arrived, he saw the beast, a humongous blue mosquito.

It was cut in two halves.

The Town Lord took a deep breath.

'He's really strong,' he thought.

The Town Lord pocketed the corpse and returned to the town.

He landed in front of Shang and smiled politely. "Please, I would like to invite you as a personal guest of mine," he said with a polite voice.

The two guards took deep breaths.

This person had really killed an Archbeast from such a distance?!

And they hadn't even noticed him do it!

He had just moved his sword a bit!

Of course, killing this beast hadn't been difficult for Shang.

The mosquito had only been an Initial Archbeast, and it had specifically been sent here by the Temple of Blood.

It was supposed to give the public an explanation about how Shang met the Town Lord this quickly.

After some polite talking, the Town Lord brought Shang into the town, and the two of them walked around.

As soon as Shang entered, his Spirit Sense encompassed the entire town.

Right near the entrance was the commercial district. There were shops, guilds, mission boards, and many other things. It took up around 20% of the town.

Then, to the left and right of the commercial district were the residential areas for High Mages and True Mages. They took up around 60% of the town.

At the very back, at the place furthest away from the entrance, were the mortal slums, the place where people below the True Mage Realm lived.

The houses were dirty, the people unwashed, and the crimes abundant.

Usually, the mortal parts of a town or city were not that horrible and disgusting. After all, with good teachings and good surroundings, children would become powerful Mages in the future. It was worth it to invest in a good mortal area for a town.

But not here.

Obviously, the Town Lord hadn't created the town as a long-term investment with regular income but as a short-term investment to be resold quickly.

Creating a flourishing mortal area was too expensive, and it wouldn't increase the value of the town by much.

The Town Lord led Shang around the town, introducing everything to him.

Eventually, the two of them reached the Town Lord's castle in the middle of the town and entered an isolated space.

As soon as the Isolation Barrier was activated, the Town Lord's polite demeanor vanished.

He took out several different Magic Circles, Magic Runes, and emblems, putting them on the table.

"This is for the main barrier," he said in a professional voice. "This is for surveillance. This is the beast radar. This is the defense contract."

The Town Lord showed everything to Shang and explained it.

Shang nodded along.

After some minutes, they were done.

"Alright, now give me the money," the Town Lord said.

Shang summoned a huge sack full of Grade Six Mana Crystals and handed it over.

The Town Lord nodded and put the sack away. "Now, we have to wait for about two hours to make it seem like we are negotiating."

Shang nodded.

The Town Lord sighed in relief. "You can't believe how glad I am to finally be relieved of this job. I can't meditate or anything while constantly having to deal with Archbeasts."

Shang could understand what the Town Lord meant.

Obviously, the Town Lord had also been a member of the Temple of Blood.

"Don't ruin my town, okay? I've built it from the ground up," the guy said.

"I won't," Shang answered.

 

Chapter 629 - Pathfinder MagicCircle

The two of them waited for another two hours. During that time, it was mostly the Town Lord talking and Shang listening.

Shang wasn't the best contributor when it came to conversations.

Eventually, enough time passed that the two of them could leave without any suspicions.

The isolation barrier was deactivated, and the two of them left the room.

The two of them walked towards the entrance of the town, but they were also talking with the powerful people of the town.

Shang was officially the Town Lord now, and he had to introduce himself.

There were two other Archmages in the town, but they would both leave with the previous Town Lord.

This meant that Shang's town was only made up of High Mages and weaker.

In a way, it was just like a Kingdom in Area 23, but with one small difference.

The Zone Beasts weren't peaceful.

What would an Area 23 with aggressive Zone Beasts look like?

Bad.

Now, it was Shang's task to deal with any beast that couldn't be handled by his employees.

Even if an Ancestral Beast attacked.

Of course, Shang wasn't the first person in the world that owned a town while not being in the Ancestral Mage Realm. There had been predecessors, and they had found solutions.

"Sir," one of the Archmages that would leave soon contacted Shang. "Some of my friends are living here. I just want to know how you plan to defend the town from Ancestral Beasts?"

"He's been accepted by our Security Agency," the old Town Lord answered.

The Archmage was quite surprised. "Really? But you said they are very particular about their clients. So many people want to have a contract with them, but they only accept very few people."

"I know, right?" the old Town Lord answered with a smile. "I was also surprised when I contacted them. They just listened for a while, talked with him, and then accepted him."

The other Archmage sighed in relief. "That's good."

There were innumerable ways to make money in this world.

Wherever there was a need, there was money to be made.

Some Archmages wanted to rule a town without being able to defend themselves from Ancestral Beasts. That was a need.

That was where the Security Agencies came in.

Security Agencies were groups of Ancestral Mages that dealt with emergencies.

An Ancestral Beast attacking your town?

No worries! The Security Agency will arrive very swiftly and get rid of it!

The town would only need to survive for a couple of minutes, which wasn't necessarily hard.

Depending on the power of the surveillance Magic Circle, one could find an Ancestral Beast while it couldn't feel the town yet.

The expensive barriers could also hold up for several minutes under the onslaught of an Ancestral Beast.

That was enough time for the Security Agency to deal with the threat.

Of course, depending on the quality of the Security Agency, they might fail in dealing with an Ancestral Beast or arrive late. In both cases, the town would lose a ton of money or maybe even get destroyed.

But good Security Agencies were expensive.

Not only would they keep the entire corpse, but they would also demand a multiple of the beast's worth on top of that.

An expensive Security Agency could bankrupt a town.

But the Security Agency contracted to this town was extremely good while also being quite cheap.

They only demanded double the beast's worth on top of the corpse while also being extremely fast.

The resident Security Agency had never taken longer than 90 seconds to arrive, and most of the time, they arrived within 30.

That was insanely fast!

Of course, this Security Agency was just a hidden branch of the Temple of Blood, and they only defended their own towns and cities.

It was very much in their interests to see these towns flourish.

Also, it wasn't that demanding to protect these couple of towns.

This town, for example, got attacked by an Ancestral Beast about three times per year.

They only had to keep one Ancestral Mage on standby.

But that alone already showed how much Shang's worth had already changed in the Temple of Blood's eyes.

As a Named Agent, the Temple of Blood hadn't invested anything in Shang.

Now, Shang was responsible for an entire town, and an Ancestral Mage was held on standby just for him.

The old Town Lord introduced Shang to all the important people, which all consisted of Peak High Mages.

When the High Mages heard about Shang, they were quite nervous.

Yes, the Security Agency dealt with Ancestral Beasts, but what about Archbeasts?

Could this new Town Lord take care of them?

"You don't have to worry," the old Town Lord said with a smile. "I personally tested his power, and I'm certain that he's more than capable of dealing with them."

Sadly, not everyone believed the Town Lord.

"Just give him a chance," the old Town Lord said. "Even if he couldn't deal with the Archbeasts, he would just activate the Isolation Barriers, and the Security Agency would eventually repossess the town. There's no danger in giving him a chance."

It was difficult to convince the people, but the old Town Lord was very charismatic. Additionally, he had been the Town Lord of this town ever since it had been created.

Eventually, all the important people gathered in front of Shang and the old Town Lord.

The Town Lord officially handed his position over to Shang, who accepted it.

The people were still not convinced. After all, Shang wasn't a Mage.

How could a non-Mage defend a town?

After a lot of talking, the old Town Lord sighed. "Fine, I'll stay here for a couple of days just to be sure, alright?"

Everyone immediately thanked him.

Over the next couple of hours, Shang got acquainted with how the town was being run.

When Shang heard what the main source of income for the town was, he realized that he wouldn't run out of money unless he really tried to screw things up.

The town had a Pathfinder Magic Circle, and it rented its use to travelers.

That was a lot of money!

Just as the name suggested, a Pathfinder Magic Circle could find a path through the wilderness.

In a way, it worked a bit like a sonar. When it was activated, it would send a wave of Mana in a certain direction and receive different signals back. Like this, the Pathfinder Magic Circle could locate all the Ancestral Beasts and Archbeasts.

Pathfinder Magic Circles were incredibly expensive. The creators or designers of these Magic Circles needed to know several Elemental Concepts, but they were not the expensive part.

The three most expensive parts were…

The level two Pure Concept of Space, Distance.

The level three Pure Concept of Time, Flow.

The level two Pure Concept of Gravity, Pressure.

Only the absolute elites of the Ancestral Mage Realm could create something like that on their own, but usually, it wasn't just one person creating the Pathfinder Magic Circle.

As long as someone in the group knew a Concept, it was okay.

Creating a Pathfinder Magic Circle was insanely difficult and expensive. In fact, its price was calculated in tens of Grade Seven Mana Crystals.

This Magic Circle alone made up about 70% of the town's price.

However, if one actually managed to get their hands on one of these, money wouldn't stop flowing in.

Not only would groups of merchants use it, but the merchants were also more likely to take routes with this town on them. That increased trade a lot.

Additionally, it could be used to scout rare beasts, which would also be worth a lot of money.

Even more, such a Magic Circle also made it possible for High Mages to travel through the surroundings and collect treasures from the wilderness.

Pathfinder Magic Circles were amazing.

And Shang's town had one.

 

Chapter 630 - Normal Day

After having met everyone, Shang retreated to the big castle in the middle of the town.

This would be his home for the foreseeable future.

'I need to give the residents some time to get used to me,' Shang thought. 'At the moment, they are still uncertain about my power, and if I implement all the changes I have planned now, many of them will leave.'

For the next couple of hours, Shang only remained on standby. There wasn't much he had to do as the Town Lord. Most of the town ran all on its own, and he only needed to get involved if it was time to use the Pathfinder Magic Circle or if there was a beast.

"There's a Peak High Beast approaching the town," Shang transmitted to the two guards in front of the town.

The two guards looked at each other with surprise.

The Surveillance Magic Circle didn't show any reactions.

Surveillance Magic Circles had several ways in which they operated.

Funnily enough, finding an Ancestral Beast was easier than finding an Archbeast for them. The reason was the sheer amount of Mana the Ancestral Beasts gave off.

Of course, the sensitivity of the Magic Circle could be increased, but it would also consume more Mana Crystals.

The setting the town's Magic Circle worked on would find a Peak High Beast if it entered a 100-kilometer radius of the town.

An Archbeast would be found within 250 kilometers.

An Ancestral Beast would be found within 1,500 kilometers.

The fact that the Surveillance Magic Circle didn't pick up the beast meant that it was over 100 kilometers away.

But their Town Lord found it already?

The guards had heard of Mages whose Spirit Sense was larger than normal, but all of these Mages were extremely outstanding and rare.

And their new Town Lord was one of these powerful people, even though he wasn't even a Mage?

"Should we deal with it, sir?" one of the guards asked.

"Is it your job?" Shang asked.

"It depends," one of the guards said. "If an adventurer team is interested, we generally leave it up to them. Right now, the beast is not within the critical zone of 25 kilometers of the town."

"I see," Shang answered. Even though he had been led around, he still didn't perfectly know what every single person in the town was responsible for. "Then continue as usual."

It was not yet time to change the rules of the town.

After some minutes, the Peak High Beast appeared in the town's Surveillance Magic Circle, and about two minutes later, a team of Mid High Mages led by a Late High Mage left the town.

As long as they didn't go past 250 kilometers from the town, they weren't in danger and could walk around outside.

The team quickly traveled towards the beast and engaged it.

Even though they were two levels below the beast, their combined firepower was enough to kill the beast without severely damaging the corpse.

They pocketed the corpse, returned to the town, and sold it for around 450 Grade Four Mana Crystals.

The town received around 20% of what it sold for.

Shang had done absolutely nothing, but he had just earned about 90 Grade Four Mana Crystals. Of course, a lot of that would get reinvested into the town or be paid to the guards and other employees.

Shang only continued watching the town. He had to learn as much about his town as possible. If he wanted his plan to work, he needed to know how everything worked in the town.

About half an hour later, a group of three Archmages arrived in front of the town.

The guards greeted the three Archmages casually since they already knew them.

This was one of the merchant groups.

They traveled from town to town, buying things that were cheap in one town and selling them expensive in others.

For example, Shang's town had a lot of Metal High Beasts, which were on the rarer side. Usually, Metal High Beasts were more common in the northern parts of the Twilight Dusk Family's territory or more southern, but that would already be outside the Twilight Dusk Family's territory.

The reason why there were a lot of Metal High Beasts walking around in this place was the Silver Abyss.

The Silver Abyss was a huge hole about 7,500 kilometers to the west of the town.

It had been created by a very powerful Peak Ancestral Beast that couldn't find any rivals anymore. It was the most powerful beast for over 10,000 kilometers around, and it decided that it would focus on itself.

It no longer felt the need to hunt and consume other beasts. It was only interested in understanding more about the secrets of metal while staying deep underground.

This phenomenon was actually quite natural since this was basically what every powerful Peak Ancestral Beast did.

This phenomenon was called Hibernation, and this was the last but also most difficult step to becoming a Beast Lord.

Not even 1% of beasts that entered Hibernation could become Beast Lords. Most of them just died of old age.

Since the Metal Ancestral Beast to the west was no longer keeping its Mana under control, the 500 kilometers around it had transformed into a land of metal, drawing all the scattered Metal Beasts to it.

Sadly, while Shang's town got plenty of Metal High Beast, they never got any Metal Archbeasts.

If one had paid attention, one would be able to guess why.

Such a valuable location like the Silver Abyss was obviously very interesting to a certain company.

The Natural Selection Company.

They were harvesting the natural treasures in and around the Silver Abyss, and that included the Metal Archbeasts.

Metal High Beasts were not that interesting to them, which was why a lot of them could leave without being killed.

The group of merchants entered the town and bought nearly all of the Metal Beast corpses while selling many other things.

Another 500 Grade Five Mana Crystals entered Shang's pockets.

Eventually, the merchants requested the use of the Pathfinder Magic Circle, and one of Shang's emblems shone a second later with the request.

The merchant group had already paid.

One use of the Pathfinder Magic Circle cost one Grade Six Mana Crystal.

For just basically pushing one button, this was a lot of money.

Shang activated the Magic Circle.

In just three seconds, it consumed over 200 Grade Five Mana Crystals as it gathered an insane amount of power.

And then…

WHOOOOOM!

Every True Mage and higher could feel the wave of massive Mana shooting out from the town towards the east.

The wave of Mana vanished, and a couple of seconds later, a map appeared in front of Shang.

Shang transferred the map to the person responsible for taking the requests, and that person handed the map to the group of merchants.

The group of merchants gave their polite goodbyes and left the town.

Some seconds later, the person responsible for taking the requests handed the map over to the resident Adventurer's Guild, who posted it.

This showed the current distribution of powerful beasts for several thousand kilometers to the east of the town.

The High Mages looked at the map with interest.

The further one went away from the town, the more natural treasures one could find, but of course, it also became more dangerous.

With luck, there were no Archbeasts or Ancestral Beasts close to these places, and the group of High Mages could try a raid.

Eventually, no one left.

The setup of the beasts was too risky this time.