Ch. 651..660

Chapter 651 - Ribbon

After flying for several kilometers, Shang recovered by increasing the density of Mana in his path and burying his fingers into the surrounding Mana like he was sliding down a wall.

The skin and quite some muscle on Shang's back had been turned to snowflakes when he had passed through the storm of water and ice.

Luckily, he managed to block the primary attack by putting his Addum between him and his opponent.

Since his Addum was a fusion of his Saber and Colossal Sword States, it was also very good at defense.

Shang inspected his Addum, and he was glad that he had used so much money to upgrade his two swords to the Initial Sixth Realm.

There was one thick scar on the Addum's side, which was terrifying considering that a weapon of this level shouldn't receive any damage from opponents on its level.

An Initial Sixth Realm weapon was only considered as such when it could resist all attacks someone at the Initial Sixth Realm could unleash.

Yet, the Addum had still received some damage.

It wouldn't break anytime soon, but the scar clearly showed the sheer power of the attack.

Of course, such a powerful attack had also broken a two-digit number of bones in Shang's body, but he didn't really care about that. His weapon was of a bigger concern.

While Shang was preparing to attack the serpent again, the storm of ice and water in the distance suddenly changed.

Earlier, the storm of ice and water had been a sphere around the serpent, ensuring that Shang would always have to pass through it by creating or closing distance.

But now, the sphere was suddenly splitting apart and transforming.

The storm gathered in many different locations, increasing the latent power in these locations.

A moment later, the transformation was complete.

Shang took a deep breath when he saw the serpent.

Right now, the serpent gracefully flew in the air, four terrifying icy claws sprouting out of its body.

The spherical storm of ice and water had thinned and transformed into one long line, which danced around the serpent's body.

It was almost like the storm had become a graceful and long ribbon.

The power of the storm had intensified, and Shang knew that getting hit by it this time would be far more devastating than before.

'Sure enough, this is an extremely powerful beast for its level.'

The serpent's icy claws cracked and moved as they prepared for an attack.

WHOOOOM!

And then, the serpent suddenly shot forward, right at Shang!

Earlier, it had completely avoided Shang, but after realizing that it might lose in the long run if it kept creating distance, it decided to change its approach.

That move where it had thrown off its icy armor had cost it way too much of its Mana. At most, it could do that one more time.

That was why it suddenly decided to shoot at Shang.

'Serpents usually avoid close combat, but not this one, apparently.'

Shang used Comet again and also shot at the serpent.

Suddenly, one of the serpent's claws shot at Shang in a similar motion to earlier.

Shang realized that the serpent was using the same attack.

SHING!

Shang used Shock to avoid the attack. Earlier, he hadn't even been able to see it since it had been so insanely fast.

BOOOOOM!

One of the fingers on the serpent's claw exploded off, shooting forward at speeds that Shang couldn't follow.

However, this time, he had the time to actually feel the Mana in the surroundings, which allowed him to find out how the serpent had managed to create such a terrifying attack.

From what Shang could feel, he summarized that the bottom of the claw transformed into Water Mana, which was then transformed into Wind Mana.

The terrifying amount of Wind Mana was then compressed inside the claw, and when the serpent made a throwing motion, it pushed the claw forward.

At the same time, the Wind Mana would explode out.

Like that, the serpent was adding the power of a rapid expansion to its own physical power.

It had essentially created an air gun.

After comprehending the principle of the attack, Shang could now anticipate it with more precision.

SHING!

Shang had to use Shock again as the streamer of icy wind passed by his location.

Shang didn't want to take any chances with that terrifying ribbon.

A moment later, one of the icy claws was rushing at Shang.

BANG!

Shang suddenly stopped in the air like he had hit solid ground.

BOOOOM!

And then, he jumped up with all his power, the world below him vibrating with waves.

Shang had seen that the claw wasn't moving in the way it moved when using that terrifying attack, and he saw this as an opportunity.

He gathered a ton of Mana in his Addum again and struck.

CRACK!

The claw broke into the pieces, but not in the way that Shang had expected.

The claw broke into sharp icicles, which rained down on Shang. It was almost like Shang had punched a window.

The force of Shang's attack blasted the icicles in front of him into the distance, but the icicles around him shot down.

But then, they suddenly angled to the side, shooting right at Shang from all sides.

Shang gritted his teeth.

CRRRRR!

The sphere of fire returned again, destroying the icicles.

Shang's body had become gaunt and withered again, but it recovered in an instant.

'I only have 10% life energy remaining.'

Shang immediately threw himself at the serpent again after solidifying his surroundings.

At that moment, the ribbon of ice returned, and Shang had to throw himself to the side. He couldn't allow himself to touch that ribbon, or his body would freeze over.

Luckily, it had a lot of inertia due to its sheer power.

Sadly, Shang's charge was interrupted, giving the serpent another opportunity to attack him.

The Serpent regrew its destroyed claw and continued its attack.

This time, Shang saw one of the claws move forward from a distance, and he knew that the serpent would use its terrifying attack again.

Shang's grip on his sword tightened.

BANG!

The finger on the claw shot at Shang at insane speeds.

Shang's Addum was in front of him.

Shang moved the handle forward.

The two attacks hit.

DING!

Fire exploded.

The claw turned to water, but the water didn't shoot past Shang's sword.

And then, light exploded as Shang moved his sword forward.

The water shot at the serpent, but not at a critical location of its body, but at one of the claws.

Since the ice had been melted into water, it no longer had any offensive properties, and even if it hit the serpent, it wouldn't do anything.

But suddenly, something appeared between the water and the serpent's claw it was shooting toward.

It was the ribbon!

The water shot with rapid speeds through the ribbon, and when it came out of the other side, it had already transformed into huge icicles.

And then, it hit the claw.

BOOOOOOM!

The entire claw exploded.

'Sadly, the ribbon just barely made it in time. If it had arrived sooner, I could have hit its body.'

'But if I can't get rid of its body, forcing it to use up more of its Mana is the next best thing.'

One of the serpent's claws had been destroyed, and the water had also absorbed a lot of power from the ribbon.

But the fight wasn't over yet.

 

Chapter 652 - Javelin

Just now, Shang had used a peculiar combination of Reflection and World Connection.

Usually, Reflection could only reflect energy-based attacks, and neither water nor ice belonged to that group.

The reason was that Shang needed the inherent power of the attack to remain.

Shang wasn't able to use Reflection on ice since the force of the sudden stop would turn the ice into powder. Throwing that powder at the opponent wouldn't do anything, just like throwing water.

The same thing was true for earth since it would break apart into multiple pebbles, and metal would get completely bent to the point of uselessness.

However, by transforming ice into water and then solidifying the area around the weapon, Shang caught everything.

Then, he just needed to throw it back.

Since water was very flexible and stuck together, it didn't "break into pebbles".

It essentially passed through the ribbon in one piece, which then created one big and sharp icicle.

The circumstances had been perfect for this move, but this definitely wasn't something that Shang would be able to use often.

The circumstances had just been too specific.

Nevertheless, it had worked, and one of the serpent's claws had exploded.

BANG!

Shang didn't hesitate and immediately shot at the serpent.

But then, Shang gritted his teeth.

The ribbon appeared between them again, and he had to stop his attack again.

This gave the serpent time to react.

Yet, surprisingly, it didn't summon a new icy claw. It just kept using its remaining three claws.

'Sure enough, keeping this terrifying ribbon active is consuming a lot of Mana,' Shang thought, 'but it also stopped me several times already.'

The serpent readied another claw, planning on unleashing the terrifying attack again.

However, the serpent wasn't stupid.

This time, it made sure that its opponent wouldn't get the chance to use its ribbon to hurt it.

'Using Shock takes too much life energy.'

'Comet isn't fast enough.'

'Reflecting it also consumed life energy.'

'Blocking it will injure Sword and break my bones, which will also consume life energy.'

'It has over ten of these fingers remaining, and then there's that terrifying ribbon.'

'I can't win in the long run.'

'I have to end this as quickly as possible!'

Shang focused on the ribbon.

'But if I use Javelin, the ribbon might weaken it too much.'

'So, I have to weaken the ribbon first, and quickly at that!'

The serpent shot its claw at Shang.

SHING!

Shang used Shock to evade, using up nearly all of his remaining life energy.

Then, Shang slashed forward after loading his Addum with Fire and Light Mana.

Just like during the beginning of the fight, a terrifying crescent shot at the serpent.

The serpent moved its ribbon between it and Shang.

SSSSHHH!

The fiery crescent froze and broke apart.

Shang immediately used the same attack again, and the same process was repeated.

Then, the serpent threw its claw at Shang again.

Shang angled his body, keeping his sword in front of him with his legs.

BANG!

The claw hit the Addum, throwing Shang into the distance.

The Addum received another scar, and Shang's legs broke into pieces.

However, Shang didn't heal them this time.

'I can't get hit another time. I don't know if I have weakened the ribbon enough, but I have to try it now!'

This was the moment that decided victory and defeat.

Yet, surprisingly, Shang wasn't as nervous as he had been before the fight.

He had regained his old mindset when it came to fights.

Shang stopped in the air and took a deep breath.

Then, he slashed forward.

WHOOOOM!

Another gigantic crescent appeared, but this time, it was made of black fire.

Shang had used his new Hidden Sun but with Sword's Entropy.

The serpent felt the incredible power inside that crescent and moved to the side to avoid it. They were several kilometers away from each other, giving it enough time to avoid the attack.

At that moment, Shang's Long Sword shone with Darkness Mana.

SHING!

Shang used Shock, his body becoming even thinner.

He arrived right beside the flying crescent.

The long sword in Shang's left hand stretched to his right, touching the crescent at the end.

And then, it also started to burn with black fire.

And Shang slashed forward.

BANG!

As Shang finished his slash, the black crescent was pulled together into a thin line.

This was the other attack Shang had used back then in his Saber State, Shooting Star.

Shang had created a powerful Hidden Sun with Entropy and had then transformed it into a powerful Shooting Star with even more Entropy.

Two concentrated attacks of Entropy.

This was Shang's new strongest attack, replacing Dusk.

And it was far faster than Dusk!

Its name was Javelin.

When Hidden Sun had transformed into Javelin, it also changed its trajectory, shooting at the serpent's new location.

Since the serpent had just moved, it couldn't change its trajectory quickly enough to evade another time.

It was forced to block.

Its ribbon gathered in front of it in a folded shape, all its power concentrated.

Javelin hit the ribbon and broke through it like it didn't exist.

However, the ribbon was extremely long.

Like a piece of cloth, the icy ribbon was burning away as Javelin kept traveling through it.

Shang could feel Javelin losing power.

Eventually, Javelin destroyed the entire ribbon.

In a panic, the serpent immediately put its three remaining claws between it and Javelin.

Javelin broke through the first.

Javelin broke through the second.

CRK!

And then, Javelin broke apart on the third claw, but the third claw shared its fate.

The black fire vanished.

Javelin was gone.

The ribbon was gone.

The icy claws were gone.

SHING!

Suddenly, a streak of black appeared, and a skeletal figure hit the serpent's body.

It was like a tiny mosquito had landed on an anaconda.

However, Shang's new long sword, the former Addum, had stabbed through the serpent's scales.

The serpent wasn't injured since Shang had barely used any power with that attack.

But at that moment, the serpent felt like it was about to die, and an instant later, it felt a terrifying suction force pull its life energy away.

Shang was absorbing the serpent's life energy with Darkness Absorb.

The serpent immediately shook its body, but it couldn't create any significant power while its opponent was literally holding onto it.

If it had appendages, it could just punch Shang and kill him.

The serpent immediately tried to summon an icy claw, but it had used up all its Mana already.

The serpent's body began to shake to throw Shang off.

Shang had already fully healed.

SHING! SHING! SHING!

Shang used several Shocks to create humongous cuts across the serpent's body, but that was only a side benefit.

Shang used these Shocks to use up the life energy he had absorbed so that he could absorb more.

In a terrified panic, the serpent spasmed and flopped around in the air, trying to get rid of Shang, but more and more black cuts appeared across its body, and Shang kept on absorbing more of its life energy.

Eventually, the serpent's body became sickly and frail.

Shang's cuts kept getting more efficient, and eventually, he managed to cut the serpent's head off.

The fight was finally over.

Shang took a deep breath.

The appearance of all the Zone Beasts from Area 23 shot through his mind.

They had been so powerful.

They had basically been immortal.

And now...

Shang looked at the withered corpse.

'I did it!'

'I killed a Zone Beast!'

 

Chapter 653- Finally There

Shang took a deep breath.

Sure enough, the fight hadn't been easy, but it had definitely done its trick.

Before the fight, Shang had been far more afraid than during the fight.

The worst thing that could happen to someone was that they became so afraid of dangerous fights that they refused to ever risk their lives again.

Obviously, this wouldn't be a problem if one's goal was to just live a peaceful life, but for someone with Shang's ambition, such a weakness would have been crippling.

Shang needed to risk his life from time to time. It was important that he always remained used to and comfortable during dangerous fights so that he could unleash all his power when it actually mattered.

Additionally, dangerous fights were important since they pushed one's mind and body to the limit, unlocking resources and strengths one had never thought existed.

Just after this fight, Shang had already realized several things about his Addum, which would probably save him a couple of years in time.

Shang summoned some ore and grabbed both of his swords.

One of his swords had turned into a dagger, while the other one had turned into a long sword.

As the swords absorbed the ore, Shang's mind looked through the ground. Spirit Senses couldn't penetrate solid matter nearly as far. At most, Shang could see around 20 kilometers into the ground.

'Sword's at its limit regarding Entropy. It needs Sixth Realm Entropy ore.'

'I know where there's a lot of Entropy ore, but I can't just go there.'

Of course, the place Shang was thinking about was Area 23. Based on context clues, Shang was certain that the black columns in the earth in Area 23 were made of Entropy ore in the Sixth Realm.

If Shang could get to Area 23, he could just go to one of these columns and cut off a kilometer or so of Entropy ore. The column was big enough, and if Shang only peeled off a ten-centimeter-thick sheet, nobody would notice. After all, he wouldn't have broken through the pillar.

However, getting to Area 23 was basically impossible right now. It was already extremely dangerous getting away from it, and Shang still wasn't strong enough to travel on his own.

Sure, he had killed a really powerful Initial Ancestral Beast, but what if he met an aggressive Mid Ancestral Beast?

He would just die.

Well, he could enter the towns and make use of their Pathfinder Magic Circles, but that would cost a ridiculous amount of money.

Additionally, the closer he got to Area 23, the more warriors would be known, and the more likely it was that someone would connect Shang to that one guy that killed an Assistant Supervisor 300 or so years ago.

Lastly, Shang was now deeply connected to the Temple of Blood, and he couldn't just leave like that.

Sadly, Shang also couldn't ask the Temple of Blood since that would be very suspicious.

Why would anyone be interested in that stuff?

Even more, Shang was fighting with Light, Darkness, Ice, and Fire Affinities.

Shang couldn't risk unveiling his secret.

'I guess I have to keep a lock on Sword's Entropy for now. Luckily, I have plenty of other abilities to rely on.'

After the swords had absorbed the ore, Shang put his long sword into his inner world and his Addum on his back.

Then, Shang turned to face the atrophied corpse on the ground.

The atrophied head and the atrophied body had flattened a huge area, destroying trees and beasts. The blood that was leaking out was flooding the surroundings, but it quickly turned to ice due to the remnant Ice Mana in the air.

It was very difficult to recognize that this had once been a snake. Sure, it was long, but that was where the resemblance ended.

Everything had atrophied to the point that this was basically just a moldy skeleton with some thin skin covering it.

For a while, Shang only looked at it.

All the Zone Beasts he had seen in Area 23 shot through his mind.

They had been calamities.

They had been natural disasters.

They had been higher powers.

When Shang had just been at the Soldier Stage, the biggest beast he had ever fought had been that ice bear in Jerald's garden, and it was only a couple of meters tall.

And then, Shang saw the Storm Eagle.

A wingspan of nearly four kilometers.

A cry that turned Shang unconscious.

The speed to travel through the entire Storm Eagle Zone in less than a minute.

As just a small Soldier Stage student, Shang had been less than nothing in front of that monstrosity.

Shang could have seen himself as a teacher in the academy.

Shang had dreamt about flying in the sky like Duke Whirlwind.

Shang hadn't been able to comprehend the power of King Skythunder.

And the Storm Eagle?

It was impossible.

How could any human reach such power?

It was impossible to fight or kill something this monstrous.

And now?

Shang just focused on the corpse.

It was around five kilometers long which was about as big as the Storm Eagle.

It had destroyed kilometers of its surroundings during the fight.

It had traveled tens of kilometers in an instant.

Shang remembered the fight between the Ice Wyvern and the Volcano Wyrm he had seen from a distance.

Back then, Shang couldn't comprehend how much power these two beasts must have released during their fight.

It had been apocalyptical.

And now?

Shang looked at the vast streaks of frozen wasteland that cut through the forest like someone had taken a huge white pencil.

So much of his surroundings had been destroyed.

The size of the beast corresponded to the sizes of the Zone Beasts in Area 23.

Its powers corresponded with the powers of the Zone Beasts.

Yet, it felt so different to Shang.

It was almost like he wasn't on the level of power he had witnessed back then.

But he actually was.

He had done it.

He had done the very thing he had seen as impossible back then.

'At this moment, I am far more powerful than any "King" in Area 23 had ever been.'

'But it's not enough!'

'There's still so much left!'

'I can grow vastly more powerful!'

'I can't relax yet!'

Shang focused on the corpse again and put it into his inner world.

In its current state, it was mostly worthless. At most, its bones could be sold for like two or three Grade Six Mana Crystals.

However, there was one thing that might be worth a lot.

Its two unique horns.

But for now, Shang couldn't sell them.

The Temple of Blood thought of him as being as powerful as a powerful seedling of an Empire, but that was very different from Shang's true power.

Shang's true power was equal to a King Contender, and that was something on an entirely different level.

Shang's mere existence threatened the rise of a Mage King in the future, and the Mage Kings were the core of an Empire's power.

If an Empire found out about Shang's power, they might kill him just so that he didn't join any other Empire.

So, for now, Shang decided to keep the corpse a secret.

Eventually, Shang left the battlefield behind and flew back to his town.

 

 

Chapter 654- Good Or Bad Master

Shang returned to the town and took over as Town Lord again.

He had only been gone for a couple of minutes, and nothing happened during those.

After checking through the town and making sure that everything was alright, Shang looked at the mortal district again.

It had changed so much.

The part of the mortal district outside the town was now over two kilometers wide, and the warriors had built powerful and tall walls.

The academies were packed with students.

By now, the academy had probably reached the level of the warrior's academy in Area 23.

In just 40 years, it had closed a gap of 400 years.

And how had the Warrior Academy achieved that?

Powerful Mages.

The Mages had built the academy.

The Mages' technology protected the town.

The Mages set up the mortal district.

The Mages had simplified the Bloodline Infusion and had created several methods to forge equipment.

The academy in Area 23 had gone through several dangerous times.

The Day of Chaos.

The civil war.

The threat of other Kingdoms.

But instead of fighting the Mages, the Warrior Academy here benefited from them.

By now, there were hundreds of Commander Stage warriors in the mortal district, and there was a two-digit number of True Path Stage warriors.

As Shang thought about the True Path Stage warriors, his Spirit Sense moved and looked at his students.

They were diligently training.

At the moment, it was training time. They would get their free time in a couple of weeks.

Shang demanded that his students train for three weeks at a time with zero breaks and zero distractions.

That meant no family visits, no talking, no helping others, no running errands, no nothing.

Three weeks of complete isolation and training.

And then, they would get a week to do whatever they wanted.

They could continue to train, which Shang encouraged, but ultimately, they could do what they wanted.

The reason for this policy was a protest.

Originally, Shang demanded four weeks of focused training with only three days of free time.

However, Shang's students banded together and collectively gave Shang an ultimatum.

They wanted to become powerful to protect their loved ones, attain freedom, earn money, and so on.

They said that by only training, their lives would grow dull, unstimulating, boring, grey, and pointless.

They found their own motivation to become powerful vanish, and training had turned from a hobby into something they hated.

Their wives and children became estranged from them.

Their friends started to vanish.

If this truly was what their Master demanded from them, they would rather not be his Disciples.

When Shang had seen their protest, he had snorted in disgust.

He had seen it as a group of children throwing a tantrum.

Worthless.

Yet, even though Shang didn't want to and even though he viewed it as a stupid decision, he still changed the schedule.

Whether he liked it or not, his future was dependent on his Disciples' accomplishments, and if he didn't have any Disciples, his future looked bleak.

Because of that, he was essentially forced to give in to the demands he saw as ridiculous.

His Disciples had thanked him profusely, and they had also said that Shang was probably right in his methods. In their words, they were simply not strong enough to dedicate their entire lives to nothing but power.

They deeply respected their Master for his dedication to power and were thankful every day that their Master was willing to teach them.

But Shang didn't care.

He tried his best not to let it show, but he despised his Disciples.

They were all so weak.

He was throwing mountains of Mana Crystals down their gullets, but they could barely win against a beast a level above them.

He was essentially presenting the way to comprehend Paths and Impose on a platter, but the progress of his Disciples was slow.

Shang guessed that they would probably need 100 to 200 years to create their Impose.

Shang had only needed about 80 years, and he had done that blindly while also completely designing and reforging all his Mana Pathways. Without that, he would have probably only taken 50 years, at most.

And now, some of them would take 200 years.

How was it so difficult to comprehend these things?!

They were so obvious!

Yet, his Disciples seemingly struggled with the most basic stuff and asked stupid questions with obvious answers!

Shang tried to hide his dislike for his Disciples, but after years of being under Shang, some of them had seen through Shang.

Some of them thought that Shang despised them as weak, but others said that this was simply how their Master was and how he showed affection.

He was just that forceful because he wanted them to be strong so that they could achieve their goal!

He was doing it for their good!

But the others didn't think so.

They didn't know why, but they were sure that their Master was gaining some kind of benefit by teaching them.

Otherwise, there would be no explanation for why their Master would spend so much time on something he obviously abhorred doing with people he despised and hated.

However, all of them agreed on one thing.

Shang was extremely good at teaching.

Even though his comments were often cold, distant, and scathing, his explanations were filled with logic and insight.

Where other teachers would just recite something they had learned from a book, Shang very meticulously explained all the principles in extreme detail.

Shang actually knew the intricacies of how basically every little bit of power of a warrior worked. It was almost like Shang could recreate an entire warrior from the ground up without any reference.

The Disciples respected their Master deeply for his insight, perspective, and power.

They knew that being Shang's Disciples was giving them immense benefits.

Sadly, studying under him was no fun.

They were inadequate.

They were slow.

They were lazy.

They were stupid.

The more perceptive ones among them were reminded of these things every time Shang talked to them.

The others simply viewed Shang's words as "tough love".

But they had to get through that.

They wanted to become powerful, and learning under Shang was the most optimal way to power.

It was debatable whether Shang was a good or bad Master.

 

Chapter 655 - Lsolation Chambers

"Sir, the person you've asked for has arrived."

"Thanks," Shang answered the town planner before flying over to a new person that had just entered his town.

"Welcome to my town," Shang spoke politely to the person floating in front of him.

The woman floating in front of Shang chuckled politely. "Thank you, Town Lord," she said. "I've heard that you are interested in buying several Isolation Chambers?"

The person in front of Shang was a woman with long and beautiful grey hair wearing expensive golden robes. She was an Early Ancestral Mage.

"Correct," Shang answered. "I've had some less-than-savory people skulking around my town, and since I am a follower of the mindfree doctrine, I can't just read their minds. That's why I want a couple of Isolation Chambers."

Reading one's mind was the most intrusive act one could possibly be, and there were several laws for exactly this act.

Depending on the Empire that ruled the land, the laws were a bit different.

In the Lightning Manor's territory, reading someone's mind was prohibited. Of course, the Areas were different since they were isolated.

The mind was something sacred, and if one wanted to read someone else's mind, one would need to get permission from the Lightning Manor, which wasn't easy.

Shang lived in the Twilight Dusk Family's territory, and their rules were a bit different.

The Twilight Dusk Family was more open to reading minds, but they also weren't completely open.

Reading someone's mind was essentially the same as killing someone in the Twilight Dusk Family's territory.

If you had a very good reason and justification for reading someone's mind, it was fine, but just randomly doing it when hiring someone, for example, was a no-go.

Of course, as a Town Lord, Shang couldn't just do whatever he wanted. His town was part of the Twilight Dusk Family, and he had to follow the general laws of the Empire.

If he wanted to kill someone or read someone's mind, he had to have an actual reason.

He couldn't just do it because he wanted to.

The mindfree doctrine that Shang had talked about earlier was a specific ideology that followed the Lightning Manor's philosophy.

A follower of the mindfree doctrine believed that minds shouldn't be read, no matter what.

If there truly were sketchy people skulking around Shang's town, he couldn't just kill them or read their minds. However, he could keep them in jail for a couple of months for investigation.

Also, a mind read wasn't the only thing that would allow one to find the truth of a matter.

And the person floating in front of Shang was a specialist in one of these methods.

The woman just smiled. "I completely understand. A big part of our clients also follow the mindfree doctrine, and we're quite thankful," she said as she laughed politely. "After all, we wouldn't be where we are today without our valued clients."

"Do you know how our Isolation Chambers work?"

"Vaguely," Shang said.

The woman nodded. "Well, let me explain it in more detail. We will be using special materials and Magic Circles to completely isolate someone from the outside world. The inside and the outside of the chamber are completely cut off from each other."

"That means no Mana can enter or exit, and it is impossible to look inside or out. The isolation puts a significant strain on someone's mind, and the lack of new Mana only intensifies that feeling."

"After some time, the person inside the Isolation Chamber will slowly start losing Mana and life energy, which creates an agonizing feeling of approaching death. If we were talking about normal humans, you could view it as slowly asphyxiating someone over three months."

"Of course, depending on how it is used, an Isolation Chamber can also help calm someone's mind."

The woman explained all the details of the Isolation Chamber for the next couple of minutes, and Shang just nodded along.

"That sounds great. I would like to commission three of them whole and one more as individual pieces of metal in case the other three receive some damage," Shang said.

The woman's smile widened. "No problem. How strong do you wish for them to be?"

"I want it to be absolutely impossible for an Archmage to escape and nearly impossible for an Initial Ancestral Mage to escape," Shang said.

The woman nodded. "How big should they be? How do you want them to be accessed?"

Shang answered a couple more questions.

After a while, the woman nodded and handed over a sheet of paper she had created.

It was the bill with all the details.

25 Grade Six Mana Crystals.

Shang signed the bill and summoned 25 Grade Six Mana Crystals.

The woman smiled brightly, created a copy, handed the copy to Shang, and pocketed the Mana Crystals.

After that, Shang led her to his castle, and they entered the basement.

Shang's mind dug three huge rectangular holes and motioned for the woman to proceed.

SHING!

Three huge, black, and rectangular objects appeared inside the hole, and the woman summoned several more materials.

The Magic Circles of the town were shining with complex runes as the additional Magic Circles were integrated.

After about an hour, she was done.

"And that should be it," she said with a smile. "The three Isolation Chambers share the same energy source as your town's barrier."

Shang nodded.

After that, the woman summoned several huge black stones and put them beside Shang. "These are the replacement pieces that you ordered."

Then, she explained how Shang could swap out destroyed or defective parts of his Isolation Chambers.

"And that should cover everything," she said.

Shang nodded. "Thank you. Everything's to my liking."

After that, she said her goodbyes and left the town.

Shang continued flying in the sky for a while and then went back to his basement.

He activated the Magic Circles to isolate his castle from the town and walked over to one of the huge black stones.

Shang's hand touched it, and after a while, Shang smirked.

SHING!

Shang summoned both bodies of Sword and stabbed them into the black ore. "Eat up."

What material could completely isolate all kinds of Mana?

Entropy ore.

How strong would the Entropy ore need to be to resist an Initial Ancestral Mage?

At least in the Initial Sixth Realm.

After a while, Sword had filled up with Entropy ore again, and Shang put the stones away.

Shang had expected that it would be harder to find Entropy ore, but surprisingly, it wasn't difficult at all.

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

 

Chapter 656 - Funding

About 40 years after fighting the serpent, Shang managed to condense the Impose for his Addum.

'And with that, my second goal for the Fusion Realm is finished,' Shang thought as he held his Addum in front of him.

'Next, I have to comprehend the Concept of Subtraction, which will be the most difficult or second most difficult thing I'll have to do. Comprehending the Impose for my next weapon will not be as difficult as comprehending the Concept of Subtraction.'

'The God told me that comprehending the Concept of Subtraction should be about as difficult as comprehending a Mixed level two Concept, which is something not every High Mage can achieve. Comprehending a Mixed Concept means that you can also comprehend a Pure Concept, which means that you would have comprehended two Concepts before becoming an Archmage, making you above-average at least.'

'As a warrior, I have to comprehend something that less than 50% of High Mages can comprehend.'

In the last 40 years, Shang had also reached the Late Fusion Realm, which put his mind on the same level as a Late High Mage.

'Maybe I should hunt more Abominations first before trying to comprehend the Concept of Subtraction. My mind can still advance one level.'

'Additionally, I need to find a way to look at the Concept of Subtraction. For the Concept of Addition, I had the Yellow Sunbreaker, but I don't have a fitting beast for the Concept of Subtraction.'

'I guess I should just ask the Territory Lord. I need to update her regarding my advances anyway.'

Shang activated the Magic Circle that isolated his castle from the town and activated a tiny secret Magic Circle that created a hidden connection to the Communication Crystal network of the Temple of Blood.

Then, Shang activated the Communication Crystal and contacted the Territory Lord.

"Yes?" the voice of the Territory Lord came out of the Communication Crystal.

"I have comprehended my fifth Impose," Shang said.

"What are the results?" the Territory Lord asked.

"As expected, my World Connection has grown more powerful, giving me about 20% more power for all of my other attacks. The more Imposes I learn and integrate, the more powerful everything becomes," Shang explained.

"And you plan to reach the Sixth Realm by comprehending another Concept and adding a sixth Impose?" the Territory Lord asked.

"That's only preparatory work," Shang said. "After I've comprehended all of that, I want to somehow push everything to the next level."

"One theoretical way to reach the Sixth Realm is to keep adding Imposes. I think I would only need five to successfully reach the Sixth Realm, but I would probably ruin my entire foundation. Adding a sixth Impose would definitely be more powerful, but I believe that I would still take a step back if I only did that."

"By adding Concepts to my Imposes, I can strengthen them even more. By adding two Imposes and two integrated Concepts, I believe my relative Battle-Strength would either remain at my current level or fall just a little bit."

The Territory Lord snorted. "But that's not your goal, right?"

"Yes," Shang answered. "I've used the World Connection to reach the Fifth Realm, something that normal warriors would comprehend to reach the Sixth Realm. I want to expand on that and theorize a way for a warrior to reach the Seventh Realm and use that to reach the Sixth Realm. But for that, I need a solid foundation, which is why I'm adding these Imposes and Concepts."

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

"Quite ambitious," she said after a while. "In fact, if I hadn't seen you comprehend World Connection as a Peak True Path Stage warrior, I would have called you idiotic and naïve."

"But you are no longer completely free," she added. "The Temple of Blood wants to know if your growth has kept up. You've already been in this privileged position for over 80 years, and we haven't received even a single warrior yet. The Congregation is putting pressure on me, asking me for proof that you are growing well."

Shang knew what the Congregation was.

The Congregation was the ruling body of the Temple of Blood, and the Territory Lord was one of the members of the Congregation.

"I have obtained proof," Shang said.

"What proof?"

"A corpse of something I've killed on my own," Shang answered.

Silence.

"Alright."

Whooom!

Some seconds later, a tiny portal appeared in front of Shang, just about ten centimeters tall.

Shang took out a Space Ring and pushed it into the portal, which then closed.

Many kilometers away, beneath the Yellow Sunbreaker, the Territory Lord was looking at a Space Ring in her hand.

She closed her eyes and inspected the inside.

She wasn't surprised when she saw a gigantic corpse.

Shang was at the Late Fifth Realm, and a Peak Fifth Realm beast wouldn't be enough.

The bare minimum he needed to show was a strong Peak Archmage, and even that might not be enough.

Of course, this beast was only two levels above Shang, but there was also a Realm gap in these two levels, which could be counted as another level.

So, in a way, Shang had killed a beast three levels above himself, which should be enough to prove that Shang's Battle-Strength wasn't regressing.

The Territory Lord was satisfied with this corpse.

Shang's Mana, the wounds caused by his swords, and the deteriorated condition of the corpse also showed that Shang had been the one fighting.

The Territory Lord looked at the corpse for a bit. It wasn't very easy to discern what kind of beast it was.

"What kind of beast was this?" she asked.

"A serpent," Shang said.

The Territory Lord raised an eyebrow.

A serpent?

No serpent was weak.

The Territory Lord looked at the horns to check the Affinity of the serpent, and that's when she froze.

For several seconds, she just wordlessly looked at the horns.

Dual Affinity.

After five additional seconds, she focused on her Communication Crystal again.

"I need a very detailed rundown of the battle. You should understand that it is very difficult to believe that someone in the Late Fifth Realm could kill an Initial Ancestral serpent with a Dual Affinity."

"Sure," Shang answered.

Then, he spoke in detail about his fight. He simply replaced his Comet with Ghost Step in the retelling and replaced Javelin with Dusk, but without the black fire.

"Well done," the Territory Lord said. "I will present this corpse to the Congregation. You don't need to worry about the payment. We will pay you way more than this corpse is worth."

"Is there anything in particular you need?" she asked.

"I want something that helps me comprehend the Concept of Subtraction," Shang said.

"I'll look if we got something fitting," the Territory Lord said. "The next meeting is in three months. I will tell you how much funding you will receive, and we can decide on something that will help you then."

Shang released a sigh. "Thanks."

"No thanks necessary," the Territory Lord said. "This is a cooperation. We don't need your words but your actions."

"Sure," Shang answered.

"Good."

Then, the Territory Lord cut the connection.

 

Chapter 657 - Beast Residence

A couple of months later, Shang got contacted by the Territory Lord again.

The Congregation was happy with Shang's progress, and they decided to give him funding worth 200 Grade Six Mana Crystals.

200 Grade Six Mana Crystals.

That was an insane amount of money, and this was just one payment. Shang had already gotten quite a lot from the Temple of Blood, and they would continue supporting him in the future.

One had to remember that 200 Grade Six Mana Crystals represented 200 years of condensing Mana for an Ancestral Mage, and Shang wasn't even in the Sixth Realm.

After looking at the available funds, the Territory Lord came up with the best way for Shang to comprehend the Concept of Subtraction, but she needed to talk with the Congregation again.

When the Territory Lord talked to the Congregation, she was offering something.

An investment.

Of course, that investment would consume a huge amount of resources, and 200 Grade Six Mana Crystals wasn't enough.

However, the 200 Grade Six Mana Crystals had already been promised to Shang, and they essentially viewed them as losses.

But if Shang were willing to spend these 200 Grade Six Mana Crystals to ease the cost of the investment, it wouldn't be so bad for the Temple of Blood.

After a lot of convincing, the Congregation finally listened to the Territory Lord and agreed.

What was this investment?

Well, 90% of all the profits from Shang's town had to either be reinvested into the town or handed over to the Temple of Blood. After all, this was the Temple of Blood's town, not Shang's town.

So, Shang's town was an asset of the Temple of Blood, and investing in it was the same as investing in the Temple of Blood.

However, not every investment was worth it.

But when one of the investments suddenly became 200 Grade Six Mana Crystals cheaper, it might become worth it.

The Territory Lord had the amazing idea to fit Shang's town with a very expensive weapon.

An Ancestral Beast.

Several cities had something called a Beast Residence.

A Beast Residence was a place where beasts could live, and if any foreign Ancestral Beast came close to the Beast Residence, the beast inside the Beast Residence would attack the intruder.

In a way, this meant that a city would receive an Ancestral Beast as a guardian.

Of course, creating something like a Beast Residence was beyond expensive. Not only would one need hundreds of different Magic Circles, but one would also need to make a lot of space for the beast.

However, the most expensive part was the beast's training.

It would be bad if the Ancestral Beast decided to eat visitors or attack the city. Because of that, the very few companies that specialized in that area had to invest a lot into training the Ancestral Beasts.

Additionally, the Ancestral Beast would never truly be tame. If any human still did something it didn't like, that human would very quickly enter the afterlife.

All in all, setting up something like that would cost around one Grade Seven Mana Crystal.

The advantage was that the city or town would be safer since there would be no reaction time for the Security Agency anymore. It would be like having an Ancestral Mage as a resident in the town.

This meant that the Temple of Blood wouldn't need to keep an Ancestral Mage on standby anymore for Shang's town. Additionally, more powerful people would be interested in moving to the town.

Of course, since this investment was also supposed to help Shang comprehend the Concept of Subtraction, the beasts had to be fitting.

After contacting one of these companies, the Temple of Blood made their choice.

They would go with one of the cheaper options, but the reason why the option was cheaper wouldn't be a problem for Shang's town and might even prove to be a good thing.

The Territory Lord talked with Shang about everything, and a couple of months later, the professionals arrived.

On this day, Shang had to welcome over 20 Ancestral Mages.

These 20 Ancestral Mages started to slightly alter the Magic Circles of the town to make it compatible with the new ones they were about to create.

Then, they dug deep into the ground beneath the town while severely strengthening several spots so that the town wouldn't sink into the earth.

They created a huge underground cavern below the town, which was about three kilometers wide and high. Without the earlier strengthening of the ground, the town would have collapsed above them.

After that, they summoned a humongous crystal, which was several hundred meters wide.

The crystal was black and shimmered in dark blue light.

This was an artificial object of concentrated Ice and Darkness Mana.

After placing the object in the middle of the cave, they created several Magic Circles to gather the Mana in the surroundings, convert it to Darkness and Ice Mana, and infuse it into the crystal.

When they were done with that, they placed a couple of smaller light crystals away from the cave in spots where they didn't want the beasts to go. Sure, if the beasts felt a foreign beast, they would just shoot through there, but that wasn't exactly the problem.

They just didn't want the beasts to come out of the ground near the mortal district and kill a couple hundred humans just by moving.

After preparing and testing everything for several days, the 20 Ancestral Mages called their superior.

And on that day, Shang met his first Mage Lord aside from the Territory Lord.

The Mage Lord arrived near Shang's town, and as soon as he did, the sky above the town became dark.

That wasn't due to his power but due to the two things levitating beside him.

Two Ancestral Beasts.

One had an Ice Affinity, and one had a Darkness Affinity.

And from now on, they would live beneath Shang's town.

When Shang took note of the two beasts, he became a bit excited.

Finally, he had something to help him comprehend the Concept of Subtraction.

 

Chapter 658 - Lcy Bastion

BOOOOOM!

The Mage Lord dropped the two beasts as soon as he arrived.

Thousands of people were watching with interest. They had already been informed about what would happen today in advance, and they didn't want to miss this spectacle.

Not everyone had been able to see the beasts from a great distance, but now, it became clear what these beasts were.

They were two huge worms called Abyss Worms.

Each worm was around six kilometers long and a couple hundred meters wide. They were about as big as the Serpent Shang had killed.

One of the worms was dark blue. It had sparkling blue scales, which gave off a white mist.

The other worm was pure black, and it didn't have any scales. Instead, it had rough skin, which didn't sparkle at all.

As soon as the two worms regained control of their bodies, they lifted their heads, and the more powerful people felt an oppressive Spirit Sense inspect them.

Nearly everyone became terrified at that moment.

Two Ancestral Beasts were right in front of their home.

Yet, the worms didn't seem to be that interested.

Sure, they looked through all the humans present, but they didn't particularly focus on them.

CRRRRR!

The worms began to slowly move around above ground, leaving humongous crevices behind.

They were inspecting this place.

All the smaller beasts around the town fled in terror, but many of them were still ruthlessly crushed beneath the worms' massive weight.

After a bit, they stopped and focused on the town.

They weren't looking at the town directly but at the Mana of the town.

They felt how the town absorbed Mana and that it converted that Mana into Darkness and Ice Mana.

One of the worms immediately dug into the ground, leaving a gigantic abyss behind, several hundred meters wide.

The worm quickly found that the Darkness and Ice Mana became denser below the town, and then it found the huge crystal.

That crystal was amazing!

When the worm found the crystal, the other one immediately burrowed into the ground to get to the same spot.

After looking at the crystal for a long time, the two worms began to coil around the huge crystal together.

And that was how they would remain for the majority of the time.

Up above the ground, the ground stopped shaking, and the humans were waiting for something to happen.

And, sure enough, something else happened.

It didn't immediately become apparent, but the more sensitive Mages could feel that the Ice and Darkness Mana in the surroundings began to intensify.

Luckily, they had already been informed about the upcoming changes.

Now, there were three reasons why these two worms were one of the cheaper options.

First, they were ugly.

A lot of the cities used their beasts as a status symbol or attraction. They would purchase powerful and majestic tigers, who would just sleep beside the city.

Obviously, these worms were not really pleasing to the eye, and they didn't radiate status.

The second reason was that the two worms created a climate.

Like the Yellow Sunbreaker, the two worms hunted by drawing other Ancestral Beasts in. They would release their Mana and transform the surrounding 800 kilometers into an icy wasteland in perpetual darkness.

Naturally, something like this was also not something that most cities and towns wanted. Creating a dark and icy wasteland of death would ruin the entire feel and atmosphere of the city and would make it look depressing.

Surprisingly, the fact that they attracted more Ancestral Beasts was not an issue at all. After all, they were powerful enough to defend against basically all Ancestral Beasts.

They both were Mid Ancestral Beasts, and they never fought alone. They could kill nearly every single Late Ancestral Beast, and Peak Ancestral Beasts basically didn't walk around. In the last 80 years of being the Town Lord, Shang had only seen a single Late Ancestral Beast and no Peak Ancestral Beasts.

But the third reason was the biggest reason why the worms were so cheap.

The thing was….

The two worms were a pair.

One male, one female.

And they loved laying eggs.

A lot of eggs.

Within the next six months, this place would become littered with Soldier Stage worms digging through the ground and hunting.

So, in short, the worms were so cheap because the surrounding 800 kilometers transformed into a dark and icy wasteland of death filled with disgusting worms.

That wasn't the best look for a city.

Of course, if the people could choose, they would have never agreed to these worms taking up residence near their town.

Sadly, they didn't have a choice in the matter.

However, there were advantages to disadvantages and disadvantages to advantages.

An area permeated with Ice and Darkness Mana would give birth to rare and valuable natural treasures. Almost every part of the wilderness was just neutral forest since nearly no Ancestral Beast dared to release their Mana to create their own zone.

And since it was even rarer for two beasts to share the same territory, the things that would grow around the town soon were also even rarer.

Also, specifically for Shang's town, this would also have another use.

With the cold and dark climate, growing crops would become nearly impossible.

This meant that all the mortals would need to eat meat, and since there would be an overabundance of Soldier Stage worms soon, which were also very aggressive by the way, the mortals would need to learn to fight even more.

Cold storms, perpetual darkness, a diet of pure meat, and the constant threat of the worms would push the mortals more toward power.

The arrival of the two Abyss Worms signaled a tremendous change for the town, and Shang also decided to change the town's name in reflection of the change.

Up to now, Shang had still been using the name the previous Town Lord had given the town, which was Silver Wilderness Town. He had chosen the name back then since this was the town closest to the Silver Abyss.

Shang decided on a new name for his town.

Icy Bastion.

 

Chapter 659 - TransformingSurroundings

About three weeks after the Abyss Worms had been moved to Icy Bastion, the first Ancestral Beast appeared near the town.

Of course, the town noticed the Ancestral Beast when it was over a thousand kilometers away, and it would take a bit for the Ancestral Beast to get closer.

Usually, due to an Ancestral Beast's speed, Shang had always called for the Security Agency as soon as an Ancestral Beast was found by the Surveillance Magic Circle. If an Ancestral Beast directly traveled towards the town, it would only need something like ten seconds to reach the town from over 500 kilometers away, which might just be barely enough for the Security Agency.

But now, Shang could let the Ancestral Beast come closer without having to call the Security Agency.

The Surveillance Magic Circle also kept track of a beast's power, and this one was only an Early Ancestral Beast.

The Magic Circles of Icy Bastion had changed, and instead of going completely into lockdown, the town simply gave off a yellow warning light when an Ancestral Beast was found.

This warning light would signify that the town would soon enter a short state of lockdown.

Some of the more interested High Mages looked at the map and saw the beast around 1,200 kilometers to the north.

Over the next couple of seconds, they saw the dot on the map move around aimlessly. Obviously, it hadn't found the town yet.

But it found something else pretty quickly.

The Abyss Worms' territory.

As soon as the beast took note of the territory, it started to travel towards Icy Bastion's direction with quite a lot of speed.

When it was just 600 kilometers away, Shang locked down the town.

The barrier isolated everything, not allowing anything to pass through.

And when the beast reached a distance of 500 kilometers, things rapidly changed.

The Ancestral Beast immediately stopped moving.

Then, with terrifying reaction timing and accuracy, it shot into the distance, away from Icy Bastion.

It had seen what beasts lived here, and it knew that it had no chance against them.

However, when the Ancestral Beast could see the worms, the worms could see the Ancestral Beast.

CRRRRRRR!

The ground below Icy Bastion shook violently. It was like a world-ending earthquake was happening!

That was exactly why Shang had activated the Isolation Barrier.

BOOOOM!

A couple of kilometers away from the town, the two worms shot out of the ground, taking to the sky.

The spectacle was shocking to the people.

It was like a mountain range had been launched out of the ground like a cannon and vanished over the horizon in less than a second, leaving two terrifying holes behind.

On the map, the High Mages could see two dots rapidly approaching the sole dot running to the edge of the map.

Eventually, all three dots left the map.

Around a minute passed.

And then, three dots entered the map again, but one of the dots had become far smaller.

The worms were not in a hurry while traveling back, and they took their time.

After around two minutes, they arrived at their holes again, but something new was accompanying them.

A leg.

The leg was a bit over 200 meters long, and it seemed to be the leg of some kind of big cat. Could be a tiger, a lion, or basically anything.

For the people of Icy Bastion, looking at such a huge leg was awe-inspiring.

Even though it looked small beside the humongous worms, it was still over 200 meters long!

The two worms crawled back into their holes, the one with the Darkness Affinity pulling the leg with it.

Shang knew why the worms hadn't consumed the entire corpse.

That last remaining leg would be used as nourishment for their eggs.

The stronger ones of their offspring would be allowed to consume the leg, which would rapidly bring them to the Commander Stage in less than a year.

The other 98% would be forced out of their home and would live in the icy wasteland around Icy Bastion.

By now, the surroundings had already completely changed, but the flora and fauna hadn't yet adapted.

At the moment, the area around Icy Bastion was filled with a thick sheet of ice while extremely thick, grey clouds blocked out nearly all the sunlight. On top of that, a thick and icy fog permanently clouded the wilderness, severely restricting visibility.

Almost all the plants had already been buried beneath a thick sheet of ice and snow.

While there had been some very few sightings of rare natural treasures, it wasn't yet common to find them.

Nature had to adapt first.

Meanwhile, the density of peaceful beasts had started to reduce. Since everything had only started a couple of weeks ago, there were still a lot of these peaceful beasts around, but it wouldn't stay that way.

Many Soldier Stage beasts could reach the General Stage by only consuming plants, but since there were no longer any plants, these beasts would be forced to either leave this area or kill other beasts for nourishment. One had to remember that, just because these beasts liked to eat plants, it didn't mean that they couldn't eat other beasts.

Additionally, with the first Ancestral Beast killed, a huge wave of worms would soon appear.

There would be thousands of them.

The mortals were still adapting to the new environment while several of the High Mages left the town.

For now, the town was shrinking, but as more and more rare natural treasures would appear, more people would return, and those people would also be more powerful than the old ones.

But Shang didn't care very much about all of that.

He had chosen these worms because of their two Affinities, and Shang was working hard on comprehending the Concept of Subtraction.

Sadly, Shang knew that comprehending the Concept of Subtraction would take extremely long.

However, he knew that he could definitely do it.

His confidence didn't come from his own ability, for once, but from the fact that he could purchase Grade Five Mind Flow Pellets with all the money he would earn in the future.

For now, he wasn't getting much money, but when the number of True Path Stage warriors increased, he could refer some of the less talented ones to the Temple of Blood.

But all of that needed time.

And for now, Shang could only focus on reaching the Peak Fusion Realm while trying to comprehend a bit of the Concept of Subtraction.

 

Chapter 660 - Recruiting

"Whew, finally back, baby!" a warrior in crimson armor and a spear shouted in laughter after taking a swig of some beer. "Damn, I missed this place!"

Right now, the warrior was inside a huge and busy tavern in the middle of the mortal district. Two other warriors were sitting with him at the table.

One of them had long green hair and carried a long curved sword.

The other had black hair and carried a gladius with a big shield.

"To your return!" the green-haired man shouted, lifting his mug.

"To your return!" the black-haired one echoed.

"To my return!" the red-haired one shouted with a loud laugh.

The three of them slammed their mugs together and took three big gulps.

"You haven't changed a bit, you know," the green-haired one said with a grin.

The red-haired one laughed some more. "Of course not! Why would I change something that's already perfect? The chicks dig my toned body and smooth words."

The other two warriors chuckled. They really missed their friend.

Their friend had left to work for some mysterious company about 30 years ago, and he had only returned today.

"Speaking of chicks," the green-haired one said with a smirk, "how are the chicks at your new place?"

The red-haired warrior took a deep breath and slowly exhaled to be dramatic.

"Man, the chicks," he slowly said. "They're… special."

"Special? In what way?" the black-haired one asked in interest.

The red-haired one smirked and hit the black-haired one's side a couple of times with his elbow. "Why are you interested? Aren't you married?"

The black-haired one became a bit red in the face. "Of course, but I want to hear about your adventures, you know? I don't get out very much."

The red-haired warrior snicked some more. "Oh, Duma. You're such a nice little boy. You always take the sensible option and prioritize security. Isn't your wife bored of you yet?"

Duma laughed in embarrassment a bit. "No, I don't think so. If she is, she is not very good at showing it. I mean, she… never mind."

"Now, I'm interested," the red-haired warrior said as he came closer with a smirk. "Come on, what did you just want to say? Come on, I'm your pal, your buddy. You can tell me."

"Why don't you tell him?" the green-haired man echoed with a smirk of his own.

Duma felt a bit uncomfortable and looked to the side.

"Well, she keeps complaining about all the work she has to do because of all our children. But… you know… she seems very enthusiastic about making another one, you know?"

The other two immediately exploded into loud laughter.

"Alright, enough about you," the green-haired man said with a smirk before turning to the red-haired warrior. "This is about David. So, how's the job?"

David, the red-haired warrior, snickered a bit as he drank some more of his beer. "Lucrative."

Then, he stopped talking.

"Oh, come on!" the green-haired warrior shouted. "You can't just give me a single word and expect that I accept that as an answer, David!"

David chuckled some more. "Well, I can't really talk a lot about it. Confidentiality is very important for the company. I think you can imagine why."

Duma furrowed his brows while the green-haired warrior seemed intrigued. "Bad stuff?"

"Well," David slowly said, "depends on your viewpoint."

That was all they needed to hear.

When their friend, David, had just left, they just thought that he was joining some secret organization for research purposes. After all, there were only very few True Path Stage warriors, and they were kind of a novelty.

But apparently, David didn't join some research organization but a shady one.

"Is it bad?" Duma asked with a worried but serious tone.

"It's fine," David said with a smile. "I had to get used to it, but after 30 years, I can say that it was worth it."

Duma was quite an empathetic person, and he could feel that David wasn't telling the entire truth. Duma could feel that David had probably gone through some horrible moments in the company he was working for, and he was just making light of it to not destroy the mood.

"Worth it?" the green-haired warrior asked as he leaned forward. "How… worth it?"

David snickered a bit, and he leaned forward.

David's hand moved peculiarly, and the two warriors' Spirit Senses were pulled to his hand.

There was just a tiny, short glimmer, but the two warriors had seen it, and their eyes widened in absolute shock.

"Was that-"

"Sssshh!" David shushed.

The two warriors looked with shock at David's hand and swallowed deeply.

What had they just seen?!

They had just seen several Grade Five Mana Crystals!

Grade Five!

They were True Path Stage warriors!

One Grade Five Mana Crystal was like their entire net worth, and David had just casually taken out several of them!

"Are you interested?" David asked with a smirk.

Duma felt his insides shake.

This felt bad!

David had obviously gone through several bad experiences, and the sheer amount of money he had just shown painted a very clear picture.

This was a job that not just anyone could do.

Otherwise, it wouldn't pay that well!

This was really bad stuff!

It would be beyond risky to get involved!

"I'm good," Duma answered quickly, leaning back.

The green-haired man could only sigh. "It's really tempting, but I can't just throw everything away, you know?"

David leaned back and smirked as he drank a bit of his beer. "Your Master?"

When Duma heard the word Master, his eyebrows fell, and he looked with discomfort at his own beer.

The green-haired warrior nodded. "Yeah. I'm learning a lot from him, and I don't want to disappoint him."

David snorted, and the green-haired man looked at him with furrowed brows.

"Disappoint him?" David echoed. "From what I've heard, he's about as hard to please as an Abomination."

The green-haired man didn't like that David was talking badly about his Master, but deep inside, he had to agree.

Instead of reprimanding David, the green-haired man only looked to the side, not saying anything.

"Why do you care so much?" David asked. "You're his Disciple, yeah? You're not supposed to be his Disciple forever. You're like a child. At some point, you just have to leave your home and get one of your own."

"You were always the strongest amongst us three, except for that one time Duma reached the True Path Stage first, but that barely counts. What makes you so hesitant to leave your bitter Master?" David asked.

"Can we drop the topic?" the green-haired man asked, looking at David with annoyance.

"Sure," David said with a smirk.

The three of them talked for a couple of hours.

The green-haired man seemed disinterested in joining David's mysterious organization initially, but the more they talked, the more interested he grew.

David had become quite a lot more powerful after joining the organization.

His equipment was also outstanding.

On top of that, he had even comprehended a Concept!

Lastly, he also only had to work for like one hour a week or so, which was insane!

This was basically a paradise.

For the next three days, David kept contacting the green-haired man, but then, the green-haired man had to return to training.

After around ten days of nothing but training, the green-haired man started to question his life.

Was he making progress?

His equipment was terrible.

He had only a very limited number of natural treasures that helped him.

And he was essentially sacrificing his entire life for training.

Was that truly how he wanted to live?

Eventually, the green-haired man decided that something had to change in his life, and he contacted David.

The green-haired man felt guilty for abandoning his Master, and he was afraid of telling his Master.

However, David told him that this wasn't anything unusual and that his organization would deal with it.

He wouldn't need to meet his Master again, and there would be no enmity between them.

Ashamed, the green-haired man accepted the deal, and some weeks later, he left together with David.

They entered one of the bigger cities, and David led the green-haired man to a shady bar that led to some deeply hidden cave beneath the city.

And that was when the green-haired man was introduced to his new job.

Special Agent of the Temple of Blood.