Ch. 81..90

Chapter 81 Balance?

When the Mana Source for darkness entered Shang's left arm, it began to clash with the light. The two of them began to fight, just like the fire and ice were fighting.

However, the darkness and light began to rotate clockwise, the opposite of the other two.

In the end, Shang had fire and ice rotating counter-clockwise and light and darkness rotating around them in the opposite direction.

It looked like some form of weird whirlpool.

"What can you do now?" the dean asked.

Shang looked at his left arm with confusion.

Yes, what could he do now?

Shang lifted his left arm and pointed it at the wall. Then, he willed the light to become active.

As he willed it, a shining beam of light came out of Shang's arm, forcing him to protect his eyes.

However, nothing else had happened.

'Do I have the ability of a flashlight now?' Shang thought, but before he could think more, he got distracted by a feeling of pain coming from his left arm.

Shang looked over, and his eyes widened in horror.

Was this still his arm?!

What did his arm look like?

Old.

Decrepit.

Unhealthy.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Injured.

It was like Shang's left arm was the left arm of an old man on his deathbed.

As Shang looked at his left arm, he felt a feeling of disconnect. This didn't look like his arm at all!

However, Shang still managed to make the logical connection as to what the beam of light had actually accomplished.

If his arm was old, decrepit, and weak, the beam of light should have done the opposite.

'So, logically, that beam of light is supposed to heal others?' Shang thought with confusion. 'I don't think it would work on me since it also injures me to an equal degree. At best, I could probably transfer my injuries from all over my body to my left arm, but that isn't very useful.'

Shang looked forward. 'The beam of light has taken the vitality of my left arm and unleashed it into the surroundings.'

'So, if I use darkness…'

Shang pointed forward and willed darkness to be unleashed.

SSHHH!

Some wind appeared in front of Shang and got absorbed into his arm. However, the wind wasn't very powerful, and Shang didn't see his arm healing at all.

'Since I didn't absorb any vitality, my arm didn't get healed, which makes sense. I can unleash my vitality at basically anything, but it doesn't always have an effect. However, I can't absorb vitality from stuff that doesn't have vitality,' Shang thought.

Then, Shang looked at the dean.

The dean knew what Shang wanted and lifted his arm. "Don't overdo it. If you absorb too much, you might explode."

Shang nodded and willed for his arm to unleash darkness.

However, nothing had happened, which made Shang frown. 'I can unleash all my other abilities from range, but darkness apparently needs me to touch the other person.'

Shang walked over to the dean and grabbed his wrist. Then, Shang willed darkness to take effect.

In an instant, Shang's left arm felt like it was about to explode, and Shang quickly stopped.

After looking over, Shang noticed that his left arm was extremely muscular and almost swollen.

When Shang saw that, cold sweat ran down his back. 'I nearly absorbed too much!' he thought with fear.

Shang quickly pointed to the dean and unleashed some healing light to reduce the vitality in his left arm, making it normal again.

Luckily, his arm was no longer injured.

'So, if I absorb too much vitality, as long as it's not enough to make my arm explode, my arm can be fully healed,' Shang thought as he scratched his chin.

'That gives me a way to reset my other abilities. I could use some heat to cool my arm down, use a lot of cold to injure my enemy and injure my left arm, and then just absorb their vitality to regain my ability to do the same thing again.'

'Theoretically, it's an infinitely repeatable cycle. In a way, I'm using my enemy's power against them. I absorb their power, use it to injure them, and then absorb more of their power.'

"I think I know what your Affinity is," the dean suddenly said.

When Shang heard that, his thoughts got pulled back to the present.

Right, what was his Affinity, actually?

An Affinity for the sun would make sense with fire and light, but it wouldn't make sense with darkness and ice.

An Affinity for Temperature would make sense with fire and ice, but it didn't make sense with light and darkness.

An Affinity for Twilight would make sense with light and darkness, but it wouldn't make sense with fire and ice.

What about some kind of Affinity involving the universe? There were ice planets and stars. One would be darkness and ice, and the other would be fire and light.

However, that also wouldn't make any sense. After all, if this were some form of cosmic Affinity, it would need to include normal planets as well, and Shang had no Affinity with Earth.

Then, what was it?

The dean saw Shang's expression. "An Affinity doesn't always have to be something that actually exists. It can also be a concept."

"A concept?" Shang asked.

The dean nodded. "Let's take temperature, for example. Temperature doesn't really exist as its own thing. It is simply a state of matter. A higher temperature means that the piece of matter has more energy. A low temperature means that it doesn't have much energy."

"So, in a way, temperature doesn't really exist."

"Something else is poison. Yes, it is something that exists, but different kinds of poison are poisonous to different beings. Something that we see as poisonous might not be poisonous to some plants or animals. So, in their world, the poison isn't poison, but food or water."

Shang nodded. The dean knew many things, and Shang valued the opportunity to learn from him.

Shang still didn't like the dean for some reason, but he still respected him.

"I think you have an Affinity for Balance," the dean said.

"Balance?" Shang asked as he looked at his left arm with furrowed brows.

'High temperatures and low temperatures are in opposition, and they could be balanced. Light is also basically raw energy while darkness is the absence of energy.'

'So, I can essentially tweak the amount of energy?' Shang thought.

"Why Balance?" Shang asked. "It feels more like a form of energy manipulation."

"If it were a form of pure energy manipulation, you would have also had an Affinity for Wind. After all, wind is just movement, and movement also represents energy. Yet, you don't have an Affinity for it," the dean said.

Shang frowned when he heard that.

Balance?

Was it truly just that?

Sure, Balance was a rather abstract concept when compared to other Affinities, but it still felt incomplete to him for some reason.

"It somehow still feels incomplete," Shang said with uncertainty.

The dean furrowed his brows and looked at Shang's left arm.

"How do you perceive the Mana Sources in your left arm?" he asked.

"Fire and Ice are fighting each other in a counter-clockwise rotation. Light and darkness are fighting each other around the other two in a clockwise rotation," Shang said.

The dean nodded. "Is there something additional or different somewhere in the center?"

Shang concentrated and focused on his left arm.

However, he didn't feel anything that shouldn't be there.

"No, it's only these four things," he said.

The dean frowned. "Then, that means that your Affinity hasn't truly unveiled itself yet. If the Mana Sources are still separate, it means there is still a missing component."

"However, I have already given you one of all the possible Mana Sources in existence. There are no more Affinities."

When Shang heard the dean's words, he got reminded of something else he wanted to discuss.

It might be related to the issue with his Affinity.

Chapter 82 Second Gift

"That reminds me of something else I wanted to say," Shang said.

"What is it?" the dean asked with a neutral voice.

"You asked when I wanted to undergo the procedure, right?" Shang asked.

The dean nodded.

"Is it already fully developed?" he asked.

The dean nodded again.

"So, you wouldn't need any additional time to ready the procedure, right?" Shang asked.

"A day at most, maybe. It depends on what beast I choose," he said with annoyance. "Why are you asking such a pointless question?"

Shang nodded. "Then, it's not that," he said. "It's like this. My first of my available questions for the God has been about what I should do when I arrive here."

The dean's eyes shone a bit.

None of them had brought up the questions yet. After all, these questions could be valuable intel, and it was impossible to verify the information. Both of them could just lie.

"And he said what?" the dean asked. Obviously, Shang wanted to share the answer.

"He said that I should remain in the wilderness for two years before joining society again," Shang said.

The dean nodded. "That's the best course of action for you, and you will learn why when you join your class. This is especially important for you."

"Especially important for me? Why?" Shang asked.

"You have received your answers, and you have received your weapon. However, you have not yet come into contact with your second gift. I presume the God has given you the same thing as me," the dean said.

"What is the second gift?" Shang asked.

"It has two uses. The first use is storage. It's basically a superior Space Ring without the limitations," the dean explained. "The other use is inheritance."

"Inheritance? In what sense?" Shang asked.

"As you have heard, the golden age of the warriors is so far in the past that no one even knows that it has existed in the first place. No ruins from that era have survived until this day, as far as I am aware."

"This means that it is impossible to gain more advanced knowledge for the path of a warrior than I have access to unless you manage to create it yourself. So, for all intents and purposes, I essentially count as the strongest warrior that has ever existed."

"If it were back then, I would have probably only counted as a child or trash, but there is no evidence left from that time, and it essentially doesn't exist anymore. The Mages also don't have any evidence from that time, as far as I know."

"That's why the God gave you a way to inherit knowledge from the long-forgotten era," the dean explained. "However, as you might have guessed, the God doesn't like being bored."

"Because of that, he made the inheritance a contest. You will fight more and more powerful enemies on your level until you eventually die. After that, you will be resurrected, and you will receive an inheritance based on how well you did."

Shang frowned when he heard that. Yes, that sounded exactly like something the God would do.

"The inheritance you get is the most important thing contributing to your future success. If you manage to get a good one when you reach the General Stage, your Battle-Strength will be even more powerful for the next test in the Commander Stage. That allows you to get a better score and get an even better inheritance."

"Battle-Strength?" Shang asked.

"It's how powerful you are compared to others at the same level," the dean added before continuing with his explanation.

"In essence, the cycle can't be broken. If it does, you will lose all your momentum."

"Who knows, if you do well enough, you might actually go all the way. After all, an amazing inheritance probably even shows you the way to the next Realm."

The dean took a deep breath, but his expression didn't change. "In a way, I envy you. You will receive the power of my procedure, which will allow you to get better inheritances. You will have an advantage I've never had."

Shang wasn't sure how he should react right now.

So, he decided not to react at all and simply continued the conversation.

"Thank you for your teachings," Shang said to quickly finish the topic. "However, this is not what I was referring to."

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ "What were you referring to?" the dean asked with a bit of annoyance.

"Well, the God said I should stay in the wilderness for two years," Shang repeated. "But what if my Battle-Strength isn't the only reason?"

The dean's eyebrows furrowed, and he looked at his table. "Your Affinity?" he asked.

Shang nodded. "Right. The God said I would be able to use my Affinity if I'm lucky. That means that unlocking my Affinity is probably very hard. Maybe it's something that can only happen at a certain time?"

"As you might already know, I have only been in the wilderness for a bit more than half a year, which is far less than two years."

"Is it possible that something will happen in the next one and a half years that could unlock my Affinity? Something like a rare or strange beast appearing? Maybe some kind of event?" Shang asked.

Suddenly, the dean's eyes widened.

Then, he looked at Shang with an evaluating expression.

Shang saw that the dean had realized something. "Did you think of something?" he asked.

"There is a possibility," the dean said slowly as he scratched his chin in thought. "It would also make sense to a certain degree. If I hadn't seen your current Affinity in action before, I wouldn't have connected it to that event."

"Could you be more specific?" Shang asked.

"No," the dean answered. "This involves one of the top secrets of the world. Technically, I am not even allowed to know of it, and the only reason I know is that I am very close to Duke Whirlwind."

"If it only involved my life, I wouldn't be afraid of telling you. After all, in the worst case, I can just flee and live in the wilderness. That doesn't bother me."

"However, I don't want to endanger my friend. Because of that, I can't tell you."

When Shang heard that, he became quite frustrated, but he also realized something.

'Earlier, the dean has talked about using everyone for his own power, but now, he is suddenly protecting his friend,' Shang thought. 'Has he lied previously?'

'I don't think so. He looked pretty convincing earlier, but he also looks pretty convincing now.'

'Maybe it's difficult to become close with him, but when you manage to become friends, he might be very loyal.'

'However, I can't just assume his entire personality based on only this conversation. It's very possible that he also lied in one of those two moments.'

'In the end, I should still keep my distance to some degree.'

"It's fine if you can't tell me, but can you at least tell me when it's about to happen?" Shang asked.

The dean nodded. "There is a certain event that takes place every couple of years. It involves some fighting and cleaning up of some rare and very troublesome beasts. No one in the world will realize that this has taken place since the ones that know it keep it a secret."

"The event should take place in a bit less than two years. I never cared about the corpses of these beasts, but if I put my money together, I can get one."

Then, the dean looked into Shang's eyes. "If there is a beast that has the same Affinity as the warrior undergoing the procedure, the procedure has a higher chance of success and will show greater results."

"Everything lines up pretty well. Your Affinity will probably be unlocked by the corpse since it will act similarly to a Mana Source, and you will receive something very compatible with you."

"We only have to wait for the right time."

Then, the dean nodded as he made his decision.

"We've talked enough for now," the dean said. "I now know how we should proceed."

Shang listened to the dean.

"First of all, you aren't allowed to reach the General Stage in the next two years. For the procedure, you have to remain in the Soldier Stage."

"Second, you need to use the next two years to increase your Battle-Strength."

"You will join the Caterpillar Class. That will take care of both of these things."

"Caterpillar Class?" Shang asked in confusion.

"Soran will inform you," the dean said. "I have to plan accordingly, and I need to earn a lot of money over the next two years to make your procedure possible. You won't see me much in the next two years. While I am away, listen to what the teachers tell you. I will inform them accordingly."

"Okay," Shang said. He felt like the conversation was ending a bit abruptly. However, he also realized that the conversation had also been very long.

The dean probably had things to do.

"I'll call you when necessary," the dean said.

Creak!

The door creaked open on its own, and Shang felt Mana flow into the room again.

The dean had deactivated the Magic Circle, which had isolated them for the past half hour or so.

"Go," the dean ordered as he looked at some new papers he had just summoned. "Your questions have wasted enough of my time. The only reason why I've taken my time to answer all of them is that you have a lot of potential."

For a second, Shang was confused why the dean said that. He had asked just as many questions.

However, Shang realized why the dean had said that when he saw Soran waiting near the opened door.

The dean was putting on a show.

"Thank you, dean," Shang said as he stood up to leave.

The dean acted like he didn't pay any attention, but deep inside, he paid attention.

'So young and naïve,' the dean thought. 'He doesn't realize that I am on the friendlier side when compared to others on my level.'

'My openness towards the truth of the world frightens him and puts him off, but he doesn't know it.'

'He's afraid because he is looking at what he will most likely become.'

Chapter 83 Subjects

BANG!

The door closed behind Shang after he left the room. The end of the conversation still felt a bit abrupt for him, but he guessed that the dean simply didn't want to waste more time.

Nevertheless, Shang had learned an incredible amount of information from the dean.

Shang now knew what to do with his Affinity, and he knew his next goal.

Become more powerful in the next 18 months without reaching the General Stage.

Shang couldn't allow himself to reach the General Stage yet. Not only wouldn't he be able to truly grasp his Affinity, but he would also miss out on the dean's procedure.

Could the procedure fail?

Under normal circumstances, Shang would believe the procedure to be incredibly risky. After all, he would undergo a procedure that had never succeeded before.

However, Shang trusted in the God, or more precisely, he trusted in the God's desire for entertainment.

The God had suggested Shang to come here during a specific time, and the God wanted the warriors to become powerful again to bring variety back into his world.

It might be entertaining to gamble on a risky procedure for the God, but it was probably even more entertaining to see a warrior, an underdog in this world, go all the way.

"You talked for quite a while," Soran commented from the side.

Shang was pulled out of his thoughts and glanced at Soran. "I had a lot of questions," he said.

"About the procedure?" Soran asked.

Shang nodded. "Have you already been informed?" he asked.

"No, but it's obvious that Master would pick someone like you as his next subject," Soran said with a sigh. "I still think it's a bit too early for actual tests on humans, but Master is confident in his theory."

"Have there been failures before?" Shang asked.

Soran nodded. "Four failures in the last ten years," he answered.

"Four in ten years?" Shang asked in surprise. "I was expecting more like four failures in the last couple of months."

"The issue is the lack of robust test subjects," Soran explained. "First of all, the subject must have a warrior's body. An increased rate of passive recovery is mandatory for survival since your body has to passively resist the destruction the new parts cause to it until everything finally fits together."

"For a while, it will be a war between your body and the beast parts. There can't be much outside influence during that period, or it will put the compatibility at risk."

"Another important part is being able to deal with pain. If you can't stay conscious during the procedure, your body will automatically enter a defensive state and will block everything from coming close."

"Then, you need to be in the First Realm, which limits a lot of candidates since they don't feel like they need such an invasive procedure yet. They lack the desperation that older warriors have."

"Lastly, they need to agree. Forcing this procedure on someone will most likely kill them since they won't comply, and due to the lack of trust, they would also believe that we were simply torturing them to death."

"Finding one of these things isn't difficult, but finding all of them is," Soran said with a sigh. "Especially since a lot of them are rare together."

"Rare together? Why?" Shang asked.

"Family status," Soran explained. "This is the most prestigious warrior's academy in the world, and our standards are high. Contrary to what many might believe, a majority of our students are from rich and high-ranking families."

"How come?" Shang asked. "Wouldn't these families just become Mages anyway?"

Soran nodded. "They would. If there is a way for their progeny to become Mages, they certainly won't send them here. Because of that, we only get the progeny with nearly no magical talent or those who aren't as important."

"But since we are the most prestigious academy in the world, that's still a lot of families that have their eyes on us for one of their progeny. That's where the first issue comes from. Those high-ranking families are high-ranking families precisely due to their bloodline and their talent for Magic. Warrior's bodies are very rare in their ranks."

"Then comes the pain part. Their progeny are sent here to learn how to be warriors, and being able to deal with pain is part of being a warrior. They only teach their children the basics before sending them here. Many of them have only fought a couple of captured beasts in a safe environment, and when they got injured, a Water Mage immediately arrived."

"Because of that, three of the four previous subjects came from low-ranking households," Soran said, but then, he sighed. "However, the problem with the low-ranking households is that they have so few outstanding warriors. These households are common and weak for a reason. If they could create a powerful warrior, they wouldn't be a low-ranking household."

"A warrior on the Commander Stage can already become a minor noble without much issue."

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ "Because of that, the few students from a poorer background that we have are either geniuses that managed to reach this step on their own or had amazing parents."

"All of this makes it very difficult to find subjects for the procedure."

Shang nodded. "Makes sense."

For some seconds, no one said anything.

"I presume you are planning to go through with it?" Soran asked.

Shang nodded. "I can deal with pain, and I want to become more powerful. I know that the procedure is risky, but it's worth the risk for me," Shang said coldly as he looked forward.

Soran saw Shang's eyes from the side and sighed. "I knew from the very beginning that you are similar to Master. I shouldn't have expected otherwise."

For some reason, when Shang heard that he was similar to the dean, he felt himself become a bit angry.

He didn't like being compared to the dean.

Soran was very experienced, and he could tell a lot of things from Shang's subtle reactions to his words.

"You shouldn't immediately think that Master is some sort of monster," Soran said. "His words make him appear colder, more brutal, and more bloodthirsty than most people, but that's because you are used to how other people talk."

Shang threw Soran a glance from the side.

"Many people are polite and nice, but as soon as you step too close, they will try to keep you away," Soran said with a sigh. "Even worse, if they ever believe you to be in their way in whatever way they can perceive, they suddenly stick a dagger into your back."

"That won't happen with Master, and if he ever decides to go against you, you will never be surprised about it. If he doesn't like you, he will ensure that you know."

"For example, he once had a friend, but that friend stole a technique of Master's to win against him in a competition. The friend came back with an embarrassed laugh and simply said that it was too important for him to win. Additionally, it was a competition."

Soran smiled helplessly. "Master then said that his friend should prepare himself because he will take his head when night comes. Obviously, his friend was stunned, and he shouted back at him that he was insane."

"In the end, the friend didn't leave or run away and simply went home. Well, just as promised, he died that night."

"So, in a way, Master can be very coldhearted and brutal, but he is very honest. He won't ever call you a friend if he isn't your friend. Of course, he also puts a lot of importance on honesty from others. If you don't want to end on his bad side, you should avoid lying," Soran said.

Shang remembered how the dean had reacted when Shang had played dumb. Sure enough, the dean had become very angry back then.

If Soran's words were correct, this also explained why the dean was willing to protect Duke Whirlwind. Shang knew the dean's deepest secret, which was his past as another person from Earth. Yet, even under such circumstances, the dean still refused to betray one of Duke Whirlwind's secrets.

Shang could respect something like that, but for some reason, he still didn't like the dean.

In Shang's mind, the dean seemed a bit similar to him, and he had several qualities Shang appreciated.

But why was exactly that thought so uncomfortable to him?

"I presume you will join the Caterpillar Class?" Soran asked.

Shang nodded.

 

Chapter 84 True Path

"Has Master told you what the Caterpillar Class represents?" Soran asked.

"No, but I can guess what it's for," Shang answered. "It's probably a class designed for warriors to reach the True Path Stage in the future, right?"

"Oh?" Soran uttered in surprise. "How did you find out?"

"The name and also the dean's advice," Shang said. "I presume the students of the Caterpillar class are weak in the beginning just so they can build upon their foundations until they explode forward in power. Just like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. Additionally, the dean told me that I should hone my Battle-Strength as much as I can before reaching the General Stage."

"Correct," Soran said with a nod. "By the way, when is your procedure scheduled?"

"Not for another 18 months or so."

Soran lifted an eyebrow. "That's quite a long time. It seems like Master puts a lot of emphasis on your growth. In my eyes, your Battle-Strength is already enough for you to reach the General Stage."

Then, Soran shrugged. "However, that's why I'm a Commander Stage warrior and why Master is a True Path Stage Warrior. He knows better than me."

"Anyway," Soran said as he took out a book from his Space Ring. "This is a copy of the rules and your schedule."

Shang took the book into his hands.

SHING!

Soran summoned another book, this one far bigger than the other one. "And these are all the techniques you will learn."

Shang looked at the new book with furrowed brows. "All of them? Just like that? I thought I would need Contribution Points or something like that."

"Usually, you would need Contribution Points for the valuable techniques. However, as a student of the Caterpillar Class, you don't need your Contribution Points for those techniques."

"Because you are not allowed to learn them."

Shang frowned when he heard that. "Not allowed to learn them? Then why am I even here?" he asked.

Soran chuckled a bit. "It's for your future, trust me," Soran explained. "Have you thought about why the True Path Stage is called the True Path Stage?"

"I didn't even know of the True Path Stage until I came here, and I hadn't had the time to think about the name," Shang commented.

"The True Path Stage is called as such since reaching the True Path Stage requires you to create your own path. Ironically, the True Path doesn't refer to the one true path, but to the True Path in your eyes."

"Master uses a spear, and he fights in a very domineering manner. He has found his path. However, his path isn't your path. The reason why no one was able to reach the True Path Realm in the past was that everyone learned from the strongest warriors, which essentially was just copying their paths."

"Learning advanced techniques and abilities will influence you and make it harder for you to create your own path. You already have your own personalized way of fighting. Of course, as it is now, your fighting style still has a lot of weaknesses, but instead of switching to a different style, you have to further refine and evolve your style."

Shang wasn't certain what he should think of that. "Then what am I even learning here? This is an academy, is it not? Am I not supposed to learn things?"

"Not for students of your class," Soran said. "You are your own teachers. We actual teachers are only there to guide you in the right direction and provide different kinds of services. Our dynamic is more along the lines of experienced seniors and juniors."

"We are not going to show you what you should do. We are going to show you what your opponents will do. It is up to you to find a way to deal with said opponents."

Shang scratched his chin. 'So, this academy is more like a fitness gym than a fighting dojo. There are trainers walking around in the gym, but they only give advice when asked. They don't specifically hold lessons on how to craft the perfect body,' Shang thought.

'On earth, this wouldn't make much sense. After all, there is only so much a human body can do. But here? I can imagine this being more effective in the long run.'

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Shang took the book of techniques.

SHING!

Soran summoned a small emblem. On the Emblem was the picture of a muscular arm in black armor, ready to strike down with a spear.

"This is a Magic Emblem," Soran said. "It's your identification, key, and payment method for Contribution Points. You have an assigned room in this building near the front of the second floor. Just hold the Emblem to the door, and it will open. No one but the teachers and you can open your door."

"If you want to move to the Farm Line, you can do so, but go to your room first. Your uniforms are there, and you should get them first. If you decide to live in the Farm Line, tell us. There's no reason to keep a room reserved for someone that doesn't want to live there."

Shang took the Emblem and nodded. "Thanks," he said absentmindedly.

"You can find all the relevant information in the first book," Soran said, gesturing to the first book. "If you have any additional questions, simply ask a teacher. I'm sorry, but I've already spent a big part of my day dealing with your impromptu exam, and I actually need to get started on my day-to-day duties. Just look around and get familiar with the academy first."

"Sorry for keeping you," Shang said absentmindedly.

"It's fine. Come, you can't be on this floor without a teacher beside you," Soran said as he gestured to the end of the hallway.

Shang took the hint and walked towards the stairs, Soran following. When Shang reached the fourth floor, Soran quickly said his goodbyes and went back to the fifth floor.

Now, Shang was alone for the first time in what felt like a very long time.

Shang looked out of one of the windows and saw that it was noon.

'This day feels like it has gone on forever, but it's just noon.'

Then, Shang looked down at his Emblem. 'Anyway, I am now part of the Warrior's Academy, and that's why I'm here.'

'In just one morning, I joined the academy and learned so much about the world, myself, and my future.'

'I should go to my room and read through that book of rules and my schedule.'

Chapter 85 Room

Shang left the fourth floor and went to the second one. Soran had said that Shang would find his room near the beginning of the second floor.

When Shang arrived on the second floor, he saw a long hallway with a lot of doors. Shang guessed that the rooms weren't very big based on how close the doors were to each other.

Shang wasn't quite sure which room was supposed to be his, but he knew that he only needed to test his Emblem on the different rooms. The one that reacted to it would be his.

Shang went to the first door on the right and held his Emblem to it.

Click.

And it unlocked.

Shang was surprised when the very first door unlocked, and he looked at his card. 'Did I just get lucky, or is my card defect?'

Shang went to the room beside it and tried his Emblem.

The door didn't react.

Shang tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge.

Shang nodded. His Emblem wasn't defective, and the very first room was his. He walked back to his room and opened his door.

"What?" someone said with annoyance as they opened the door where Shang had just been at.

Shang looked over and saw a gruff and muscular boy, probably around his age. At least, that was what Shang was assuming. Those muscles made it hard for Shang to associate this boy with a teenager.

"Sorry, I wasn't sure which my room was, so I tested my card on your door," Shang said with as friendly of a tone as he could. For some reason, trying to be friendly felt very tiring to him.

The boy looked over at Shang with an evaluating expression. "I don't know you. Are you new here?" he asked.

Shang nodded. "Special exam. Joined just today," he answered.

"Oh?" the boy commented with surprise. "What class have you been assigned to?"

"The Caterpillar Class."

When the boy heard that, he frowned. "Welcome to hell, freshwater guppy," the boy said with a snort.

Shang lifted an eyebrow, but the boy went back into his room and closed his door.

For a while, Shang only looked at the closed door. 'Judging by his derisive snort, he probably didn't refer to my class. Is this some kind of stupid bullying?'

'Also, freshwater guppy? Did the guy come from the 50s? Who talks like that?'

'Well, it doesn't really matter. I've been in the wilderness for long enough, and life in the academy should be a joke in comparison.'

With that thought, Shang entered his room and closed the door.

When Shang saw his room, he saw exactly what he had expected.

Small.

There was a narrow bed with some stuff on it, and the remainder of the room was empty.

Literally.

No table, no chairs, no drawers, no wardrobe, nothing.

'They really don't want us to have any distractions. If I were to live here, I would practically be forced into training just due to boredom. Is this solitary confinement?'

First, Shang put everything he was carrying down in his room. Finally, he no longer needed to carry his heavy bag, his gold, and all of these books.

Even better, he didn't even need to carry all of this stuff with him. He could just leave everything in this room from now on.

Ever since Shang had gotten here, his home had been a budget version of a cardboard box that a homeless person would use to live in.

At least a homeless person had a roof over their head with their cardboard box. Shang hadn't even had that.

After Shang stretched, he looked at all the different stuff near his bed.

He saw eight uniforms, all of them green. 'Really, green? Do you have to go that far with the caterpillar thing?'

Beside the eight green uniforms, Shang saw eight bronze uniforms, and beside those were two azure uniforms.

When Shang saw these uniforms, he thought back to this morning. He had seen many students approach the academy with different uniforms. What kind of uniforms had they worn?

A lot of them had worn bronze uniforms.

A couple of the others had been green, blue, red…

There had been a couple of different colors, and Shang wasn't even sure if he had remembered all of them.

Shang only knew two things for sure.

One, bronze was the most common color.

Two, the teachers wore silver.

Shang inspected his uniforms and realized that they were far heavier than he had anticipated. They probably weighed nearly 20 kilograms all on their own!

That was the equivalent of weight a soldier would wear when going to war on Earth!

But this was only a uniform. It didn't even have any special plating or armor on it.

Shang remembered that the silver uniform of the teachers had looked a bit like a fusion between armor and normal clothing while the students had worn these.

Shang looked closer at the green uniform and noticed the shoes.

'Am I a fucking leprechaun?' he thought with a frown when he saw the shoes. 'Wait, are leprechauns even wearing green shoes? Their entire attire is green, so their shoes should also be green, right?'

'Never mind, what are these ridiculous shoes?!' he thought.

The shoes were green and very… naturey? That word worked.

'Well, it doesn't really matter. I won't be the only one walking around in this ridiculous getup,' he thought.

But then, Shang saw the bronze uniform.

It looked good.

On top of that, it had black boots.

Shang looked back at the green uniform.

'Let's read the rulebook first before I decide on what to wear. Maybe these uniforms have a certain purpose,' Shang thought as his eyes went to the next object. 'Anyway, why are there two buckets here?'

Beside the bed, Shang saw two buckets. One was filled with water. One was empty.

Shang looked around the room.

Then, at the empty bucket.

'Am I supposed to shit in that?'

Shang didn't see a toilet, and he didn't see any kind of draining mechanism in the room.

Ever since Shang's body had reached the higher levels of the Soldier Stage, his need to drop a deuce had decreased significantly, but once a week, even he had to press out a stinky one.

For now, Shang decided to wait until he read the rulebook, and his focus went to the waterfilled bucket. 'Is this for washing or drinking? Probably for drinking. After all, how am I supposed to get the water out of the room when there's no drain?'

And that was it. That was everything inside Shang's room.

There wasn't even a big window. The window could barely be called a slit.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ It was just an absolutely empty room, even more barren than a prisoner's cell. No wonder most students decided to live in the Farm Line. In the Farm Line, they had nature, bigger rooms, more freedom, and more stuff to do.

After having seen his room, Shang grabbed the rulebook and began to read.

He sat down on his bed, which was way harder than a bed should be. However, Shang didn't really care about the hardness of his bed. He had slept on trees for far too long to care.

Then, Shang opened the rulebook.

Chapter 86 Rules

The book had only about thirty pages, which didn't take very long to read. A big part of the book was about rules regarding fighting, attending lessons, how to obtain Contribution Points, the functions of the room, and some general information.

From what Shang had read, fighting with one's weapon was forbidden, but fighting without a weapon was fine. The reason for such a choice was to preserve the killing intent in someone. If someone used their killing tool to spar with others a lot, they might lose their killing intent.

Because of that, the academy tried to preserve the killing intent of the weapon. One should only draw one's weapon when one intended to kill someone.

Of course, there were exceptions. For example, two students could schedule an official spar at any of the training areas. In that case, they could use their weapon.

But wait, how did that differ from just fighting normally? After all, it was also just a spar.

The difference was that the students had to fight with the intent of killing the other person. It was not in their responsibility to keep the opponent safe. The observing teacher would be responsible for keeping the loser alive.

So, the student would still be fighting with the goal of killing their opponent. It was just that the opponent would survive due to outside intervention.

Attending lessons was surprisingly completely optional. No student was forced to attend the lessons.

This rule existed to teach students responsibility.

On earth, something like this wouldn't really work. After all, the consequences of getting bad grades weren't immediate as long as someone didn't fail the grade. This made the danger distant, making the student feel like they weren't actually in danger.

But here, it would have very real consequences. Due to the first rule, bullying and ganging up on others were allowed. If a teacher saw five kids beating up a younger student, they wouldn't intervene.

However, the survival of that student would also be under the assailants' responsibilities. If they killed a student without a good reason, the assailants would be executed by the academy.

Even more, if someone didn't have a warrior's body, they would need to go to the resident Water Mage to get themselves healed, and the cost of the treatment would need to come out of their own pocket.

So, it was literally possible to push someone into impossible poverty. If someone made some serious enemies, they could be suppressed into always being forced to remain in their rooms in the academy. This would stop them from attending lessons, earning money, and training.

How did one get out of such a situation?

That was not the academy's problem.

Strength ruled supreme. Either the students would become powerful or break.

As for earning Contribution Points, there were three ways.

One was to attend lessons.

Yes, the students got paid for attending lessons. Of course, they had to seriously attend them and not just be present. Teachers could deduct the pay for a lesson if they thought that a student slacked off.

Another method was doing a mission. There were a couple of mission boards around the school that offered different missions. The rewards for these missions were many times higher than attending lessons for several reasons.

First of all, this was practical experience. The student would be sent out without supervision or protection. There was a very real chance of the student dying.

Second, the people commissioning the missions were paying the academy in exotic materials, which allowed the academy to keep its marketplace going. Of course, the student had to be adequately rewarded.

The last way to earn Contribution Points was simply for a teacher to assign them. A teacher could assign Contribution Points, but they would have to justify that decision to one of the Vice-Deans. If the reason wasn't good enough, the Contribution Points would be deducted from the teacher's personal account.

The next thing was the function of the room, and Shang was thankful that they actually wrote about it. If they hadn't described the room, Shang would have made a horrible mistake.

That empty bucket?

It was imbued with Magic.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ What kind of Magic?

It was Transportation Magic.

The bottom of the bucket was connected to a space with a couple of Water Apprentices and Water Adepts. Their job was to create water for the students.

As long as someone tilted the bucket into a position that was impossible for it to be in with no interference, water would flow. This was to stop an accidental activation of the Magic Circle. Without that, the Water Mage would fill the entire room if the bucket fell over.

In short, someone had to lift the bucket and slightly tilt it to activate the Magic Array. Then, a stream of water would come out of the bucket until the bucket was put back into a normal position.

If Shang had shat into the bucket…

Shang imagined a log coming out of a Magic Array in front of a Water Mage.

That would have been awkward.

The other bucket was simply a normal bucket.

The water coming out of the bucket was for both washing and drinking. Surprisingly, there was also a drain for exactly this reason.

Shang looked to the corner of the room and saw a slightly lowered circle.

It was a Magic Circle, and it was responsible for dumping the dirty water into the Wasteland.

'Why did they not just make a normal drain with normal pipes? Why did they even use Magic to transport shit?'

Shang didn't know it, but there were two reasons, one more ridiculous than the other.

One, the Earth Mages assigned to develop the city had been bored. So, they simply created a huge magical sewer under the entire city and gave everyone access to it.

Second, because they could.

Wouldn't it be funny if they transported such unimportant stuff with Transportation Magic, which was a subcategory of Space Magic?

That was the reason.

Lastly, Shang looked at the description of the uniforms.

In total, there were seven different colors.

The first one was the azure uniform, which Shang had two of.

The azure uniforms were for special occasions and were forbidden from being worn without explicit permission from a teacher.

In short, those uniforms were for impressing visitors. That was also why Shang had only two of them.

Bronze uniforms, which Shang had eight of, were general uniforms. Those were for people that didn't want others to know about which class they were in. Usually, one would think that this was pointless. After all, wouldn't everyone realize which class everyone was in based on which lessons they visited?

No. Everyone could literally visit every lesson, and there were plenty of students attending plenty of classes due to the Contribution Point reward.

The green uniforms, which Shang had eight of, were for the Caterpillar Class.

Yellow uniforms were for students aspiring to be soldiers in Duke Whirlwind's army. Initially, when students joined the academy, they would wear bronze uniforms until they reached the Late Soldier Stage. At that point, they would have to decide on their future.

Becoming a member of Duke Whirlwind's army was the most common goal. The pay was good. The status was good. There wasn't much work to do.

It was simply a good and stable job.

Blue uniforms were for people aspiring to become officers. Many students initially wanted to go that route, but the requirements were far more stringent than for the people wanting to be normal soldiers. Because of that, most people transferred classes rather quickly.

Red uniforms were for people aspiring to be Mage Hunters. In this world, it was nearly impossible to kill a Mage on their level alone, but that didn't mean that warriors became useless. With a lot of warriors, one could still take care of a couple of Mages.

This world wasn't peaceful, and Duke Whirlwind's enemies also had Mages.

Sadly, there weren't many students interested in becoming Mage Hunters. The reason was obvious.

They didn't want to die.

Attacking a Mage was about the most dangerous thing one could do.

It was scary to fight against someone that could turn someone into literal dust just by saying a couple of words.

The last color for uniforms was black. This was for scouts and normal hunters.

That one scout that had brought Shang to Warrior's Paradise had probably graduated from that class.

The people from that class learned how to kill beasts and how to stay hidden.

According to the book, most assassins also came from this class.

After looking through the rulebook, Shang looked at the schedule.

And his eyes widened in shock.

Chapter 87 Schedule And Grade

When Shang saw the schedule, his eyes widened.

'So many lessons!'

Every single spot, from dawn to early night, was filled with lessons!

Even more, several lessons overlapped, making it impossible to visit all of them!

And, apparently, there were even some lessons held at night, but they weren't held inside the academy.

Shang had thought that there wouldn't be that many lessons. After all, this was an academy for warriors, not doctors.

Shang looked over a couple of lessons.

Basic sword fighting.

Basic spear fighting.

Basic…

Advanced sword fighting.

Advanced spear fighting.

Advanced…

Expert sword fighting.

Expert spear fighting.

Expert…

There were so many different lessons for all kinds of weapons. Swords, sabers, bows, hammers, halberds, shields, and so on.

The weapon-related lessons happened twice a day and ate up three hours each.

These lessons were colored in bronze, which meant that they were suitable for everyone. The colors of the lessons were identical to the colors of the uniforms. It wasn't forbidden to partake in a class for a different color, but the knowledge gained from that class might not be applicable to one's chosen profession.

Of course, there were also lessons for many different classes, and the colored lessons were the ones that overlapped the most. The general lessons never overlapped with colored ones, but they did overlap with each other. After all, if someone used a spear, they probably weren't very interested in sword lessons.

An example of a colored lesson was the operation of general weaponry for the army, which was colored in yellow. The lesson taught the operation of large war machinery, such as ballista, catapults, siege towers, and so on.

Of course, not every lesson revolved around fighting. Another yellow lesson revolved around profiling other people to stop crime and general knowledge about how different people in cities operated, which made sense.

If the soldiers weren't going to war, they were overlooking the cities as a form of police force. The students coming from this academy were the best of the best, and they wouldn't be the ones that just stood in front of a gate the entire day. Because of that, they needed lots of knowledge about society.

The blue lessons were just absolutely filled with complex topics. They revolved all around leadership, tactics, social skills, nobility, etiquette, asset management, and so on. The blue lessons were probably the most numerous, and if someone decided to join that class, they would find nearly their entire day filled out.

But on top of that, the officers also needed to be more powerful than the normal students. After all, this was a world where strength reigned supreme.

In short, the students from the blue class needed to learn theory the entire day and train harder during the night than the other students trained during the day.

Shang could guess why there were only so few students wearing blue uniforms.

It was brutal.

The red class only had two unique lessons. One was a lesson that prepared them for fights against Mages, while the other one was all about the life of Mages. The first was the practical side, while the second was the theoretical side.

The black classes mostly revolved around scouting, tracking, hiding, assassination, and knowledge about beasts in general.

And the green class, the Caterpillar Class?

They literally only had a single lesson, but it took place every day for three hours.

It was simply called guided fighting practice.

From what Shang had read, guided fighting practice involved the student fighting against teachers. In a way, this lesson was identical to Shang's short fight with Soran, with the difference of actually getting feedback during the fight.

After Shang had looked over all the classes, he decided to create a timetable for himself. Luckily, he didn't need to submit anything since there were no grades. There was simply an annual exam that every student had to take part in. The exams were different for each class and mostly involved the relevant topics for that class.

This single exam was make or break.

Nothing else mattered.

If someone failed, they had proven to be too weak for the academy, and they would be expelled.

Every year, over 10% of the students were expelled during the exams.

It was brutal in a way, but it also had its good sides. For example, Shang could replan his schedule whenever he wanted. If Shang became too stressed, he could simply skip some lessons or attend other ones without any repercussions. Only his power was relevant.

When Shang thought about the exams, he also noticed what kind of schedule he had received.

Just like with any other school, the different classes were all categorized under different grades.

The Beginner Grade was for the new students, who all wore bronze uniforms. They were a bit older than 14 on average.

The Intermediate Grade was for students that reached the Middle Soldier Stage. Half of them still wore bronze uniforms, while the other half had already made their decision. The average age was a bit over 16.

The Advanced Grade was for students in the Late Soldier Stage. It was a requirement to choose one's class before advancing to that Grade, which was why everyone was already specialized. The average age was a bit over 18.

Then came the Preparation Grade. This was for students at the Peak Soldier Stage. As the name suggested, this Grade was for students preparing to reach the Second Realm, the General Stage.

When one managed to reach a sufficient Battle-Strength after having advanced to the General Stage, one could graduate.

However, one could also choose to remain here for special training.

This special training was the very thing that made this academy the best one in the world.

Nearly everyone wanted to take part in the special training, but only the best managed to enter.

What did the special training aim for?

To get the students to the Commander Stage.

The Commander Stage was the publicly acknowledged highest Realm for warriors since there was only a single True Path Stage warrior.

In short, if someone managed to graduate from special training, they would leave the academy as one of the strongest warriors in the world.

No other academy in the world had the means to push students to the Commander Stage.

A Commander Stage warrior was a big deal. Nearly all of them would be knighted and would be granted their own small territory. However, the word small referred to the general size of a noble's territory here. This "small" territory was still a couple hundred meters across.

When put in relation to Earth, graduating from this academy meant already having tens of millions of dollars and already having a sizable company.

As soon as someone graduated from that program, they had already achieved great success.

And they hadn't even entered the real world yet!

Of course, all of this was still far in the future for Shang.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ So, what Grade was Shang in?

Technically, as someone at the Peak of the Soldier Stage, he should join the Preparation Grade.

But that didn't happen.

Why?

Because Shang wasn't focusing on reaching the General Stage. He was focusing on increasing his power.

Due to these reasons, Shang was put into the Advanced Grade.

A Grade filled with 19- and 20-year-olds.

And Shang?

His body had maybe just reached its 15th birthday.

Chapter 88 Training Resumes

Shang didn't know what he should think of his assigned Grade.

On one hand, he was technically 23 years old by now. He had spent 22 years on Earth and one year here.

The older one got, the less age mattered. In a way, 20-year-olds were seen as young adults. They were mostly able to live on their own and take care of themselves, and their minds had matured to a significant degree.

Because of that, Shang wouldn't have felt awkward or out of place in a Grade filled with people in their early twenties. The age difference didn't matter much.

However, 18 and 20 were quite a difference. 18-year-olds were showing signs of maturity. One of these obvious signs was the lower frequency of bullying in colleges. High school was far worse in that sense.

But that age was still a big dividing line of maturity. Probably half of the class would consist of teenagers while the other half would be young adults, personality-wise.

With all of that in mind, Shang also had to look at his body.

Sure, his mind was the mind of a 23-year-old, but his body was of a 15-year-old.

He hadn't even finished growing properly.

At the moment, Shang was 150cm tall, which was probably about average for someone of that age, but he would definitely get another growth spurt.

As for his classmates?

They had already all mostly finished growing. Sure, men could grow even when they were 20, but those couple of centimeters didn't make a huge difference.

In short, Shang would appear like a kid to the other people in his Grade. Half of them would probably not mind and would be quite open, but the other half would probably look down on him.

Now, one shouldn't misunderstand.

Shang wasn't distraught about how others perceived him but about the annoying trouble he would have to go through.

Shang wasn't very interested in socializing. Back on Earth, he had been an outgoing person, but that was also only because he couldn't train 24/7.

In this world, he could.

And since training and growing more powerful took priority, Shang essentially had no interest in socializing.

Yet, the others would try to force him, and he didn't want to deal with all that trouble.

'Well, doesn't really matter. It's probably just a couple of instances, and as long as I make myself clear, most of my classmates shouldn't mind.'

'But it's actually a bit funny that I will have the most powerful body of my Grade.'

Shang's brows furrowed.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ 'Why is that anyway?' Shang thought. 'I reached this level in only half a year. Sure, I had a ton of fruits from the Earth Fruit Hedgehog, but the academy should have even better stuff, right?'

'Even more, the new students of the academy already start training at 14 years of age. Meanwhile, they only reached the Peak of the Soldier Stage in their early twenties. That's six years of training.'

'I mean, I trained a lot, but that can't be the only reason, can it?'

The books hadn't said anything about how to train one's body and how to advance. Shang guessed that the teachers were probably responsible for that.

'I'll learn that later anyway. For now, I should focus on actually growing more powerful. With all of this theoretical stuff out of the way, I can finally focus on my power again.'

Shang looked at the small slit that was his window with absent eyes.

'The last time I was fully focused on my power was actually when I was still in the wilderness. Only a week had passed since then, but it feels like forever.'

Shang's eyes went to his belongings and then to his mostly empty room.

'I don't need to think about food.'

'I don't need to think about water.'

'I don't need to think about shelter.'

'I don't need to think about some bullshit school knowledge and bullshit tests.'

'I don't need to think about how to earn money.'

'I don't even need to think about family or friends.'

For a while, Shang simply looked at his room in silence.

It was such a weird feeling.

For the past six months or so, Shang had to constantly worry about survival. Even more, he hadn't even been able to truly let himself go in training. After all, he had never been truly safe. Plenty of beasts had been prepared to attack Shang during his training in the past.

But here?

…Nothing…

Even more, Shang didn't even have to follow an actual schedule. As long as his power progressed at sufficient speeds, he would be golden. He could even skip every single class if he wanted.

In a way, the academy was also a form of wilderness. After all, fighting wasn't prohibited.

However, students undergoing the special training weren't allowed to get involved with conflicts inside the academy, and those students were the only ones that could be a threat to Shang.

'Wait!' Shang thought with urgency. 'That's wrong!'

Shang narrowed his eyes.

'There is a difference between self-confidence and arrogance. Soran managed to easily beat me with a body two levels below mine. Because of that, it wouldn't be too farfetched that someone with a body one level below mine could pull off something similar.'

'And even more, there is a big difference between individual quality. There are the outstanding ones and the substandard ones. On top of that, everyone in my Grade has learned how to fight other humans for years. Many of them have probably also already killed humans.'

'It might actually be possible that my Battle-Strength is below theirs when it involves fighting against other humans. I might actually only count as average in my Grade even with my powerful body.'

'I need to be careful.'

…

'Oh, wait,' Shang thought as his body relaxed.

'Fighting with weapons is prohibited between students.'

'What was I even worrying about?'

'I think I'm too used to being in an environment filled with danger. I automatically assumed that the other students were out to kill me.'

Shang involuntarily got reminded of his conversation with that one guard from Duke Whirlwind's garden. The guard had told Shang that he wasn't used to being with other humans.

'I should try to keep in mind that not everyone is out to get me. Even if someone doesn't like me, they will probably just not talk to me, which is fine.'

Shang sighed.

'This will require some getting used to, and I can't force it. For now, I should focus on my power. Tomorrow, I will start with the classes.'

'For today, I just want to train.'

Shang put everything to the side and grabbed the book filled with techniques.

When Shang opened the book, he read the introduction.

'Huh, interesting,' Shang thought after he finished. 'They're literally telling me to just experiment. Try the techniques and adapt whichever one I like. Even more, the techniques are very basic and simple on purpose. They are just very basic movements with some slight variations.'

Shang went through the first couple of techniques and immediately knew how they worked.

Sure, Shang was intelligent, but he wasn't some unreal genius that could understand complex stuff in an instant.

It was just that the techniques really were very simple.

After looking at the first couple of techniques, Shang stood up and grabbed his sword.

Then, he swung.

Shang had great control over his body, and he had nearly perfectly copied the slash, but then, he felt something weird.

Shang looked with surprise at the sword in his hand.

For some reason, Shang could feel its feelings.

And right now, the sword felt slightly disgusted.

It was like someone had slightly gone against the hairs while petting a cat. It wasn't crazy enough to get angry or jump away, but it definitely didn't enjoy the sensation.

Shang raised an eyebrow.

"You don't like that one?" he asked.

No answer.

Shang only felt the slight disgust slowly vanish.

'Hmm, it probably can't understand me.'

If this had happened the day before, he would have been shocked by the sudden feelings Shang was receiving from his sword. However, Shang had already seen that his sword wasn't simple. After all, it had gone to the dean's spear of its own volition.

On top of that, the dean's spear had taught it something. At least that was what the dean had said.

Shang reviewed the first technique again and found some small flaws in his movements.

Then, he swung again.

After that, Shang looked with a raised eyebrow at his sword.

"Now, you definitely didn't like that one, huh?"

The sword hated it.

Chapter 89 Sword Feelings

Shang looked at his sword with a lifted eyebrow. Earlier, he had assumed that his sword didn't like the technique because he hadn't perfectly used it. After all, the sword had only been mildly disgusted, not completely.

But apparently, it was the opposite.

The sword really didn't like the technique.

"What don't you like?" Shang asked.

He still felt a bit weird talking to his sword like it was another person or a pet, but he knew that he should get used to it.

Of course, the sword didn't answer.

Shang had a couple of suspicions, but they would need further testing.

So, Shang tried the second technique. All of these techniques were short, singular movements. They weren't a complex array of complicated moves or something like that. At most, they described how one should move one's arms generally and how one should move their legs. One could call these techniques even basic instruction manuals.

When Shang finished the technique, his sword gave feedback again.

It felt a bit weird.

It was like it was eating something with an unknown flavor. It was like it wasn't certain if it should like that flavor or not.

After unleashing the strike and feeling the sword's feedback, Shang stopped with a frown.

He felt the sword's feelings to be familiar.

'Actually, I felt similar to the sword,' Shang thought. 'Although, during the first technique, I wasn't as disgusted as it. However, I still didn't like it.'

'Why is that? Why do I not like this technique?' Shang thought as he scratched his chin.

Shang thought back to the first technique.

The first technique was an upward slice with a simultaneous jump to the back. The purpose of this slice was to reset the flow of battle.

In a battle, one side nearly always had the advantage. One of the two sides was very often the aggressive one, while the other one had to react. The reason why one side could be aggressive in the first place was that the other side had been unable to completely stop the aggression.

Being on the offensive in a fight was incredibly advantageous.

If one performed a subpar strike during one's offense, no one would get injured.

However, if one performed a subpar block, one would be injured.

So, as long as the offensive side didn't lose the offense, they could theoretically continue attacking forever. They only had to wait for their opponent to make a mistake.

Now, the first technique, the upward slice with the jump to the back, was a technique to get one out of such a bind. The upward slice would include nearly all of the power of the user, and since it went from the bottom to the top, it basically went through the entire fighting space.

This slice was meant to threaten the opponent with an attack and also block a strike, as long as they used a fitting strike during that time. Not every technique could be used under all circumstances.

So, with the opponent attacked and their own attack blocked, the user could jump back, resetting the fight. At that point, the opponent would lose their momentum, and the two of them could have their first clash again, which often decided the offensive and defensive side.

The sword had hated that technique, and Shang also hadn't been the biggest fan of it. However, he had still been willing to give it a try.

'Why don't I like the first technique?' Shang thought as he scratched his chin.

'It definitely has its uses. If I were in a passive situation, it would definitely be useful. Just looking at its performance, I see no flaws. It's a good strike.'

Shang thought about this situation a bit more.

'It just feels wrong,' Shang thought with a frown. 'I mean, it is strong. I can't deny that. It's also very useful.'

'But it just feels wrong. It's like it's disrupting my flow or my rhythm.'

Shang scratched the back of his head. 'I mean, that's the point, right? It's supposed to disrupt the flow of the battle.'

'I'm not entirely sure why, but I think the issue is that I simply don't like it. It's like some amazing series TV show about crime. Everyone loves it, and every crime fanatic recommends it. However, I don't like crime shows.'

'I just don't like them.'

Shang looked at his sword.

'I guess it's similar with this technique? I can see the quality, but I just don't like it.'

'What about the second technique? The sword felt unfamiliar with this technique, and I know why.'

'I've never really used something like this.'

The second technique had been a feint. Feints had the goal of making the opponent move in a certain manner, which would make it harder for them to react to unsuspecting attacks. In short, feints attempted to take away the reactive flexibility of the opponent.

The second technique was a slash that came from the top right, but instead of slashing at the enemy, it went into a curve and went back to the right side, but on a lower level. This left the user in a very wide and open stance, but it also gave them a lot of space and wind-up time for a devastating strike.

If the opponent fell for the feint, they would have either slashed to their left or blocked.

If they slashed towards the feint, they would be caught off-guard, literally. Their equilibrium and power would be fully focused on their front. If they decided to block, they would lose their opportunity to counterattack.

Attacks with long wind-up times were risky since the enemy could simply unleash a quick counter. If a boxer just suddenly started pulling back their shoulders to unleash a devastating hook, the enemy would unleash a quick jab at them.

Of course, a quick jab wasn't really devastating to a boxer.

However, if that quick jab were accompanied by a sharp weapon, things would be different.

Going for wide swings left someone open to quick stabs.

But with the feint, the enemy wouldn't be in a situation to take advantage of the opening, which gave the user of the feint the opportunity to unleash a devastating strike. Even if such a strike didn't hit the body of the opponent, the opponent would still be thrown back. They might even fall down.

Shang hadn't really used any feints up to now.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Why?

Because he had only really been fighting beasts.

Weapons were hard and could block Shang's sword, but beasts couldn't easily block it. If they tried to block it with anything, that thing would most likely be cut off. Because of that, nearly all beasts focused on evasion instead of blocking.

As for parrying?

Beasts were too stupid for that.

Because of that, beasts could only avoid attacks or counter with an offense.

That was why Shang felt unfamiliar with this technique.

And the feelings of his sword reflected that.

'So, the sword is actually reflecting my own feelings, but with more clarity,' Shang thought as he scratched his chin. 'Although I can't be sure if it is reflecting my current feelings or if these are its own feelings. They could also just be identical since it went through all the training I did. After all, how am I supposed to train my swordsmanship without a sword?'

'This means that this is either a mirror of my current feelings or simply a case of feeling the feelings of an identical twin.'

'Is my sword its own being with its own feelings, or do its feelings come from my own mental state?'

Chapter 90 Practice

For now, Shang couldn't find the answer. The sword was still too young, simple, and inexperienced. It couldn't even react to Shang's words. Additionally, the dean had said that the sword would be of a bigger help if it absorbed some ore, and Shang was pretty sure that the dean wasn't only referring to the weapon physically becoming stronger.

Shang decided that he should simply continue as it was right now and use the sword as some sort of mirror, but he also knew that he had to verify the sword's feelings every time. At the moment, it seemed to reflect his own feelings, but those feelings might change, and if Shang didn't pay any attention, he might do and feel what the sword wanted him to do and feel.

After looking at the second technique again, Shang practiced it a couple more times. The first technique had been rather easy for Shang to perform since he was familiar with the movements, but pulling off a feint was more difficult. After all, a feint had to seem convincing. If it weren't convincing, the opponent would be the one to gain the advantage.

The sword seemed to warm up to the technique after a couple more tries, and it became interested in it. Shang confirmed that he also felt like this.

Shang liked to end fights quickly, and creating an opening was basically the best way to end a fight. Additionally, the feint allowed Shang to unleash a big strike. Who didn't like using all their power in an attack?

It only took Shang a couple of minutes to become familiar with the technique, and he could pull it off without errors. However, in comparison to the first one, Shang would need to practice this technique several more times, and he would also need to test it in actual fights. Just because someone could do something perfectly in a calm setting didn't mean that they would be able to do the same thing perfectly in a hectic setting.

That was where practice came into play. Shang had to integrate this technique into his fighting style until he could use it without even thinking about it.

For now, Shang decided to put this technique into his daily training routine. It was worth the investment.

Shang looked at the next technique and repeated it a couple of times.

The sword was not fully happy with this technique, but it also wasn't fully against it. It sent feelings that perfectly reflected the words, "meh, maybe."

After unleashing the fourth technique, the sword became excited.

It absolutely loved that strike!

'Makes sense,' Shang thought. 'It's a very aggressive attack that pushes my enemy back while also lowering my stance, allowing me to quickly explode forward after unleashing it. It's the very definition of aggressive.'

'Am I such an aggressive person?' Shang thought.

…

'I don't know. Maybe? Not sure. Probably? Yeah, probably. Okay, definitely.'

As Shang went through his fights, he realized that he loved being the aggressive one. Sure, his fight with the Ice Spear Bear had been a very passive one, but that was simply because the bear had had a far more powerful body than him.

In every other fight, Shang had essentially been in a constant charge forward, unleashing attack after attack.

Shang practiced the fourth technique for quite a while. He didn't need to practice a lot since he was very familiar with these movements, but Shang simply wanted to practice it more. He just liked using it.

Shang went through more and more techniques, and soon, the sun began to dip below the walls. If Shang had decided to look outside, he would have seen a bright sky but no sun all around. That was definitely a sight one needed to get used to.

Usually, even when one walked through a metropolis with gigantic buildings, at least some light rays would pass some of the buildings, leaving bright areas on the ground.

But here?

None of that.

Even more, these bright spots in the cities often only came in the evening or morning when the sun was already near the horizon.

But right now, the sky was still a bright blue.

Warrior's Paradise had a weird contrast. The sky was brightly lit like it were noon, but the streets were slightly darkened. It was a bit like someone turned down the contrast for everything inside the city while keeping the sky normal.

Sadly, Shang missed the first "sunset" of his new home since he had completely lost himself in training.

"Oh?" Shang suddenly uttered as he unleashed a new technique.

At the same time, Shang felt some feelings of positive surprise coming from his sword.

"I like that one," Shang said. "Usually, unleashing attacks that are only useful against humans feel weird since they mostly involve attacking something hard, but this one feels great."

This technique was a way to stop an opponent's attack, but it was also insanely aggressive.

The stance needed to perform this strike was a bit unnatural, and one wouldn't normally find themselves getting into such a stance during a fight, but with a bit of leading, one could get there.

The stance involved the sword hanging from the sword arm. The sword pointed towards the ground, and it could even slightly point behind the user in some cases.

Such a stance was unnatural since it left someone completely open.

The technique itself involved the user taking one step back with the more distant foot from the sword. While stepping back, the user would also put their second hand on the sword.

And then, one would strike upward with the entire power of their body. Both legs, the hips, and the back would straighten at the same time, bundling all the power into the attack.

Then, the user would unleash a single strike all the way from the bottom to the top.

The purpose of this technique wasn't to injure the opponent. After all, one would take a step back, which would result in one's torso also being pulled back a bit.

The purpose was to counter the opponent and break their guard.

If an opponent decided to unleash a strike from the top, this technique was perfect. By unleashing an attack from the top, the opponent could only unleash the power of their arms, their back, and the forward momentum of their legs. On top of that, they would probably only attack with one hand.

Meanwhile, the one using the technique would explode forward with all their power. The weapons would clash with each other, but the one using the technique obviously had the upper hand in the exchange.

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ The opponent's weapon would be shot upward, and the opponent would be put before a difficult decision.

Let go of the weapon or try to pull it back while it was trying to fly away.

Both outcomes would be positive for the user of the technique.

Shang loved the technique. It was a defensive technique, but it was also incredibly aggressive.

For the next hour, Shang only practiced this technique. He especially loved the sound the ground made when he used it. Since Shang was putting all of his power into an upward motion, the ground below him had to deal with the counterforce.

Each action had an equal and opposite reaction.

Physics.

And before Shang knew it, it had already become night.

However, Shang didn't notice.

He had completely forgotten himself in his training.

All of these techniques were like a treasure trove, and he enjoyed practicing them.

For the first time, Shang had an actual, well-defined guide for practicing his swordsmanship.

These techniques were even better than he had expected!