''Only the Fire ore is left. I''m so close!'' Shang thought with burning eyes.
He was so very close!
''To keep everything about myself hidden, I need to purchase the Fire ore on the market with gold. I can
exin the Light ore I bought with a friend, but no one would want to keep a Fire Affinity hidden. It just
wouldn''t make sense.''
''The merchants are not here yet. They will only arrive near noon. Until then, I should find something to
do.''
Shang thought about training, but that wouldn''t help much. Thest time he had tried tobine
techniques, he had seen that there was no way to advance further. He needed practical experience
and feedback from a teacher to advance in that department.
Shang could train in his Affinity, but he believed that there were better uses for his endeavor.
So, Shang took out the schedule for the lessons and checked which lessons would take ce soon. He
could fit in a lesson.
There were only two lessons, which would both start in about half an hour.
One of them was a theoretical lesson for future officers, which was something Shang wasn''t interested
in.
The other one was a theoretical lesson for the Anti-Mages, the red uniforms.
This piqued Shang''s interest.
Shang knew that he would need to fight Mages sooner orter.
However, Shang had only seen a single Mage fight up to now, and that fight had also taken ce far
away.
''Well, that seems interesting. I should check it out.''
As Shang stood up, he ignored the bloodied face that had appeared in his vision again and left. He
didn''t have to walk very far since the lesson took ce on the third floor of the main building.
When Shang arrived, he noticed that the door was open, and he entered.
It was a normal room for lectures. There was nothing special about it.
Shang saw two students with red robes sitting in the middle of the left half of the room.
They were not talking with each other.
Shang nced at them, and as if they had felt Shang''s nce, they nced back.
For a short moment, their eyes met.
And then, the two students looked away again with bored expressions.
Shang didn''t say anything and simply sat down somewhere in the middle of the right half.
Silence.
No one was speaking.
''I think they recognized me, but they just didn''t care,'' Shang thought.
The image of the bloodied face returned.
''But that''s understandable. The students that join the Anti-Mage ss are the ones living the most
dangerous lives.''
''They are not looking at other warriors or beasts, but at the overlords of this world, Mages. They are not
nning on fighting the weakest ss of people, the warriors. They are also not nning on fighting
beasts, which are on average more powerful than warriors.''
''No, they set their eyes on Mages.''
''I guess the politics inside the school and all the social stuff are not relevant to them.''
''I wonder, what would it take for a student to decide to walk such a dangerous path? I''m here because I
know I have a high chance of eventually reaching the True Path Stage, and at that point, every
dangerous human will be a Mage.''
''My fight with the Mages in this world is already set in stone, but that''s not true for them.''
That was also when Shang realized that he had only very rarely seen students with red uniforms, and
when he saw them, they were just passing by.
''I guess most of them have a reason to hate Mages.''
Shang continued looking at the front absentmindedly. He was only thinking about random stuff as he
waited for the lesson to start.
In this moment of silence and inactivity, the bloodied face had returned once again.
Shang ignored it again and again, but it would just return.
Shang kept pushing it again.
''I am in control.''
''I am in control.''
''I am in control.''
After a while, Shang started to push the side of his head with his fingers, a telltale sign of someone
being stressed and having a headache.
Shang didn''t notice it.
Did he have a headache?
He was so used to pain that he didn''t even know.
He had no idea if he had one or not.
If he were to have a headache, its pain would be so weak that Shang wouldn''t even notice.
The constant destruction of his left arm and his suicidal training had made him numb to any pain that
didn''t reach the extreme.
Slowly over the next minutes, more students came into the hall. Most of them threw a quick nce at
Shang, but all of them also quickly looked away in disinterest.
They all had the same thought.
''Another one interested in our ss. He won''t stay around.''
These thoughts were understandable. After all, who would want to willingly fight a Mage?
That was essentially suicide.
BANG!
Shang was taken out of his thoughts as the door to the ssroom was shut loudly. He looked around
and noticed that there were nine other students in the ss, one of them with a ck uniform, which
represented a future hunter. Apparently, Shang wasn''t the only one interested in the Anti-Mage ss.
That meant that there were only eight students with red uniforms in this Grade, even fewer than the
Caterpir ss.
The person that had shut the door was a rough-looking old man. His face had burns and a couple of
cuts, his skin uneven and rough. His hair was wild, long, and silver, and it nearly reached his buttocks.
When Shang saw the teacher, his insides shook.
Powerful!
He felt so powerful!
Shang had difficulties discerning the differences in power between the teachers. After all, they were all
many times stronger than him.
However, the power of this person was as clear as day to Shang.
On top of that, he didn''t wear the typical silver uniform that other teachers wore. Instead, he wore thick
red armor. There were several small holes in his armor, and Shang could feel several different types of
Manaing from those holes, including Darkness Mana.
''Hidden ranged weapons,'' Shang realized. ''Every hole can probably shoot out a small needle or
something simr.''
As Shang heard the teacher''s steps, he realized that his footsteps sounded strange.
It was like there was machinery inside the soles of his shoes.
Shang felt an unreal amount of Fire Manaing from the teacher''s shoes.
As the teacher walked down the stairs at the side of the room, Shang felt like a demon had just passed
by him.
Shang could quickly tell the reason for this very special kind of armor.
''He is fully focused on dealing with Mages. As a warrior, he can''t close the gap with only his own ability,
which is why he has armed himself to the teeth with many versatile weapons. He can probably also use
the Fire Mana in his shoes to shoot himself forward.''
''The hidden weapons are probably there to interrupt Mages when they try to cast a spell.''
Shang also noticed that eight of the teacher''s fingers had Space Rings on them.
At that moment, Shang realized three things.
First, this was a Vice-Dean, not a normal teacher. Normal teachers had to wear silver uniforms. Only
the Dean and the Vice-Dean, Soran, hadn''t worn the silver uniforms. This meant that this teacher was
probably also a Vice-Dean.
Second, this teacher was the epitome of what it meant to fight Mages. He had many scars from his
battles, and his entire being and fighting style revolved around countering Mages. Shang wouldn''t even
be surprised if this was the greatest specialist in how to deal with Mages in the entire world, excluding
other Mages, of course.
Andstly, this teacher was powerful.
This text is property of N?/velD/rama.Org.
In fact, Shang was certain that this was the most powerful teacher in the entire school, except for the
Dean.
Soran''s power hadn''t felt even remotely as powerful as this teacher''s.
This was an old man that had gone through many, many battles against Mages, and he had managed
to stay alive up to now.
He had been fighting the hegemons of this world for many years, and he was still alive.
He had probably reached the absolute peak of what a warrior could reach, except for the Dean.
The room was silent as the teacher reached the podium.
"Defensive Spells," he announced.
Everyone listened, deep respect in their eyes.