Chapter 307
The Mage pulled Shang along at a speed equivalent to Shang''s Stage. Apparently, she knew exactly how fast a barbarian could
move at that level.
Surprisingly, it was quite a bit faster than a Peak General Stage warrior could run, but it didn''t reach Shang''s limit.
He could still run about half a level faster without many problems.
‘This probably means that the Procedure has a greater increase of power than whatever the barbarians use to increase their
strength.’
They jumped from one spire to the next, and the Mage kept ncing at Shang.
She wanted to force Shang to move at his limit, but even with this incredibly heavy weapon, Shang was still keeping up.
‘Even though he is annoying, | can''t deny that his talent is outstanding,’ she thought.
However, that thought only annoyed her.
By now, she didn''t doubt Shang''s origins anymore. Someone with such a powerful body at this level had to be born in the
Grandmountain Kingdom.
After a couple of minutes, the two of them reached a gigantic canyon. The cliffs on either side were over a kilometer high, and
the roads were barely 20 meters wide.
Shang didn''t feel any specific kind of Elemental Mana, but he knew what kind of Zone this was regardless.
‘A Zone with a Zone Beast that has an Earth Affinity. The Mage also has an Earth Affinity. | guess she is either a very high figure
in this territory or the ruler.’
Right now, Shang still wasn''t sure if the Mage was a powerful True Mage or a High Mage.
The two of them kept running through the area, and Shang kept ncing at his surroundings inconspicuously.
"Why are you missing an eye?"
This question suddenly came from the Mage, and her tone sounded annoyed.
"| killed a beast with ck scales that looked simr to a worm," Shang said. "It destroyed my left eye, and | can''t regrow it.”
The speed of the Mage slowed down until she eventually stopped.
Then, she looked at Shang with burning eyes.
"Where and when?" she asked.
“Long ago," Shang said. "It was near my home."
"When specifically?" she asked with narrowed eyes.
“Only humans care about time."
"Beasts don''t care about time.”
“Without humans, time has be meaningless."
"| don''t know when. | only know that it has been long ago."
The Mage looked deeply into Shang''s remaining eye. "What happened specifically?"
Shang only looked back.
"I saw it."Exclusive content from N?velDrama.Org.
"| didn''t recognize it."
"| tried to kill it.”
"A part of its body vanished."
"My eye vanished."
"| killed it before it could do anything else."
Silence.
The image of a Soldier Stage Abomination appeared in the Mage''s mind.
"You''re lucky you''re still alive," she said before pulling Shang forward again.
Shang didn''t answer.
After running a couple more minutes in silence, Shang noticed a huge, brown tower on the horizon.
It was built on one of the gigantic walls, and it overlooked the entire Zone.
It wasn''t nearly as big as Warrior''s Paradise, but it was still about 500 meters high and 100 meters wide.
Shang guessed that this was some kind of military outpost or personal residence. The tower obviously wasn''t suited for many
people. At most, 200 people could fit in there.
However, instead of going towards the tower, the Mage pulled Shang to a smaller path, and a couple of secondster, Shang
saw two Mages standing near the path.
Shang could feel that they were True Mages.
"Governor!" both of them said with a salute.
‘Governor?’ Shang thought, ncing at the Mage. ‘I can guess that a Governor is probably the equivalent of a Duke. This
probably means that she is a High Mage.’
‘Interesting. On Earth, a governor doesn''t have as much freedom as a duke. Dukes have free reign over their territory as long as
they follow the King''smands, but a governor doesn''t have as much freedom.’
‘Does this mean that the Grandmountain Kingdom is more militaristic? Additionally, the Mages didn''t bow but performed
respectful salutes."
Suddenly, Shang was yanked forward by the chains, and he stopped between the Governor and the two Mages.
"He''s a wild barbarian," she said. "His punishment is to fight on the frontlines for the next five years. If he survives, he may
choose to join a tribe."
"Understood, Governor," one of the two Mages said as the chains floated over to him.
The Governor nodded, threw onest look at Shang, and left towards the huge tower.
Shang was pulled forward again. "Follow, scum!" the Mage shouted strictly with disdain.
Shang''s expression didn''t change, but inside, his interest was piqued.
‘| wonder if he called me scum because I''m a barbarian or because of not being part of a tribe?’ Shang thought.
‘Nevertheless, I''m quite certain that warriors in the Skythunder Kingdom are not forced to stay inside cities.’
‘I''ve heard of plenty of hunters that simply live wherever and juste to Warrior''s Paradise to earn some money. Even if they
suddenly decided to nevere back, nobody would probably mind unless they signed a Magic Contract.’
Shang didn''t answer, but he followed regardless.
When the two Mages saw that Shang didn''t resist, they weren''t sure what they should feel.
On one hand, this made their job easier, but on the other hand, there was no reason now to beat the barbarian up.
Eventually, the two of them pulled Shang along, and a couple of secondster, Shang saw something.
It was a vige with wooden huts and tents.
The tents and wooden huts were crafted rather well, but there were no buildings made of stone, which told Shang quite a bit
about the Grandmountain Kingdom.
Shang saw that the streets were filled with adults and children. Nearly all of them wore clothes made of fur, but the clothes also
looked quite old.
Many adults were talking to children, but only very few children talked with each other. It was almost like everyone stuck to their
own family and wasn''t allowed to interact with strangers.
Surprisingly, Shang saw far more grown women than grown men, but he saw an even distribution among the children.
Yet, the most shocking thing was something else.
The vige was rather quiet.
It was like every small group was afraid of other groups overhearing them, which made them whisper amongst each other.
Shang got an asional nce from an adult or a child, but they quickly looked away again.
As the vigers whispered amongst themselves, the two Mages walked through the middle of the vige without any care. When
they talked with each other, they were talking at a normal volume.
Shang nced around the vige, and he used his intuition to gauge the power of the vigers.
‘There are only a very small number of vigers that feel slightly dangerous to me, but none of them feel like a death threat. That
probably means that there are only a handful of Commander Stage barbarians in here."
"Usually, | would be surprised that such a vige had a Commander Stage warrior in the first ce, but this vige is near the
gigantic tower where the Governor lives.’
‘Additionally, all the Commander Stage barbarians are middle-aged or older men. There is not a single woman that''s even near
the end of the General Stage.’
The image of the Grandmountain Kingdom became clearer and clearer in Shang''s mind.
‘The Mages lord over the barbarians and treat them like lower citizens. Any barbarian that wants to escape this suppression
needs power, and the Mages offer it to them."
"However, in exchange, they probably have to work hard for the Mages."
‘Antiquated gender norms from Earth are probably how things are handled here. In the Grandmountain Kingdom, the job of a
male barbarian is to die on the battlefield, while the job of a female barbarian is to create children and raise them.’
‘In a way, this isn''t really any different from raising aggressive dogs to act as triggers for a minefield."
‘Additionally, the Governor said that Mages are the ones that create the techniques for barbarians. That probably means that
barbarians don''t have the means to further their own power.’
‘Is this a deliberate choice? Like this, the power of the barbarians can never get out of control, and they are reliant on the
Mages."
‘Without Mages, no barbarian can even hope to reach the True Path Stage, and knowledge on how to create techniques is
probably also extremely scarce amongst them."
‘Sure enough, the Grandmountain Kingdom is very different from the Skythunder Kingdom.’
‘Suppression, segregation, birthright.’