For a moment, Shang only looked at the corpse of the General Stage Vanishing Snake.
The fight had been very risky. If Shang had even been scratched by its teeth, he would have died. Its metal poison was just too powerful.
During the fight, it had seemed that Shang was in control most of the time, but that control had been flimsy. One small slipup and it would have been the end.
However, as Shang looked at the corpse, a deep feeling of excitement and satisfaction appeared inside his chest.
He had killed his first General Stage beast.
Sure, the beast was bad in a direct confrontation, it had been injured previously, Shang had help, and it had been distracted for a big part of the fight, but Shang had still won.
Shang looked at his sword. 'I really need to focus on my sword. This boost will only work for a short time, and I need to strengthen it permanently. In the beginning, I haven't even truly been able to injure it.'
'Right now, my weapon is my biggest weakness. Fights where my weapon isn't in danger, aren't dangerous, and in dangerous fights, my weapon is always in danger.'
Suddenly, Shang's eyes shot to the head of the snake.
The green eagle had landed on the snake's head, looking at Shang.
Shang had seen how the green eagle had eaten all the previous Vanishing Snakes' heads, and he knew that the bird wanted to consume this one too.
The bird was at the Late Soldier Stage, one level below Shang, but its help had been imperative in Shang's fight with the snake.
If Shang and the bird had a falling out, who would win?
Shang wasn't sure.
However, he was sure of one thing.
The fight wouldn't end quickly, and Shang would probably be chased by the bird for a long time.
Shang knew that the bird was far faster than him. Not even the snake had been able to chase the bird.
If Shang missed his opportunity, the green eagle would fly away and wait in the air until Shang became distracted.
In the end, Shang sighed as he took a couple of steps back.
'Even if I could kill it with confidence, I would feel bad about killing it,' Shang thought. 'I can be cruel to my enemies, but this eagle isn't my enemy.'
Shang put his sword away as he showed that he wouldn't fight over the corpse.
If the bird were a human, Shang would negotiate with them about gaining about half the corpse. Sadly, the bird was a beast.
If Shang suddenly started pulling or cutting on the corpse, the eagle might view that action as an attack, and that would spell trouble for Shang.
Sometimes, stupidity and stubbornness win.
The bird looked at Shang for a bit.
Then, its eyes went to the Vanishing Snake's head.
Shang could see the hunger and desire in the green eagle's eyes.
This meal would catapult it to the Peak Soldier Stage, at least.
The eagle looked at the head for a bit longer.
Then, it slowly moved its beak to the head and lightly tapped it twice.
And it flew away.
Shang looked at the green eagle's leaving figure with surprise and a bit of confusion.
'Why would the green eagle not want the corpse?' Shang thought.
For a while, Shang only looked at the corpse.
Then, he got an idea.
'It might sound ridiculous, but what if the green eagle didn't consume the corpse out of pride? The eagle doesn't seem like a pack beast. Does it only consume prey that it killed on its own?'
At that moment, Shang heard the sound of flesh being torn apart in the distance, and he immediately realized what had happened.
'I think I'm right!' Shang thought. 'The green eagle went to the place where the snake's tail had been cut off. By the sounds of it, it's currently tearing the tail apart and eating it.'
'It has severed the tail, but it hasn't killed the snake. Because of that, it only wants to eat the tail.'
At that moment, Shang narrowed his eyes.
'That is a terrifying mindset,' he thought, 'and it also explains how the eagle can be so powerful at such a level. It only eats beasts it has killed by itself. On top of that, I can't forget that it had actually attacked a General Stage beast.'
'The green eagle definitely knew that the Vanishing Snake was far stronger than all the other ones it had seen, but it still decided to attack. Just like me, it has searched for a dangerous fight that pushes it forward.'
'It will become a dangerous beast in the future. I only hope it's not the kind that attacks humans.'
'Well, I mean, it didn't attack me. So, it probably isn't that kind.'
Shang slowly walked over to the dead Vanishing Snake. 'I wonder how much a General Stage Vanishing Snake is worth.'
Shang extended his left arm towards the Vanishing Snake to shove it into his beast sack, but he grimaced when he felt a searing pain shoot through it.
For a moment, Shang was distracted by his injured left arm.
'My new Affinities have increased my Battle-Strength by quite a lot. Sure, using my Blasts twice in quick succession will nearly destroy my arm, but I also have a way to regenerate its condition without using my Mana. I only have to touch my opponent.'
Shang thought about how he had used his left arm in the fight.
'At the moment, its Blasts aren't very useful in terms of damaging my opponent, but they are very useful when it comes to moving around. I can use them to unexpectedly move around in the air, suddenly stop, or suddenly accelerate above my peak speed.'
'My Blasts haven't done any damage to the snake, but they have allowed me to close in on the snake and deal a fatal strike in the end.'
Shang's eyes narrowed.
'However, is that all my Affinity can do? I don't think so.'
'With my additional Affinities, I also understand my Affinity more. I don't have an Ice or Fire Affinity, but an Affinity for converting the two.'
'The Mana that gets unleashed in my Blasts has to come from somewhere, and it doesn't come from my body. So, it can only come from the surroundings.'
'However, the surroundings have all kinds of Mana, and the heightened density of any kind of Mana won't increase the effect of my Blasts. Because of that, I can safely assume that my Mana isn't using the Ice or Fire Mana in the atmosphere.'
'Instead, it's using the normal Mana.'
'As far as I can tell, my arm can split normal Mana into Fire Mana and Ice Mana. When I use my Ice Blast, my left arm absorbs normal Mana and converts it into Fire and Ice Mana. The Ice Mana gets expelled while the Fire Mana heats up my arm.'
'The more power I put into the Blast, the more Mana gets split apart. Because of that, the Blast also becomes more powerful.'
'Usually, that would make the Blast only as powerful as what my arm can handle.'
Shang's eyes shone.
'However, if I concentrate it, the effect will be different.'
'If a kid attacks an adult with a stick, the adult only gets annoyed. However, if the same kid uses a knife, the adult gets injured. The force behind both attacks are about the same since it's the kid unleashing the attacks, but one of them is way more dangerous than the other one.'
'The answer is concentration! The smaller the point of impact, the more effective the attack.'
'I can heat and cool a huge part of the air a little bit, or heat and cool a small part of the air a lot.'
'The knockback won't be as powerful since less air is being pushed to the side, but the Blast will have actual damage potential.'
'When I'm back at the academy, I should try if I can do that.'
For a moment, Shang wasn't sure how he should feel.
On one hand, Shang now had even more things to train, increasing his workload.
However, on the other hand, Shang now had even more things to train, giving him more opportunities and options to increase his power.
Shang thought about his left arm for a bit longer, but he quickly came back to reality as he realized that he was still in a rather dangerous forest.
Shang stopped thinking about his Affinity and shoved the General Stage Vanishing Snake into his beast sack.
