After Shang left the Curio Trinket, he paused.
'Teacher Niria seems to be really good at bartering. She told me that I should accept no less than 2,000 gold, but as soon as I told the guy that teacher Niria told me what I should accept, he gave me more. Glad I didn't make a direct offer.'
Shang looked at the second beast sack he was carrying. He had decided to mask his gold by putting it into a second beast sack. He didn't want anyone to become suspicious of his wealth. Additionally, Shang had entered the shop with two beast sacks, and he was now exiting with two beast sacks. It would look like his trade had failed.
No one knew that the contents of the second beast sack had changed to pure gold.
After exiting the shop, Shang directly traveled to the academy. An unknown teacher was guarding the gate, and Shang gave them a quick greeting before entering.
Shang directly walked toward the main building. He wanted to put the gigantic sack of gold away first.
Sadly, things didn't go as smoothly as he had expected.
As soon as Shang approached the main building, his eyes narrowed.
He had noticed three boys looking at his beast sacks, and Shang had also noticed that they seemed rather tense. They were all around 16 or 17 years old, which meant that they were well in the Middle Soldier Stage.
Ironically, this was the most dangerous spot to be in.
At that level, the students would no longer belong to the truly weak ones, but they also wouldn't have enough experience to tell if someone was truly dangerous or not. Because of that, the Intermediate Grade had the most fights.
And the grade that suffered the most was the Beginner Grade.
The Intermediate Grade would most often target 14- and 15-year-old students. These students could earn a lot of money, but they were also far weaker and less experienced than the students in the Intermediate Grade.
Because of that, the Beginner Grade was the most horrible grade to be in, thanks to the Intermediate Grade.
However, the Intermediate Grade was walking on a tightrope. They could probably dominate over 90% of all people in the Beginner Grade, but they also wouldn't notice the most powerful 10% of the Beginner Grade.
But these people could tell that Shang was powerful. They didn't know how powerful he was exactly, but they had seen how he had dominated a couple of Early Soldier Stage kids.
This meant that he had to be, at least, in the Middle Soldier Stage. Maybe, he even was in the Late Soldier Stage.
But that's also why they came with three people at once.
On top of that, they were rather confident in taking down Shang.
Why?
Well, there was one familiar face among the people.
It was Shang's neighbor, the one he had met when he had searched for his room.
When that guy heard that Shang was part of the Caterpillar Class, he had smirked and told him that he had entered hell.
What was the reputation of the Caterpillar Class?
Trash.
Why trash?
Because they didn't train in any actual fighting techniques. Every other student trained in several advanced techniques that perfected their fighting styles.
In a direct fight, people of the Caterpillar Class nearly always lost against other students. Only the most powerful students in the Caterpillar Class could fight the other students.
However, that was to be expected.
The students of the Caterpillar Class were forced to build their own fighting techniques, which meant that their fighting techniques came from someone in the Soldier Stage.
Meanwhile, the other students were training in techniques created by Commander Stage warriors.
These techniques were multiple times more powerful and refined than some techniques some kids could come up with.
So, how did these three people view Shang?
He definitely was a very powerful person for his age, but that was the problem.
For his age.
How much experience could a 14- or 15-year-old have in fighting against humans?
On top of that, they were three, while Shang was one.
They knew that it would be risky, but the reward was worth it.
They had seen how interested teacher Niria had been, and they knew that Shang must have something very interesting in one of his beast sacks.
It was risky, but they had to try!
So, how did they go about getting that stuff from Shang?
Simple. The three would jump Shang without talking, all targeting him with an attack. While Shang dealt with one of them, the other two would tear the beast sacks away and run off with the loot.
And that's what they did.
The three guys charged at Shang from different angles without saying anything. One was coming from the front while the other two came from the side.
Shang could only attack one of them, and he would be too panicked and surprised to react appropriately. At most, one of them would be injured.
As soon as Shang noticed that they had charged at him, he narrowed his eyes.
'I intimidated them with my actions yesterday, but it didn't have the effect I was hoping for. I was hoping for them to not bother me, but instead, they now take me seriously.'
'Do I have to go even further? Do I actually have to kill one of them?!' Shang thought.
'Do I actually have to act like a crazy psychopath before you finally let me alone?!'
'Fine!'
'Let's have a gamble!'
BANG!
The floor below Shang's feet shook as he exploded forward with his full speed.
He had charged forward just when the three of them began running towards him.
There were several meters between all of them, and if Shang had remained on the spot, they would have reached him at the same time.
However, Shang charged forward.
The eyes of the guy at the front opened wide in terror.
How was Shang so fast with so much weight on his shoulders?!
Shang was way faster than he had expected!
'You want a psychopath?! Fine! Here you go!' Shang thought with gritted teeth and narrowed eyes.
The guy in front of Shang only had a body in the Middle Soldier Realm, and he wasn't fast enough to appropriately react to Shang's attack.
With his full speed, Shang jumped forward, the two beast sacks still on his shoulders. Shang had used his full power while accelerating, and with the added weight of the two beast sacks, a terrifying amount of power was behind his charge.
Shang pulled his leg back and kicked forward with all his power.
This was a fully-powered attack of someone two levels above the guy in front of Shang.
This was essentially an adult releasing a hate-filled kick at a ten-year-old.
This was not a joke.
BANG! CRK!
The guy barely managed to put his arms in front of his chest before Shang's kick hit.
When Shang's kick hit the guy's forearms, they immediately broke apart, and that wasn't even the end.
CRK!
The ribcage of the guy broke behind the sheer force of Shang's momentum, his broken ribs digging into his lungs and heart.
At that moment, the guy felt like he was in a nightmare.
What was that sound?
Was the sound of breaking bones coming from him?
Was the sound of flesh and organs being pierced by bones coming from him?
Would he survive?
BANG!
The guy's back hit the wall, and his back broke into pieces too.
He was as close to death as it could get, and he was lucky for that.
If he hadn't been able to block his chest with his arms, his insides would have probably been turned to mush.
Shang noticed that he was still alive and felt some relief.
This had been his gamble.
He would go in with an attack that would actually kill the guy if he didn't react appropriately.
He had to show that he would not be afraid of actually risking his own life by killing someone else.
How did the other two react?
They quickly arrived behind Shang. They had already expected that one of them would be injured, and they didn't even look at their friend.
They had no idea how injured their friend was, and they didn't care right now.
They needed the loot!
Shang turned around and let go of his two beast sacks. His two opponents now were diagonally in front of him.
The two of them noticed that they couldn't grab Shang's beast sacks since they were behind him now. So, they decided to attack him.
One of them unleashed a kick while the other one punched at Shang.
Shang gritted his teeth.
'They still don't have enough?! Do you want me to go even further?!'
'Fine!'
'You win!'
