Silence.
Shang was waiting in silence along with several other warriors.
Some of the hunters knew Shang since he had visited the Hunting Guild several times by now.
After a full year, Shang had grown by quite a bit. By now, he had reached 180cm, the average height of men in the western hemisphere on Earth. Of course, Shang wasn't fully done growing, but he also wouldn't grow by much more anymore.
Shang guessed that he would essentially end up just a bit below 190cm in a year or two.
Sword had also grown. Since Shang had grown by a bit, Sword had decided to elongate as well so that Shang wouldn't need to change his fighting style.
According to what Sword had said, it could change its size by a little bit, but it needed new ore every time. On top of that, the ore had to be higher ranked than what it was currently made out of.
Over the last year, Shang had earned a lot of money, which he had used to upgrade Sword to the Late General Stage. He was still missing a lot of money before he could attempt to upgrade Sword to another level since the prices started to skyrocket at the Peak General Stage.
All of the hunters around Shang were in the General Stage, making Shang an oddity amongst their ranks.
Originally, a couple of hunters complained since they saw Shang as a liability, but the words of a couple of teachers shut them up.
Since many teachers specialized in politics or killing other humans, they didn't join the defense of Warrior's Paradise. In order to defend Warrior's Paradise, one had to be confident in taking down Commander Stage beasts, which was very different from fighting other warriors at the Commander Stage.
Because of that, sadly, most of the teachers weren't powerful enough to be a good help in the defense.
However, here, they were a great help!
So what if they weren't great hunters? The beasts were literally an entire Stage below them.
Of course, the teachers mostly acted as a last line of defense and would only get involved if a beast managed to slip past the wall of hunters.
There were also a couple of Adepts in the mix, but they would act as a secondary line of defense.
The hunters would constantly fight.
The Adepts would kill the beasts that slipped past the hunters.
The teachers would kill the beasts that slipped past the Adepts.
Why was the defense structured in this way?
By the hunters' choice.
In comparison to Warrior's Paradise, the Farm Line was not under any threat during the Day of Chaos. Sure, a lot of General Stage beasts would charge right at them, but they were only General Stage beasts.
With several teachers of the Warrior Academy and several teachers of the Mage Academy defending this place, the Farm Line wasn't in any danger whatsoever. It even extended to the fact that a lot of teams of hunters defended the border between the Wasteland and the Wild Forest.
Defending the border was very dangerous since they would have to survive the entire brunt of the wave, but profits blinded people. As long as they were careful not to take on too many beasts at once, they could bring in a fortune.
"And you are fine with that?" Shang asked teacher Loran.
"I should be the one asking you that question!" teacher Loran shouted back in fury. "Are you actually insane?! No sane person would do that!"
"How do you think I managed to become this powerful?" Shang asked back evenly. "I've managed to grow this much by continually pushing myself again and again. If I don't keep pushing myself, my Martial Art will never reach sufficient heights. It has to be forged under life-threatening danger."
"Bullshit!" teacher Loran shouted. "Your Martial Art is already equivalent to something someone at the Mid General Stage would be able to create after a full year of research! You're only at the Peak Soldier Stage!"
"A little danger is good, but you are actively playing with your life!" teacher Loran shouted. "At least let me make sure that nothing goes wrong!"
"But that's the thing, teacher Loran," Shang said. "As long as you are nearby, my mind won't be fully focused on the battle. As long as you are watching me, I will never feel in danger. If I don't get pushed to the limit, how can I find the inspiration I need?"
"Do you even hear yourself?!" teacher Loran shouted. "You are planning on killing a General Stage beast on your own, and not only that, no, you also forbid everyone from even watching your battle! From the very first day you arrived at the Academy, I knew that you were a crazy nutcase!"
"Then stop arguing with a crazy nutcase," Shang said with a frown. "If you're not fine with my arrangements, go talk to Vice-Dean Soran."
Teacher Loran looked like he was about to blow up. "You know exactly what his stance is!"
"Then, there you go."
Some seconds of silence passed as teacher Loran debated with himself.
"Mervin, Olga, and I have come to an agreement," teacher Loran said with a quiet but threatening tone.
"I knew that you and teacher Mervin were friends, but I didn't know that teacher Olga is also so close to you," Shang said, his tone not very respectful. That was because he knew what the new tone of teacher Loran meant.
Teacher Olga was the teacher that taught general knowledge about the Zones. She had offered her quota to Shang this year as well.
Teacher Loran narrowed his eyes, frustration, anger, and unwillingness in his eyes.
"We came to the agreement that we won't teach someone that doesn't value their own life," teacher Loran said.
'And there it is. Just as expected from teacher Loran,' Shang thought.
'Teacher Loran and teacher Mervin are very idealistic, and they take their ideals way too seriously. Teacher Mervin is always going on and on about the path of the sword.'
'Righteousness, stability, conviction.'
'A sword is not a mere killing tool but a weapon of judgment and righteousness. A sword should only be drawn if there is no other way left.'
'Life is precious, and the respect of the sword blah blah blah blah.'
'And teacher Loran is always going on about morals and promises and being a man and all that stuff.'
'And now, here we have it. I'm training in a way they don't like, but instead of giving me my own choice, they want to railroad me into something they want from me.'
'They even went as far as to threaten me. Telling me that they won't teach me anymore, which basically means that they won't allow me to join the special training class after I reach the General Stage.'
'Dude, I'm 24. I'm an adult. I can make my own decisions.'
'Also, do you think I actually believe that shit? Training in genuine life-threatening danger? What's the fucking point? There are risks that can be evaluated and risks that can't be evaluated.'
'Sure, I can train in life-threatening danger, but I always want to have a last safety net. I don't actually want to just risk my life like that.'
'But, guess what! I can't tell you that the reason I want nobody watching is so that I can unleash all my power. If I keep fighting openly, I can't use my Fire nor my Darkness Affinity. The General Stage beast will turn me into minced meat!'
Teacher Loran only looked at the glaring Shang for several seconds.
"I'm not an idealist," Shang said. "I do what works."
"What's that supposed to mean?" teacher Loran asked.
"It means that you can go ahead with your threat."
Teacher Loran's rage exploded. "You are willing to throw away your entire future just so you can gamble with your life?!" he shouted in fury.
"I'm throwing nothing away," Shang countered with an annoyed tone. "I respect you and teacher Mervin for your power and knowledge. However, at the end of the day, this is still my life. I get to decide what I do with my life."
"You are not my father."
"You are not my friend."
"You are my teacher."
"And I very much don't appreciate it when you threaten my future just so that I will do whatever you want me to do."
"So, stay in your lane! We are having a business relationship, nothing more!" Shang shouted with quite some anger in his voice.
Teacher Loran violently gritted his teeth, but then, he only took a deep breath.
Then, his eyes turned cold.
"If that is how you see things, fine," he said almost calmly. "This is your life."
"But I hope that you will one day realize that your life doesn't only belong to you."
"If you manage to survive today, that is," teacher Loran said before he walked away.
For some reason, when Shang saw teacher Loran leave, he felt a sting in his chest.
However, over the last year, Shang had learned to deal with emotional pain.
He and teacher Loran had never seen eye to eye.
They had never been compatible.
'It was bound to happen sooner or later,' Shang thought. 'My current feelings are what I would have inevitably felt in the future.'
'He and I are teacher and student. We haven't even really talked outside of school.'
'Sure, in some way, we are connected as teacher and student.'
'However, you tried to order me around with a threat.'
'Your life is your life.'
'My life is my life.'
And then, Shang looked away from the Farm Line and looked towards the direction of the Wasteland.
'It should start soon.'
