Shang opened his eyes and looked around the room.
It appeared brighter than before. However, Shang was sure that there wasn't more light in the room.
'My vision has improved,' Shang thought.
At this moment, Shang didn't regret the procedure anymore.
During it, he regretted it very much. After all, he had to go through so much pain.
But now, everything was over, and Shang would reap the fruits of his pain and suffering.
"Name?" the Dean asked.
Shang looked over at the Dean.
Then, he looked around the room and noticed that he was alone with the Dean.
"Shang," he answered. "I still remember everything."
"Tell me about your life," the Dean said.
"This one or the one before that?" Shang asked.
"This one."
So, Shang told the Dean a short summary of what had happened in the last two years to prove that he was still the same.
"What are your goals?" the Dean asked.
"Power," Shang said.
"Anything else?" the Dean asked.
"Mostly power, but I'm not against something else as long as it doesn't interfere with my goal."
"Such as?"
"Romance, friendship, that stuff, you know?"
Then, the Dean nodded. "Seems like there are no immediately noticeable changes to your personality."
After hearing that, Shang became a bit anxious. "Do you think I could have changed without noticing?"
"It's possible," the Dean said. "Your entire body has been replaced with matter created out of the Abomination. Some changes are to be expected."
"Abomination? That's what you call it?" Shang asked.
"Correct," the Dean said. "There is no more reason to keep all of this a secret. You've seen it, and you've basically become it. Not understanding what you have fused with will make things only harder on you."
Shang listened to the Dean.
"The thing you have seen earlier is what we call an Abomination. They are very peculiar monsters."
"Why do you call them monsters and not beasts?" Shang asked.
"Because, as far as we are aware, they are not beasts," the Dean answered.
"They're not beasts?" Shang asked with a raised eyebrow. "Then, are they humans? Are they plants?"
"Neither," the Dean answered. "As far as we know, they are a unique lifeform."
"How come you are so sure about that? What makes them different from beasts?"
"Their powers and actions," the Dean said.
Shang waited for elaboration.
"Every six months, these Abominations appear out of nowhere. They appear mostly at random, but their appearance also has a definite pattern to it."
"What do they do?" Shang asked.
"They destroy," the Dean answered.
"Only destroy?"
"Only destroy," the Dean said. "After they appear, they start destroying everything around them. Earth, air, life, fire, water, everything. They destroy everything that has matter."
"Why?" Shang asked with furrowed brows.
"We don't know," the Dean answered. "There are not many of them, and we can't watch them in the wild since every single second they continue to exist, they destroy more matter."
Shang remained silent for a bit.
"Why has no one ever heard of them?" he asked.
"Because they all die very quickly to us," the Dean said. "According to old scriptures, keeping them alive will draw in more of them. The more there are, the more will come."
"Who kills them exactly?" Shang asked. He had already guessed something.
"There are three levels of them," the Dean explained. "The one you saw earlier was of the weakest variety. They basically count as Soldier Stage Abominations, and a specialized force of True Mages kills them."
"True Mages?" Shang asked. "Why not Adepts?"
"Because they are terrifyingly powerful," the Dean explained. "An Abomination at the Soldier Stage can easily kill something at the General Stage, and they can even fight some of the weaker Commander Stage beings."
Shang's eyes widened in shock. "What?" he shouted.
Something at the Soldier Stage that was able to fight something at the Commander Stage?
That was ridiculous!
"How?" Shang asked.
"I'll come to that soon," the Dean said. "Let me first finish telling you about the other two."
Shang didn't say anything.
"The second variety is at the General Stage, and these things can even fight the weaker beings at the True Path Stage."
At that point, the Dean released a sigh.
"I'm helpless against them. I tried it before," he said.
It was hard for Shang to believe the Dean right now.
The Dean was helpless against something at the General Stage?
Something at the General Stage could fight something like the Exploding Mountain Turtle?
Even more…
"And the third?" Shang asked. By now, he was certain that his earlier guess was correct.
"The Zone Beasts deal with those," the Dean said. "As you might have already guessed, that's the reason for the Day of Chaos. The Storm Eagle searches the lands for the Commander Stage Abominations and kills them. From what we've heard, a couple of other Zone Beasts do the same thing."
"Of course, not every Zone Beast is needed to kill these things. Many of them remain in their Zones and just kill the Abominations that appear in their Zones," the Dean explained.
The reason for the Day of Chaos.
Every six months, the Storm Eagle left to deal with the Commander Stage Abominations.
"How powerful are the Commander Stage Abominations?" Shang asked.
"Only the five Kings have a fighting chance against them. As you already know, the five Kings are the only five Archmages in existence, and if they were to fight a Commander Stage Abomination, it wouldn't be an easy fight," the Dean explained.
"And the Zone Beasts?" Shang asked.
"A casual flap of the Storm Eagle's wing reduces them to nothing," the Dean said neutrally.
Shang took a deep breath.
The Zone Beasts were really incredibly powerful.
"Do these Abominations also appear here?" Shang asked.
"They do, but only the weaker variants," the Dean said. "If any of them appear, the Zone Beasts deal with them without you even noticing."
At that moment, Shang remembered the feeling he had felt when the Ice Wyvern had left its underground lake.
"One appeared in the battlefield, correct?" Shang asked.
"You noticed that?" the Dean asked with a raised eyebrow.
Shang nodded. "On the Day of Chaos, I suddenly felt this familiar but also scary feeling, and I looked towards the northwest, which was when I saw the Ice Wyvern flying in the sky."
The Dean looked at Shang for a bit.
"Yes, it was a General Stage Abomination with a couple of Soldier Stage Abominations."
"And you knew that it would appear there," Shang added.
The Dean looked into Shang's eyes for around three seconds.
"Quite smart," the Dean said. "However, everything about that incident is regarding politics and not the Abominations. I'm telling you about the Abominations so that you may learn of their power. After all, you might have their peculiar power now. The specifics of that incident are politics, and that's not something I will tell you."
Shang nodded, but he wasn't happy.
"So, what are their powers? What makes them so powerful?" Shang asked.
"The Abominations have a certain, unique power, which could also be called an Affinity, I guess," the Dean said.
"After you told me what He told you, I already suspected that you shared this Affinity with the Abominations."
"Which is?" Shang asked impatiently.
"They can turn matter into Mana."
