More days passed, and although Shang became better and better, he still didn't win even once.
Shang had come across another problem.
A lot of his opponents were now using Mana Push.
Mana Push was a common Element-neutral defensive Spell. It created something like a force field around one of the Adept's arms, which extended outward by quite a bit.
Mana Push was the very technique Duke Whirlwind used to deal with the Exploding Mountain Turtle's attacks. He had created a huge forcefield and used it to bat the stones of the Exploding Mountain Turtle away like they were pebbles.
Of course, the Mana Push of these Adepts was nowhere near as overwhelmingly powerful as Duke Whirlwind's, but it was still troublesome.
Using Mana Push didn't waste as much Mana as receiving a hit to one's Mana Shield. However, it was harder to utilize since the Adept actually had to anticipate Shang's movements somewhat.
If they messed up their Mana Push, they would have wasted their Mana in using Mana Push while also receiving an attack to their Mana Shield.
Since Shang's opponents were now using Mana Push, Shang's progress was thrown back.
By now, Shang could barely waste 60% of his opponent's Mana.
However, Shang wasn't stupid, and he had realized something.
His initial opponents had been very clumsy, and they hadn't used Mana Push.
But now, his opponents were using Mana Push confidently.
This meant that Shang's opponents had been upgraded.
He was no longer fighting the trash portion of the Adepts but the average ones.
When Shang had just fought against his first few opponents, he had only managed to use up around 50% of their Mana, and these opponents had been the worst Adepts.
Now, he managed to waste 60% of the Mana of average Adepts.
Shang had made progress!
Several more days passed, and Shang learned to deal with Mana Push better.
There were three levels to dealing with Mana Push.
First level: Somewhat avoiding it and quickly charging towards the Adept's new location after they used Mana Step.
Second level: Avoiding Mana Push with a lot of confidence and making the Adept use even more Mana by forcing them to use a Mana Step with all their power.
Third level: Nullifying Mana Push and hitting the opponent's Mana Shield before they vanished with Mana Step.
After five days, Shang managed to confidently reach the first level. By now, he wasn't thrown to the ground anymore by being hit by Mana Push.
After several more days, Shang managed to reach the second level a couple of times, but before he could continue, he had to take a break.
17 days had already passed, which meant that the academy's auction would take place now.
Viera left to deal with several things. After all, she had been down here for over two weeks.
Shang retreated to his room and sat down.
One would think that Shang wanted to relax after 17 days of constant battle, but that was far from the truth.
Shang saw his own progress, and he became addicted to it.
More power!
He wanted more power!
He was making so much progress!
Shang wanted to continue fighting right now, but he had to wait until the room became free again.
Luckily, Shang wouldn't have to wait with nothing to do.
Mattheo arrived at Shang's room with several Spells made by Duke Whirlwind.
He delivered the Spells to Shang and gave him a couple of tips on how to train in Spell casting.
After becoming a General Stage warrior, Shang's mind was also slowly growing. By now, his mind had reached the Initial Apprentice Realm.
The Initial Apprentice Realm wasn't impressive, but it was still a step forward.
After Mattheo left, Shang looked through the list of Spells.
They were the easiest Spells imaginable. It was almost like they weren't Spells but training methods.
One Spell required Shang to simply gather Fire Mana from the surroundings.
Shang could absorb lifeless Fire and Ice Mana, but he hadn't yet been able to absorb these kinds of Mana from the atmosphere.
Obviously, Duke Whirlwind wanted to test if Shang had the same abilities as people with normal Affinities.
Shang sat down and concentrated on these Spells.
He was helping Duke Whirlwind, but he was also doing this for himself.
His Magic abilities would never reach the power of his physical abilities, but there surely were some Spells that could help Shang a little bit.
A Mage's power was 100% magical and 0% physical.
A warrior's power was 0% magical and 100% physical.
A magic warrior's power was 40% magical and 60% physical.
Due to Shang's warrior's body, he planned on making his power 10% magical and 90% physical.
Spells used the Mana from one's mind, but in comparison to a Mage, if Shang's Mana in his mind ran out, he wasn't helpless. Because of that, even though his Mana reserves for his mind were pitifully small, he could attempt to gain a one-time boost per battle by completely using up all the Mana in his mind.
Shang got reminded of how Astor used his Affinity to move to the side to change the angle of his attack.
If Shang could use all his Mana in one Mana Step to move to the side, it would already help him.
With one Mana Step, he could probably avoid an additional attack.
One Mana Step was obviously pitiful when compared to Adepts, but this one Mana Step could make the difference.
But to learn Mana Step, Shang had to become familiar with Spell casting.
And Duke Whirlwind's extremely easy Spells came at just the right time.
At that moment, Shang saw another path forward.
Shang was quickly approaching the limit of his techniques. The Adepts were overwhelming him, even though he was nearly perfect at fighting them.
There was only so much technique could do.
Shang had to upgrade some part of his power, and one of these methods was to learn Mana Step.
Shang spent the entire day practicing the Spells Mattheo had delivered him, and when Viera returned to get him to return to battle, Shang almost didn't want to stop.
Shang had made quite some progress in his Spell casting, and he was absolutely sure by now that he could increase his power with that.
Shang had so many things to practice that there wasn't enough time in the day.
At least General Stage warriors didn't need to sleep anymore.
Mana and oxygen fueled their entire being, and the Mana also changed their minds to process information while being awake.
Shang returned to his battles.
Sadly, even though he had made some progress in his Spell casting, his Battle-Strength hadn't been increased by it.
He was still quite a bit off from using an actual Spell.
For the next few days, Shang practiced dealing with Mana Push and learning all the different Spells his opponents were using.
By now, his opponents were using more than one Elemental Spell, and Shang saw new Spells every single day.
Shang was certain that these Adepts weren't weak.
After ten days, Shang managed to confidently deplete 80% of his opponents' Mana reserves again.
Only a bit more!
Three days later, Shang was so close to winning!
Only a bit more!
"Alright, that was the last one!" Viera said.
Shang became shocked.
The last one?
An entire month had already passed?!
Shang gritted his teeth. "I didn't manage to win even once," he said with frustration.
"Are you surprised?"
Shang turned around as he heard a familiar voice.
His teacher, the Dean, stood at the door.
"Can I go now?" Viera asked with the voice of a pleading child. "I want to hunt beasts again."
The Dean looked at Viera. "You can leave."
"Yay!" Viera said as she excitedly clapped her hands.
Then, she looked at Shang. "You're really impressive, Shang! In just one month, you became one of the best students our academy has ever had when it comes to fighting Mages!"
Shang snorted. "One of the best? I didn't even win against an average Adept even one time."
Viera only smiled brightly.
Then, she turned to the Dean. "Can I tell him now?"
Shang raised an eyebrow while the Dean nodded.
"Shang!" Viera said excitedly. "You've not been fighting Initial Adepts but Early Adepts!"
For a second, Shang's mind halted.
Wait, so these Adepts had all been a level above him?
No wonder their Mana Step was so fast!
"Surprised?" the Dean repeated.
Shang only looked at the Dean with a perplexed expression.
"Your body is a level higher than the body of a normal warrior. In short, your body is equal to an Early General Stage warrior."
"By fighting Early Adepts, you have essentially nullified the advantage of your new body. You experienced how it is to fight as a normal warrior against Mages."
"Our very best students can fight an average Adept on their level on equal grounds. By now, you are also fighting an average Adept on equal grounds, which makes you part of our best students."
"Of course, that's without considering the advantage of your unique body."
"Shang, you shouldn't forget that you have become very powerful over the last year. Your Battle-Strength is outstanding, and not many warriors can fight against you anymore."
"By making you fight Early Adepts, you learned a lot about how Mages fight, and you learned the most important aspect."
"Evasion and adaptability."
"Viera, you can leave," the Dean said as he looked at Viera.
Viera noticed that the Dean wanted her gone, and she left after saying her goodbyes.
Now, only Shang and the Dean were left in the room.
"You should be able to beat the fourth level in the Mage category in the trial," the Dean said. "You even have a tiny chance of winning the fifth level."
"You should undertake the trial in a couple of hours."
"I'm expecting greater things from you than I have achieved back then."
Shang remained silent as he listened to the Dean.
He hadn't even thought that his opponents were a level above him.
Why?
Because the supreme power of the Mages was blinding.
Shang thought that it was normal for him to lose against the average Adept.
But now, Shang realized that he had grown far more than he had anticipated.
The gap between him and the Mages had seemed insurmountable.
But now, Shang could confidently fight an average Adept one level above him.
Of course, without his body, Shang would only be able to fight an average Adept on his own level, but that was still very impressive.
Not many warriors could fight an average Adept one-on-one.
Shang had become one of the very best warriors in the academy, and he had his new body on top of that.
Additionally, Shang saw another method of becoming more powerful, which was Mana Step.
Shang had already become very powerful, but this wasn't even close to his full potential.
At that moment, Shang realized how powerful he had become.
And it felt great!
He wanted to feel that feeling of progress more!
And his next step?
Shang looked at the Dean with fiery eyes. "Thank you," he said. "I won't disappoint you!"
"I will bring back an amazing reward from the trial!"
The next step was the trial.
Shang was certain that the reward from the trial could increase his power even more!
