After some seconds, the wheel stopped.
The image of Shang's next opponent was of a grinning weasel, wearing a sun hat, sunglasses, and a thick winter coat.
Shang raised an eyebrow when he saw that image.
This beast didn't seem familiar. On top of that, why was it wearing a sun hat and a thick winter coat?
A small light shone, and Shang saw his next opponent.
It was an orange and blue weasel, about two meters long. For a General Stage beast, it was more on the smaller side.
Just as before, the jester lifted the hammer and struck the bell.
After the bell rang, the weasel noticed Shang.
A moment later, its fur began to stand on end.
However, it didn't attack.
It seemed like the weasel didn't want to fight Shang.
Shang wanted to let the weasel attack first to see its abilities, but that obviously wouldn't work now.
BANG!
So, Shang exploded forward, the earth beneath him cracking again.
The weasel screeched aggressively, and it opened its mouth.
Shang jumped to the side.
A gust of icy air left the weasel's mouth.
'Ice Affinity?' Shang thought.
But then, the weasel turned its head while still unleashing the cold stream of air.
Shang was encompassed by the cold air, and he felt his clothing being covered in frost. Luckily, his body was very resistant to extreme temperatures. After all, he was constantly shifting the temperature of his entire body.
Shang continued charging at the weasel while it kept blanketing him in frost.
At that moment, Shang remembered the image on the wheel.
This could represent the thick winter coat in the picture.
So, if it was also wearing a sun hat and sunglasses…
'It would make sense,' Shang thought. 'This weasel counts as a powerful beast, which means that it might have a rare Affinity. A Temperature Affinity isn't unheard of.'
As soon as Shang realized his opponent's potential next move, he quickly stopped unleashing Fire Mana and only unleashed Ice Mana to increase his speed.
Shang's speed became a bit faster, and his body began to heat up, countering the icy wind from the weasel.
When Shang reached the weasel, it suddenly stopped unleashing its icy breath and jumped away.
Then, it opened its mouth again, and, sure enough, it unleashed a burning hot wind.
Shang felt like he had just opened a gigantic, pre-heated oven.
However, Shang wasn't injured in any way.
'Interesting,' Shang thought as he continued charging at the weasel. 'It uses the very thing that constantly destroys my left arm, intense cold followed by intense heat.'
'If I hadn't properly reacted to its attack by heating my body, my skin would have probably ruptured at several places on my body.'
Shang felt himself violently sweat.
Even without the cold, the heat was already dangerous on its own.
Shang quickly switched to using Fire Mana, which cooled his body down.
It was a balancing act of temperatures, but Shang had gained enough experience on that front over the past year.
'No wonder it belongs to the powerful beasts. Its attack has a wide range, and it's effective against basically every enemy.'
'It doesn't matter if the enemy is fast or slow.'
'It doesn't matter if the enemy has a hard outer layer or not.'
'Armored enemies would feel their hard defenses shattered.'
'Light enemies would feel their skin rupture.'
Shang was slowly gaining ground, but the weasel also wasn't slow.
'On top of that, it's very fast.'
'I guess I'm in luck, for once, since I perfectly counter it.'
However, even if Shang didn't have his temperature abilities, he would probably still win. After all, his opponent was only an Initial General Stage beast. He would probably get injured quite a bit, but his Mana would take care of the injuries without any problems.
Eventually, Shang reached the weasel, and he slashed at it.
The weasel barely sidestepped the slash, but Shang wasn't a newbie. He wouldn't put all his chips on one hand.
Shang quickly followed up with a second attack and hit the weasel's side.
A huge cut appeared on its body, and it jumped away again.
BANG!
Shang used his left arm to chase after the weasel, and before it could recover, he reached it again.
SHING!
This time, the weasel couldn't evade, and it was bisected.
Wild waves of varying temperatures came out of the weasel's body, but without any coordinated attack, the waves canceled each other out, turning into a strong but temperate wind.
Shang put his hand on the weasel's neck and absorbed its life energy.
A couple of seconds later, it was dead.
The cheering returned, and the corpse slowly vanished.
SHING! Plop!
Shang looked over as he heard a new sound.
On the ground, Shang saw a small leaflet with the weasel's image on it.
Shang furrowed his brows, walked over, and looked at the leaflet.
"Climate Weasel," Shang read.
Some information about the weasel was on the leaflet, and Shang looked through it.
'The Dean said that I would get some information about some beasts after the trial. I was wondering why I didn't get any information about the Trash Bird or the Spire Mire. Is that because I technically knew them already?' Shang thought.
'Interesting, Climate Weasels come from the Ice Wyvern Zone, but after living in the battlefield for so long, they began to adapt to the ravaged land.'
'Sadly, according to this leaflet, they will soon go extinct since the battlefield is now purely cold. Only their progenitor, the Icy Wind Weasels, will be left.'
Down at the very bottom of the leaflet was a quote from the God.
"Playing both sides in a war is only profitable as long as the war continues… unless you have a lot of power."
'Well, I guess he's right, to some degree,' Shang thought.
Shang had noticed that he had accidentally made a pun by using degree, but he didn't find it very funny.
After some seconds, the wheel returned again with its usual fanfare.
"Level four: Weak Early General Stage beast."
'This is where it gets interesting,' Shang thought. 'Without the procedure, this would be the strongest opponent I could fight against.'
Shang watched the wheel spin.
'However, the gap between the beasts and me has been reduced by a lot.'
'I'm interested in seeing my progress.'
