"This one was close," Shang said to Sword.
"But we won," Sword answered.
"We did, but only because it panicked. If it had any sort of combat experience, it would have focused on getting rid of me instead of continuously healing. We only won because I managed to take advantage of its inexperience," Shang said.
"But we won," Sword said.
Silence.
"Yes, we won," Shang said with a sigh.
Shang looked at the vanishing corpse. "Dogs aren't famed for their defensive capabilities, but it was still incredibly hard to break its defenses. The physical bodies of beasts truly can't be underestimated."
Shang noticed that a leaflet had appeared, and he looked through it.
"Companion," Shang read.
That was the name of the dog's species.
Shang sighed once again.
He didn't regret killing it. After all, it was necessary.
But it still left a bitter taste in his mouth.
"Apparently, they are being bred in the Skythunder Kingdom's capital," Shang said to Sword. "They mainly work for the King's army."
The kingdom's capital was north of Duke Mithril's territories. Duke Whirlwind was the ruler over the southernmost Zones, and Duke Mithril was responsible for the central-southern territories. There were several more Dukes that dealt with the other directions for a total of twelve Dukes.
One at the outer parts of each cardinal direction.
One at the inner parts of each cardinal direction.
And one for each of the corners.
Since the corners weren't that wide, the Dukes responsible for the corners ruled over the outer and inner parts, making their territories resemble a line or a triangle more than a square or a circle.
Then, Shang saw the God's quote.
"Who would want to punch a puppy? A monster!"
Shang took a deep breath and threw the leaflet to the side.
At that point, the wheel returned.
"Level eight: Average Middle General Stage beast."
The wheel began to spin, and Shang looked at it with an intense expression.
'I only won because my opponent was inexperienced. This won't happen with the next one.'
Shang watched the wheel spin.
'The only way I can win against the next one is if I perfectly counter it.'
The wheel slowed down.
'Preferably, I need something with a weak defense.'
The wheel was close to stopping.
'It's all up to luck now!'
And then, the wheel stopped.
Shang saw his next opponent.
The image depicted a pig-like man with a lot of needles coming down his back. He was wearing sunglasses and looked like an intimidating bodyguard.
A moment later, Shang's opponent appeared.
Shang took a deep breath.
It was a brown porcupine with an obvious Affinity for Earth.
It was over five meters high, and its needles looked like they were made of granite.
Its head was meaty and muscular.
'I guess that's it,' Shang thought.
'No way I'm winning against that one.'
The jester lifted his hammer and struck the bell.
The porcupine noticed the distant Shang and sniffed.
Shang didn't move.
He didn't even take out his sword.
After some curiosity, the porcupine snorted and ran towards Shang.
It definitely didn't like him.
The gigantic body of the porcupine destroyed parts of the earth with every step, and it was like a wall of doom was trampling towards Shang.
When it came within ten meters of Shang, it opened its mouth.
Saliva dropped from its gigantic teeth, and it opened its mouth, which was as big as Shang's entire body.
Its speed was around equal to the dog's speed.
On top of that, it had a terrifying defense, and it definitely wasn't inexperienced.
Shang wouldn't be surprised if it could even use its needles as a ranged attack if it felt threatened.
Shang already had trouble evading the dog's attack. What would he be able to do against a wave of needles that shot at him with even more speed?
Shang sighed.
'If it had been something like a cheetah or a bird, I could have won,' he thought.
'Well, I guess that's it for the beast category of the trial.'
'Seems like I will only get eight points.'
Shang pointed his left arm at the porcupine's head.
Its mouth was close to swallowing Shang.
And then, Shang woke the hidden power inside his body.
In an instant, Shang's body began to deteriorate.
His skin shriveled up.
His muscles shrank.
His bones became weak.
His organs became weak.
His blood lost a lot of its power.
And on top of that, Shang's left arm turned into black dust, which scattered into the wind.
And then, without a sound, a gigantic hole appeared in the porcupine's body.
The hole was a meter wide, and it stretched from its head all the way to its back.
Shang could easily see the horizon of his own world through the hole in the porcupine's body.
There was no explosion.
There was no sound.
It just happened.
A moment later, a storm of pure, Neutral Mana came from the porcupine's body, and Shang felt like his body was bathed in pure Mana.
The porcupine stopped.
And then, it fell over.
Dead.
Shang slowly walked over and used Darkness Absorb on the porcupine's corpse.
A lot of life energy left the corpse and entered Shang's body.
Shang's body had been empty of life energy, and after absorbing so much of it, it had fully regenerated again.
Except for his left arm.
His left arm was still gone.
Shang looked at his empty left shoulder.
'I don't feel any growth.'
'I don't even feel like I'm supposed to have a left arm.'
'It's almost like I am already all that I am.'
Shang touched his left shoulder with his right arm, and he felt the skin that had appeared over the spot where his left arm had once been.
'I am already fully healed,' Shang thought with a complex expression.
'I simply don't have a left arm anymore.'
Shang looked at the vanishing corpse with a complex expression.
'A body part in exchange for an attack far above my ability. So that's the price for this power.'
At the same time, Shang also felt that his Affinity had been locked.
He couldn't feel Light, Darkness, Fire, or Ice Mana anymore.
He had also completely lost access to this special power.
But in comparison to his left arm, Shang could feel that he would regain control over his Affinity with time.
It would just take more time.
But his left arm would never reappear again.
'This is why I was afraid of using it.'
'Using this power means permanently losing a part of myself.'
'Luckily, I'm inside the trial. It's a risk, but I don't think that the God will resurrect me with only one arm when I die later.'
Shang took a deep breath.
'But that's exactly it. I have to die. Otherwise, I will have to fight the warriors and Mages with only one arm.'
Shang saw the leaflet the porcupine left behind but didn't look at it.
He just wasn't interested in it right now.
This time, there had been no cheering.
The wheel returned and began to spin again.
"Level nine: Powerful Middle General Stage beast."
Shang sat down and waited.
He didn't even look at his opponent.
Shang put Sword to the side since he didn't want it to get injured.
After a brief flicker of light, Shang's opponent appeared.
It was a big hawk with a rigged and spiky beak. Its feathers also appeared incredibly sharp, and its entire body was silver in color.
The jester lifted his hammer and hit the bell.
The hawk looked at Shang.
Shang looked back.
After a while, Shang could feel aggression come from the hawk.
The one-armed Shang only sat on the ground, looking at the hawk.
'I wonder how it feels to die. I wasn't exactly conscious the last time it happened.'
