The young man opened his eyes, and when he saw his opponent, he lifted an eyebrow with a confused smile.
Then, he looked around and didn't see anyone else.
He looked back at the nearly-dead Shang lying on the ground.
After some seconds, the young man put the butt of his spear to his head and scratched it in a mix of helplessness and confusion.
And then, he simply walked over to Shang.
Shang continued to breathe heavily. His entire body was beyond exhausted, and his passive regeneration wasn't nearly powerful enough to heal it in a short amount of time.
Shang could only barely manage to stay alive. Sure, if given enough time, he could recover, but he wouldn't get that time.
Shang only heard the sounds of light footsteps slowly coming closer.
He didn't even look at this executioner.
After some seconds, a face with long green hair entered Shang's vision.
"Man, that last opponent sure did a number on you," the green-haired man said with a smile.
For a second, Shang was surprised that his opponent could speak, but he quickly remembered that his opponent was a human. It wasn't actually strange for him to speak.
"I lost the last fight," Shang said with difficulty.
The man scratched his head in confusion. "But you won, right? Otherwise, I wouldn't be here."
Shang tried to chuckle helplessly, but he had to cough violently.
"I cheated."
"Cheated?" the man asked. "In what way?"
"I used a power I wouldn't normally use," Shang said. "My power permanently cripples me, but since I will die in this trial, I will resurrect without any lasting damage."
"If the drawback of my power were real in here, I wouldn't have used it."
"Therefore, I cheated."
The man hummed a bit.
Silence.
"Eh, it's too much to think about," he said with a chuckle. "It's definitely a grey area, but I can't be bothered to find out if it is blacker or whiter."
"Anyway, I should do my job," the man said as he readied his spear.
"Can I ask you a question?" Shang asked.
The man smiled.
"No."
BANG!
The man's spear penetrated Shang's brain, killing him instantly.
Then, the man vanished with a smile.
…
Shang slowly opened his eyes.
For a while, Shang only looked at the sky.
"Dick," he muttered.
Surprisingly, the feeling of death wasn't as bad this time, mainly because it had arrived without warning.
Shang had expected that he would live for a bit longer, but the man had suddenly ended his life without forewarning.
Shang hadn't even been able to feel the approach of death before it was over.
"I'm fine," Shang said as he sat up. Sword was already beside him.
Sword didn't answer as Shang took hold of it again.
Shang stretched a bit and noted that his left arm was back.
"That's 16 points," he said. "Teacher only managed to get ten, and I still have the Mage category ahead of me."
At that moment, a new wheel appeared.
This one only had Affinities, nothing else.
"But I probably won't get very far," Shang said.
"Level one: Weak Initial Adept."
The wheel began to spin.
"I definitely won't win against a powerful Early Adept without my ability."
The wheel slowed down.
"And as for average Early Adepts, it's up in the air. No idea if I will win or not without it."
The wheel stopped on the Fire Affinity.
"So, at best, I will earn 24 points. At worst, I will earn 23."
After a brief flash of light, Shang's opponent appeared in the distance.
It was a young man with a beautiful face and long, flowing hair. A charismatic smile was on his face.
His red hair reminded Shang a bit of Mattheo, but when it came to power, these two couldn't be further apart.
Mattheo was a hardworking genius.
This guy?
The jester lifted his hammer and struck the bell.
The man slowly opened his eyes and looked at Shang.
A smile of disdain appeared on his face.
A warrior?
Why did he have to fight a peasant?
BANG!
Shang exploded forward with all his speed.
The Adept was a bit surprised by Shang's speed, but he wasn't worried.
This was only a warrior.
This was only a peasant.
Peasants couldn't touch him.
The Adept summoned his Mana Shield without hurry.
By now, Shang was only 40 meters away.
Then, the Adept began to create his first fireball.
He wouldn't even need to use Mana Step. He only needed to take one attack and shoot a fireball into his opponent's face.
It couldn't be easier.
Shang put his left arm onto his sword, and his arm atrophied.
BANG!
Then, Shang exploded forward with even more speed, his back burning.
Usually, it would be a stupid idea to injure oneself at the beginning of a long gauntlet, but Shang would very quickly regain his health soon.
Shang's sword hit the Mana Shield.
BOOOOM!
Darkness came out of the sword, and for a split second, one could see Mana gushing in to counter the black bolt.
The Adept didn't pay any attention and focused on his Spell.
Then, Shang pulled back his sword and attacked the Mana Shield again.
'Almost done,' the Adept thought with arrogance.
But then…
His Spell was interrupted.
The Adept's eyes opened widely.
Had he failed his Spell?
No! He had cast this Spell thousands of times! He wouldn't fail such a simple Spell!
And that was when the Adept realized that he no longer had any Mana left.
Pack!
At that moment, a hand grabbed the Adept's neck and lifted him up.
For the first time, there was fear in the Adept's eyes as he looked into Shang's eyes.
He wanted to say something, but his words were interrupted by a shout of pain.
He felt like flesh was being ripped out of his being!
The Adept struggled in Shang's grip, but Shang's body was far more powerful than his.
Without Mana, the Adept wasn't more dangerous than a common guard from some random town.
As the Adept screamed, his entire body transformed into a desecrated husk.
And three seconds later, he was dead.
Shang threw the husk to the side, and the cheering returned.
Surprisingly, the life energy he had absorbed from the husk was barely enough to recover Shang's superficial burns.
'What weak life energy,' Shang thought with a frown.
As the corpse vanished, the wheel returned again.
At that moment, Shang had killed his first Mage.
Shang had been in this world for nearly two years.
He had killed uncountable beasts, and he had also killed the odd warrior.
But he had never killed a Mage.
"Level two: Average Initial Adept."
The wheel began to spin.
Shang looked around as he waited for his next opponent expressionlessly.
His mind went back to all his fights in the warrior category.
The wheel stopped at the Wind Affinity.
Shang remembered that every warrior he had killed was a sentient being.
'My power is more important than their feelings,' Shang thought.
'However, if I can avoid killing someone, it may be for the better.'
At that moment, Shang's opponent appeared.
It was a young woman with long green hair, a scepter in her hand. She wore beautiful green robes, which reminded Shang of an academy's uniform.
'But, you know, killing Mages…'
The jester lifted his hammer and struck the bell.
Shang readied his weapon.
'Actually doesn't feel that bad.'
