Shang took a deep breath as his nerves and body relaxed.
"That was way too difficult," Shang said.
"But you won," Sword answered.
"Yes, I won," Shang said.
Shang glanced at his left arm and saw that it was slowly regenerating.
"A Focus truly is terrifying," Shang said.
"And even more, he was only an Initial Adept."
Silence.
"I fought thousands of Early Adepts already, but this guy's skills and experience were far beyond every single one I've fought."
"If he had been an Early Adept…"
Shang imagined how the fight would go.
There was a high likelihood that Shang wouldn't even have hit his opponent once.
His opponent would have been far faster in casting Spells, and he would have already had two spells prepared by the time Shang would have reached him for the first time.
With the increased power and speed of the Spells, Shang could have very well died on the first barrage.
This wouldn't even be a fight.
It would just be a Mage swatting a fly away.
"We have to increase our power," Sword said.
Shang nodded.
Sure, Shang managed to overcome the gap between the Mages and the warriors this time, but the advantages of the Mages would only keep increasing as their level of power increased.
Right now, Shang could beat a very talented and powerful Adept on his level, but that didn't mean that it would remain so.
Shang had to work even harder and become even more powerful if he wanted to keep his current Battle-Strength.
This time, the wheel took longer to return.
'I guess I got some time to rest because of my arm,' Shang thought as he looked at his fully healed left arm.
Right now, Shang was at his normal peak. He didn't have an excessive amount of life energy stored, but his Mana was full.
Eventually, the wheel returned.
"Level four: Weak Early Adept."
'This should be manageable,' Shang thought as he looked at the spinning wheel.
Some seconds later, the wheel stopped.
Shang narrowed his eyes.
What Affinity did it land on?
Shang didn't know!
For some reason, the wheel had stopped at one of the spots that were so tiny that Shang couldn't even discern them.
According to Shang's guess, the chances of that happening were probably below 0.01%.
'An unknown Affinity!' Shang thought.
'I have no idea how this will go.'
After a short burst of light, Shang's opponent appeared.
It was a young woman with grey hair.
'Grey? But she doesn't have a Metal Affinity,' Shang thought.
Her robes were also grey, but they weren't luxurious in any way.
In her right hand, she carried a scepter with a colorless gem on top of it.
For some reason, Shang found this gem familiar.
And then, it hit him.
'That's a Sparren!'
'Then, does that mean that she…?'
The jester lifted his hammer and struck the bell.
And then, Shang's opponent opened her eyes.
Shang immediately exploded forward.
When she saw Shang's eyes, she became scared.
Shang was running at her with an intense killing intent, and she became scared of the madman charging at her.
She didn't want to fight!
She was horrible at fighting!
The Adept quickly lifted her scepter and started to cast a Spell.
The words were completely unfamiliar to Shang. This was a Spell he had never heard of.
A moment later, she unleashed her Spell.
Suddenly, the distance between Shang and his opponent widened.
Shang immediately confirmed his suspicions.
'A Space Affinity!'
'That actually exists?!'
Shang hadn't thought that it was possible for someone to have an Affinity for Space.
How would that even work?
Did Space have a certain temperament?
Shang hadn't even heard of a beast with a Space Affinity!
About 30 meters of distance had been created between Shang and his opponent.
Shang only continued running.
The Adept panicked again, and she quickly cast another Spell, but in a different direction.
The space behind her pulled together.
And then, she released a quick Mana Step.
In just an instant, the Adept moved several hundred meters away.
Just as Shang exited the first area of manipulated space, both areas returned to normal.
Shang continued running at his full speed.
The Adept had gained enough distance and time to think of a plan.
She was horrible at fighting, and her Affinity was nearly useless in a fight.
Eventually, she began to cast several Spells.
Shang couldn't see which Spells she was casting from such a distance.
A couple of seconds later, Shang could finally make out which Spell she was casting currently.
Mana Push.
Eventually, Shang reached her.
The Adept pointed her scepter to the sky and finished her Mana Push.
A forcefield made of Mana appeared around her scepter, and she moved it down quickly.
Shang lifted his sword and angled it as it hit the Mana Push.
CRRRK!
Due to the angle, Shang was pushed to the side by the Mana Push.
Then, the Adept quickly finished her second Spell.
She lifted her scepter again and struck down.
This time, Shang couldn't evade.
BANG!
A second Mana Push threw Shang to the ground, the earth around him cracking due to the power.
Then, she finished her third Spell and lifted her scepter again.
Another Mana Push.
BANG!
She hammered into Shang's body on the ground, pushing him further into the earth.
Shang's entire body shook, and he received some bruises, but they were quickly taken care of by his Mana.
Then, the Adept finished another Mana Push and slammed it onto Shang.
The crater around Shang widened, and Shang felt some of his muscles and organs bleed.
But to someone like Shang, such an injury was considered rather light.
The Adept looked at Shang with fear.
Was he dead?
Shang quickly stood up, and terror appeared in her eyes.
"No, please!" she screamed.
"I've never done anything to you!"
Shang quickly reached her and grabbed her throat.
At this moment, Shang felt horrible.
This Adept obviously didn't want to fight Shang.
She only wanted to run away.
Sadly, she had been chosen by the God.
The God wanted two of his playthings to fight.
And sadly, Shang couldn't afford to forego his reward.
'My power is more important than your life,' Shang repeated to himself.
In the end, Shang looked away as he activated Darkness Absorb.
If he could, he would have killed her quickly, but he needed the added life energy for his next fight.
Shang heard the most horrible scream he had ever heard in his life.
The scream went throughout his entire body, and Shang felt like a part of his soul had been torn out.
When the scream stopped, Shang threw the corpse to the side.
He didn't look at it.
Shang could deal with killing people that wanted to hurt him.
But this Adept had never tried to hurt him.
Her first action was to flee.
And only when Shang had still come after her with the intention of killing her did she helplessly use some Spells to deal with him.
Right now, killing Mages didn't feel as great anymore.
Shang's insides shook as he felt like he had lost a part of himself.
Eventually, the corpse vanished.
Then, the cheering returned.
At this very moment, Shang hated the cheering more than ever before.
He hadn't done anything that was worthy of cheering.
