Shang and Astor spent the day together, and when evening arrived, they split apart.
Shang went back to the academy and trained in his mastery over his Affinity, which was different from training in mastery over Mana.
Mastery over Mana was more of a general, all-encompassing mastery, while mastery over an Affinity referred to the specifics. When compared to Spells, one could say that mastery over Mana would increase one's ability in regards to all Spells, while mastery over an Affinity referred to one's ability in regards to only Spells of a specific category.
When dawn arrived, Shang left the academy and went to one of the walls on the eastern side of Warrior's Paradise. This was where the group was supposed to meet.
Shang could see a couple of hunters walking around in teams.
Everyone was getting ready for a day of hunting.
It took a couple of minutes, but eventually, Astor arrived with his team.
Surprisingly, Shang recognized all of them.
The team consisted of three people, with Astor being the leader.
The second person on the team was a smaller man with long green hair and two long rapiers. He wore one of the black sets of leather armor that the Hunting Guild sold.
Shang knew this guy.
Back when Shang had taken part in his first lesson in the Caterpillar Class, he had been the one that had insulted him several times. Later, it came to light that he was simply envious of Shang since he had assumed that Shang was some progeny of a rich family. He even apologized for his treatment of Shang later.
It was Elver.
Sadly, judging by his getup, Elver didn't manage to enter the General Stage grade in the Warrior's Academy.
Shang also knew the third person.
It was a tall woman with short, grey hair. She carried a huge hammer on her back and also wore the typical set of black leather armor that the Hunting Guild sold.
Shang remembered how they had made a deal. In exchange for helping her adapt to fighting beasts, she gave Shang information about different metals. Sadly, the deal hadn't been relevant for very long since Shang had managed to upgrade his sword very soon after their first meeting.
It was Sarah.
Shang had met them occasionally about a year ago during class, but their power wasn't enough to rival the strongest students in the class, which was why Shang hadn't fought them in forever.
As soon as their powers had diverged, they hadn't talked much anymore. Shang's refusal to spend time with others also didn't help.
In the end, they had only been classmates, and that was it.
Elver looked at Shang with a polite expression while Sarah looked at him with furrowed brows.
"This is him!" Astor said with a bright smile as he stopped beside Shang.
Elver walked up to Shang and performed a small, polite bow as a greeting. "Nice to meet you. My name's Elver, and I'm the runner of the team. Thank you for helping us today!" he said in a charismatic but polite voice.
Shang lifted an eyebrow while Astor tried to suppress a smile.
'Astor didn't tell them, huh?'
Shang looked at Elver. 'I guess he didn't recognize me. Well, I can't fault him. I changed a lot over the last year. Even Sword gained a couple hundred kilos, maybe even tons.'
Shang threw a look at Astor, who acted like he didn't see Shang's look.
A second later, Elver was pushed out of the way as Sarah stopped in front of Shang, looking deeply into his eyes with an evaluating expression.
"Sarah, I'm the flex," she said.
Then, she offered her hand to Shang.
Even though it had been years since Shang had been on Earth, the reflex of shaking an offered hand was still ingrained in him. As a professional athlete, Shang had needed to shake so many hands of so many managers, promoters, clerks, fans, and so on.
Shang put his own hand into Sarah's hand and shook.
But at that moment, Shang felt Sarah tighten her grip with what seemed to be all of her power.
At that moment, Shang knew why Sarah was doing this, and it also explained why she had looked at Shang with furrowed brows earlier.
"Doubtful of my strength?" Shang asked as they shook hands.
A second later, Sarah pulled her hand back. "Not anymore," she said. "I apologize for my rude behavior, but I became doubtful of your strength when I saw how young you were. You should understand that this concerns our lives, and we can't take any chances here."
Shang nodded. "Understandable. You always were very skeptical of things."
Sarah furrowed her brows in a displeased expression while Elver looked at Shang with a weird look.
"Why don't you introduce yourself?" Astor asked with a bright smile as he leaned on Shang's shoulder.
"Do I know you?" Sarah asked with an annoyed voice.
"I'm Shang," Shang said.
For a second, Elver and Sarah didn't react.
They had heard that name before.
And then, they remembered that young kid that had become incredibly powerful in only a bit more than a year.
"The one from the academy?" Elver asked from the side with surprise.
"Is there a second person in this world with such a weird name?" Shang asked.
At that moment, Elver chuckled. "No, I guess not," he said. "Man, it's been forever since we saw each other. One year ago, we saw each other nearly every day in class, and then, bam, you were gone after the Day of Chaos. I thought you died!"
Shang put on a smile, which looked a bit awkward since he smiled so rarely. "I've been busy with one mission after the other. I returned to the academy just yesterday, which was when I ran into Astor."
"Oh, that explains things," Elver said. "I guess someone with your workaholic personality would go missing just to take on one mission after the other without a break."
"Say, why did you decide to become an Early General Stage warrior already? Are you not afraid of ruining your Battle-Strength?" Elver asked.
"My Battle-Strength is not a problem," Shang answered vaguely.
At that moment, Sarah walked past Shang. "Have you guys talked enough? We have to get going. I don't want to spend all day reminiscing about the past."
Sarah's voice sounded even more annoyed than usual, which meant that she was in a genuinely bad mood.
Shang only looked at her as she left them behind.
At the side, Astor sighed. "You hurt her, you know?" he said.
When Shang heard that, his mind went wild with possibilities.
Hurt her?
Because he had left for so long without saying goodbye?
Shang was sure that they weren't friends. They didn't even talk a lot back then.
Wait, was she romantically interested in him?
Shang furrowed his brows as he looked at the leaving Sarah.
"Shang," Astor said with a sigh. "You know, you can't just break a woman's heart like that."
Shang became a bit more nervous as he heard Astor's words.
"Why did you decide to hurt her by becoming that much more powerful than her? You were her target, and she worked herself to the bone to catch up to you for the last year. And now, you're here, at the Early General Stage with great Battle-Strength."
Shang's nervousness transformed into annoyance.
That was when Astor exploded into laughter.
