Everyone followed after Sarah with different expressions.
Shang was annoyed.
Astor was laughing.
Elver only helplessly smiled from the side.
The four of them passed some guards as they climbed the wall at the eastern side of Warrior's Paradise. Shang could also see several other teams in front and behind them, and he also noticed that basically all of them were at the General Stage.
The three of them caught up with Sarah while they were still climbing the wall.
"You seem rather annoyed at meeting me again," Shang commented from behind Sarah.
"Yes," Sarah answered directly, "but I'm not annoyed at you but at myself. Seeing your current power shows me that I have been slacking off for the last year. I thought that I had already put my everything into becoming more powerful, but apparently, I was mistaken."
'She doesn't sound like she's lying,' Shang thought.
"Why aren't you in the General Stage grade in the academy?" Shang asked. "With your hardworking personality, you should have easily been accepted."
"I declined," Sarah answered.
This surprised Shang.
"Why?"
"Because joining the General Stage grade means focusing completely on becoming a Commander Stage warrior, and that is not what I want," Sarah said.
"Then, what do you want?" Shang asked.
"I want to become a powerful blacksmith."
Shang raised an eyebrow. "Is there a specific reason behind that decision?"
"Future," Sarah answered as the four of them reached the top of the wall. "There are only a few blacksmiths that can make weapons for Commander Stage warriors and none that can create weapons for True Path Stage warriors."
"I want to become a True Path Stage warrior, which is why I joined the Caterpillar Class in the first place. However, what am I supposed to do without a weapon when I reach my goal? That's why I'm focusing on smithing."
Sarah's words immediately reminded Shang of his first conversation with the God.
The very reason why the God had given Shang Sword was so that he didn't need to blaze two new paths at once.
In a certain sense, Sarah was trying to do exactly that, even if her goal was "only" the True Path Stage.
Even the God believed that this was too much for Shang, which was why he helped him in that regard.
Yet, Sarah wanted to do it regardless.
Shang only looked at her with an uncomfortable expression. He felt a bit bad for her since she was comparing herself to Shang, which was not a fair comparison at all.
Shang had the help of the God, the Dean, and Duke Whirlwind.
"You know, the reason why I am as strong as I am now is because of the help of several powerful people," Shang explained. "Without their help, I wouldn't even feel comfortable reaching the Early General Stage."
"What are you trying to say with that?" Sarah asked with annoyance as everyone queued up near the edge of the wall.
"What I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't compare yourself to me since you probably don't have the luxury of having so many powerful people helping you. You are already better than me if I didn't have so much help."
Sarah didn't even look at Shang as she stood in the queue. "So? So what if you have powerful people helping you? Strength is strength. The way you obtained your strength is irrelevant. If we were to fight to the death, I would still die to you. The source of your strength is irrelevant."
Shang sighed. 'Her outlook is painfully realistic and result-oriented.'
"Hey," Elver said from behind Shang. "So, what happened over the last year? I want to know."
Shang wanted to answer, but Sarah talked over him before he could say anything. "Quiet! We are about to start our hunt. You can talk about these things after we return. I won't allow anyone to dedicate valuable concentration to having a conversation about irrelevant topics in my team!"
Shang lifted an eyebrow while Elver only sighed. "Sure thing, boss."
Shang looked at Astor, who only helplessly shrugged.
Astor had told Shang that he actually wasn't the leader of his hunting team and that he also wasn't the strongest.
'Well, now it's obvious who the leader is,' Shang thought as he looked at Sarah's back. 'But honestly, it's really impressive that Sarah managed to overtake Astor in power while still focusing on blacksmithing.'
'If she actually had a strong backer, how powerful would she be right now?'
Except for Mattheo, Sarah was probably the most hardworking person Shang had ever met.
Everyone fell into silence as Sarah talked to a guard that had approached her. She handed over a sack of gold, and the guard took out eight talismans.
Sarah took the talismans and gave two to each member of the team.
After a minute of waiting, it was finally their turn.
The four of them stepped towards the edge of the wall, and Shang looked down.
He was really high up, and Shang could see for kilometers upon kilometers into the distance.
"Follow me," Sarah said.
And then, she jumped off the wall.
Shang took a deep breath. He had faced death multiple times, but he still felt nervous when he thought about jumping off such a gigantic cliff.
But two seconds later, Shang also jumped off.
Shang tried to calm himself down while falling, and he kept his eyes on Sarah.
A second later, Shang saw Sarah take hold of one of the talismans and destroy it.
A green, ethereal shroud left her back, and the direction of her fall was changed. Instead of falling straight down, her momentum was changed into a diagonal one.
Shang also broke one of his talismans, and the same happened to him.
The two behind Shang did the same, and at that moment, all four of them were gliding over the Wasteland.
The sun had just poked over the horizon, and the team of four was seemingly flying towards it in silence.
No one spoke a word.
Shang was currently over two kilometers high in the air.
Below him was a seemingly endless wasteland.
Above him was the blue sky.
In front of him was the morning sun.
Behind him was the terrifying and imposing fortress that was Warrior's Paradise.
As Shang looked at his surroundings, he didn't know what he was feeling right now.
'It's almost like I'm flying,' he thought. 'This is what Duke Whirlwind can do whenever he wants, and he can actually, truly fly.'
'I've been on a couple of planes on Earth, but this is completely different.'
For a while, Shang only looked at the sky and the ground without thinking anything.
Silence.
'I also want to fly in the future.'
