The Inquisitor put a chain around the commander's body and woke him up.
The commander was confused for a second, but he quickly remembered where he was.
He jumped up with all of his power and tried to break the chain, but after the Inquisitor pulled lightly on it, the commander fell powerlessly to the ground.
When the commander noticed the Inquisitor, his face became white, and his world broke down.
He knew that he was in deep trouble.
"There is no information regarding who requested the mission or who put the bounty on your head," the Inquisitor said to Shang.
Shang only nodded without answering. He had expected that.
"The only thing I could find out was that the mission was put up inside the Empress Cobra Zone, but that doesn't exactly narrow it down," the Inquisitor said.
Shang already knew that it was the Wilburys.
"Thank you," Shang answered absentmindedly.
The Inquisitor nodded and left with the Ice Adept and the commander.
Shang remained on this spot for a bit longer, lost in thought, but a couple of minutes later, Shang decided to return to the Storm Eagle Zone.
'The matter with the Wilburys is over for now, but I have to be careful of where I go. Zero's bounty isn't openly displayed everywhere, and not everyone knows that I am Zero, but there might still be several people interested in me.'
'Even if only 1% of people are interested in my head, that would still be over ten True Mages in Duke Whirlwind's territory.'
'At least I don't have to hide inside Warrior's Paradise anymore. Warriors below the Commander Stage and nearly all Adepts are no longer a danger to me. The locations of warriors at the Commander Stage and True Mages are tracked, and as long as they don't want to be hunted by absolutely everyone, they won't make a move.'
'After all, on the surface, the different Dukes still have to act like they are one unit. If a True Mage were to kill me and escape, their identity would be revealed within the day, and with their identity revealed, even Duke Mithril has to comply with finding them.'
'Sure, he could hide them, but if it gets out that he is hiding someone that killed a weaker warrior without permission, he will have to pay a hefty fine. Most likely, he would just hand the person over, and the person definitely knows that.'
'But there are always ways around that. However, the further away I am from Duke Mithril's territory, the harder it gets for them to kill me.'
Shang sighed. 'Even more, teacher said that as soon as I win against the first being at the Commander Stage, his protection ends. I now count as someone with the power of someone at the Commander Stage, and dealing with these threats is now my responsibility.'
'I guess I have to continue concentrating on my power for now. The stronger I am, the better.'
'And now, I can also properly train against beasts. I hadn't had a true, direct threat to my life in over two years, and I feel my progress slowing.'
Shang had noticed that his progress was slowing, and he also found the reason.
Lack of danger.
Or, more precisely, lack of real-world experience.
A doctor on Earth could theoretically learn everything there is to know about the human body, but without any actual experience, they wouldn't be able to be a great surgeon.
In order to get better as a surgeon, eventually, the doctor needed to operate on a patient. There was simply no way around it.
The same was true for Shang. Shang could train his mastery over Mana, train his Affinity, and train his techniques, but he lacked the critical feedback he got during an actual fight.
Shang needed to put things into practice and adapt if he wanted to grow as quickly as he had in the past.
And for that, he needed powerful opponents.
The Cleaner had stopped Shang from gaining this experience for the last two years, but now, Shang was finally free to search for powerful beasts.
The fight earlier hadn't been truly dangerous. After all, Shang still had a couple of weapons he hadn't used yet.
Sure, if the three Adepts had been at their peak conditions and only had to focus on Shang, this fight would have been very dangerous.
But they hadn't. They had already been exhausted and distracted when the fight started.
The same thing was true for the Commander Stage beast.
'Luckily, now, I can fight an actual Initial Commander Stage beast,' Shang thought with a gleam in his eyes.
'Maybe, I can finally learn to condense my Domain. Then, I can advance to the Initial Commander Stage.'
'But I should advance to the Peak General Stage first. I wanted to be at the Late General Stage for this fight since I wanted to gain some actual practice, which I got, to some degree.'
'My Battle-Strength is also way more powerful than I had anticipated. I thought that the average Adept would be about equal to my current power, but they obviously are not.'
'Remaining at the Late General Stage is more useless than useful for now.'
'I think I should also strengthen Sword even more.'
Shang nodded as he made his plan.
'First, strengthen Sword.'
'Second, Peak General Stage.'
'Third, go outside and battle Initial or Early Commander Stage beasts until I condense my Domain.'
'Lastly, advance to the Commander Stage.'
'That should work.'
With that thought, Shang traveled back to the Storm Eagle Zone. With his current power, it only took about three hours to get there.
When Shang was younger, he loved the feeling of the wind hitting his face while running, but this sensation had long become normal to him.
Shang was running as fast as a car on the highway, but he didn't feel it to be special anymore.
When Shang had arrived at Warrior's Paradise for the first time, he had looked at giants. The teachers were so incredibly powerful.
But now, Shang's power was closing in on the teachers.
And he would soon reach their level.
As soon as Shang got back, he asked his teacher for materials to upgrade Sword, which he promptly received.
And then, Shang focused on strengthening his body.
This time, Shang only needed about ten months to advance a level.
Shang had just become 21, and as celebration, he left Warrior's Paradise to hunt some beasts.
It was time to test his power!
