Shang had finally deciphered the full technique.
Exhaust all your Mana, eat the heart of a beast on your level with your Affinity, isolate the Mana from outside and strengthen your body.
'This should be the full technique.'
However, that brought on another problem.
'But if I want to make full use of that technique, I need an Abomination,' Shang thought with a frown, 'and those are not really common.'
'That's a problem.'
Shang tried to think of a solution to this problem, but there was none.
The Abominations would be killed by the Zone Beasts as soon as they saw them, and if Shang appeared beside them, the Zone Beasts might decide to also kill him. The Thunder Horse's mark was only a suggestion to the Zone Beasts, and on top of that, the beasts here probably didn't even know the Thunder Horse.
'I can't just call an Abomination, right?'
Shang knew that he and the Abominations had some kind of connection. Every time Shang came in contact with one, they could feel each other. Additionally, Shang had never felt any kind of animosity from an Abomination.
It was almost like the Abominations saw Shang as one of their own.
Shang sighed. 'Even if I could call one, it would be impossible for me to absorb it.'
'First of all, while the Mages don't get involved in barbarian business, if they suddenly see an Abomination, they will attack it and take it back to analyze it. Even if I killed it, they would just confiscate it.'
'On top of that, it would attract at least one Zone Beast, and it would turn the Abomination into dust. At the same time, the Zone Beast would notice me and might even decide to kill me.'
'So, even if there were a vending machine of Abominations right beside me, I couldn't use it.'
'It seems like I have to use other beasts for now. Luckily, the type of technique I use will only dictate my current power, and it will make no difference if I switch later.'
'For now, the full potential of my body can't be realized, but I can still strengthen my body by quite a bit.'
'Anyway, I should ask about the local fauna from the barbarians.'
Shang returned to the group and gathered them.
After that, he asked them about every single beast they knew.
The barbarians were a bit surprised, but Shang was the most powerful of them. They fully trusted Shang.
Many hours later, Shang had learned about hundreds of beasts. Luckily, with his Peak Apprentice Realm mind, Shang could keep track of the beasts and their attributes.
After everyone had told Shang about the beasts, Shang explained the concept of Affinities to them by using the beasts as examples.
Many Tribes had created their own classifications for beasts, but they didn't generally know about how the Mages classified them.
Then, Shang told them that he was pretty sure that the last part of the technique was what kind of beast one absorbed.
The barbarians were quite surprised when Shang told them that they also had Affinities.
Shang taught every barbarian a way to release their Mana. This technique had no power, but it allowed the barbarians to put a bit of their Mana out of their bodies, which gave Shang the opportunity to gauge its element.
There weren't any surprises. The barbarians simply had normal Affinities.
Shang told them their Affinities and told them what kind of beasts they should look out for. If they had a beast of a different element, they could maybe even trade it for one that was useful to them.
Of course, the trade had to be finished within a day. If the corpse weren't preserved by a Spell, it would lose all its Mana in 24 hours.
The barbarians were ecstatic when they realized that they now knew the best technique available, and they wanted to get to strengthening.
"Should we wait for the attack?" one of the barbarians asked Shang.
"Attack?" Shang asked. "What attack."
The barbarians were confused that Shang didn't know about the attack, but then they realized that Shang had only arrived recently.
"We are waiting for the Mages' command to attack the Plague Rat Zone," one of the barbarians told Shang.
"The Plague Rat Zone?" Shang asked.
"We are currently in the Deepcore Turtle Zone. The Deepcore Turtle Zone belongs to the Grandmountain Kingdom, but we have only been here for about three months."
"We were part of the battle that won us the Deepcore Turtle Zone."
"The next Zone is the Plague Rat Zone, and we are waiting for the order to attack," the barbarian explained.
Shang scratched his chin. 'That means that we are currently in territory that belonged to the enemy just three months ago, and now, the Grandmountain Kingdom wants even more.'
"Why would we wait for the attack?" Shang asked.
The barbarians looked at each other in confusion.
Then, they looked at Shang. "Because of the Summoners."
Shang's eyebrows rose. "Summoners? What's that?"
This shocked the barbarians even more.
Leader Zero didn't even know about the enemy he would fight?
Shang saw their skepticism and quickly explained. "The reason why I am here and why I am treated as a criminal is because I lived in the wilderness. The Mages say that I have to repay them with my life, and I didn't believe so."
"That's why I don't know anything about our enemies."
The barbarians remembered that Shang was a criminal, and they looked at his collar.
They had completely forgotten about that.
"Being a criminal is bad and wrong," one of the barbarians said with a frown.
"But you are the strongest. We will follow," he added.
Shang nodded. "So, what are Summoners?"
"The Grandmountain Kingdom has barbarians," the barbarian said.
"The Blackshadow Kingdom has Summoners."
Shang lifted one of his eyebrows. "The Blackshadow Kingdom doesn't have barbarians?"
"We haven't seen any," the barbarian answered. "We have heard that there are people similar to barbarians, but they are all very weak, and we have never seen one fight. We heard that they hunt weak beasts and grow food."
'So, the warriors in the Blackshadow Kingdom are even weaker than barbarians. In fact, they are so weak that they aren't even powerful enough to properly fight,' Shang thought.
At that point, Shang furrowed his brows. 'But that doesn't make much sense. The path of a physical fighter is the most straightforward, and a lot of people can probably find a way forward. They don't have to be as powerful as the barbarians, but they should, at least, be powerful enough to join the war.'
"Why are their fighters so weak?" Shang asked.
At that point, the barbarians all frowned.
"From what we heard, Summoners can summon a Companion Beast from somewhere," the barbarian said.
Shang lifted an eyebrow. 'I asked about fighters, but okay.'
"That Companion Beast is their lifelong partner, and the Companion Beast can control other beasts. The strength of the Companion Beast also makes the Summoner stronger and allows them to control more beasts."
"The Mages always tell us to kill the Companion Beasts when we see them. The Summoner becomes weak and worthless when we kill the Companion Beast."
At that moment, the barbarian frowned.
"Beasts become more powerful by eating other beasts or humans."
At that moment, Shang's right eye widened.
He knew what the barbarian meant.
"We have heard that there are no strong fighters because the strong ones all get fed to the Companion Beasts."
