Shang joined the rampaging barbarians and quickly took control over a group of 30 of them. With his strength, it wasn't difficult.
Shang methodically sent them through the Plague Rat Zone so that as few of them died as possible. After all, there were still a lot of powerful beasts around. Additionally, some Mages and Summoners were also hidden around the Zone.
With Shang's Darkness Vision, it wasn't difficult to spot the hidden Summoners and Mages. When he found them, he simply sent a large team of barbarians after them, not giving them any chance to resist.
These hidden forces probably tried to use guerilla tactics to slowly weaken the Grandmountain Kingdom's presence in the Plague Rat Zone, which was a good idea. After all, the barbarians were stupid and roamed around aimlessly like beasts. It wouldn't be very difficult to pick them off one by one.
However, with Shang's coordinated assault, he dealt with several of them.
After two days, Shang had been responsible for the death of four Adepts, seven Summoners, and even one Initial True Mage. Shang had managed to take care of the True Mage by attacking him by surprise, forcing him to retreat. Then, when nobody was around, Shang unveiled his true power and took care of him.
The fight wasn't easy, but it also wasn't hard. The Mage had already been weakened, and he had been taken by surprise several times due to Shang's unusual powers.
The Mages in the Skythunder Kingdom knew how warriors fought, and they knew how to counter them, but the Mages in the Blackshadow Kingdom hadn't even seen warriors, and the only fighters they fought were barbarians during the war. This made them complete novices in how to deal with warriors.
One had to remember that the Grandmountain Kingdom was northwest of the Skythunder Kingdom and that the Blackshadow Kingdom was northeast of the Grandmountain Kingdom.
There was an entire Kingdom between the Skythunder Kingdom and the Blackshadow Kingdom. On top of that, the Blackshadow Kingdom and the Skythunder Kingdom were allies. So, even if the Mages in the Blackshadow Kingdom saw a warrior of the Skythunder Kingdom, they wouldn't attack them.
Over the next couple of days, Shang asked the Mages he saw some questions. Usually, the Mages wouldn't care about answering a barbarian's questions, but they knew that Shang was Researcher Veral's new favorite. Because of that, they answered Shang's questions as long as he didn't ask too many.
Due to that, Shang actually learned of the political climate regarding the different Kingdoms. In the Skythunder Kingdom, Shang had never truly come into contact with people that lived on the frontlines, which made it quite difficult to learn about the political climate outside the Skythunder Kingdom.
But here, on the frontlines, Shang managed to learn quite a lot.
Apparently, the entire world was a circle with a diameter of about 4,000 kilometers. Shang guessed that it was about half as big or as big as the North American Continent on Earth. He wasn't entirely sure.
That was quite small for an entire world.
Apparently, an untraversable abyss surrounded the "world". The world simply ended at that spot.
Funnily enough, the Storm Eagle Zone was at the very end of the world. If one went past the Canyon and past the Crater, they would reach the southern end of the world, the Abyss.
Of course, Shang knew that this was bullshit. He was certain that the Abyss wasn't actually the end of the world but simply a very deep crater or something. Maybe the "world" was only a plateau? That would explain the absence of truly powerful people.
Anyway, the "world" was ruled by five Kingdoms. One in the north, one in the east, one in the south, one in the west, and one in the middle.
And as was natural with humans, they were at war.
The most powerful Kingdom, the Magic Purity Kingdom, was in the middle of the world. Their King was the most powerful human in the world, and his right hand was also an Archmage. The Magic Purity Kingdom was the only Kingdom with two Archmages.
The Grandmountain Kingdom was allied with the Magic Purity Kingdom, and those two Kingdoms were fighting the other three.
The Skythunder Kingdom was the leader of the alliance of the other three Kingdoms due to the power of King Skythunder. He might be the only Mage in the world that could fight the King of the Magic Purity Kingdom.
The Kingdom in the east was called the Spirit Spring Kingdom, and it connected the Blackshadow Kingdom with the Skythunder Kingdom.
In a way, the Spirit Spring Kingdom was similar to the Blackshadow Kingdom since they also employed beasts, but their methods couldn't be more different.
The Blackshadow Kingdom enslaved beasts while the Spirit Spring Kingdom befriended them. Both methods had their advantages and disadvantages.
The Blackshadow Kingdom and the Spirit Spring Kingdom hated each other due to that difference. However, in front of the Magic Purity Kingdom, they had to work together. The Magic Purity Kingdom viewed Summoners as a bastardization of Magic.
They didn't care as much about warriors or barbarians since they weren't related to Magic, but they hated the Summoners and Spiriters, the people that worked with beasts.
Originally, the Blackshadow Kingdom and the Spirit Spring Kingdom were losing in the war against the Magic Purity Kingdom, but then, the Old King of the Skythunder Kingdom died and was replaced with the current King.
The old Skythunder Kingdom had been neutral, just living in peace, but when King Skythunder came to power, he wanted to go to war.
War and conflict were fun.
He looked at both sides and decided to join the losing side since he wanted a challenge.
With the addition of the Skythunder Kingdom, the Magic Purity Kingdom had to spread its forces over a larger area, alleviating the pressure on the other two Kingdoms.
After a couple of years, the three Kingdoms dealt devastating strikes to the Magic Purity Kingdom.
And then, the Magic Purity Kingdom ordered the Grandmountain Kingdom to help them, which they did.
Right now, the individual Kingdoms' situations are as follows:
The Grandmountain Kingdom violently attacked the Blackshadow Kingdom in the northeast, and it received support from the Magic Purity Kingdom to the east.
The Blackshadow Kingdom was trying its best to resist the Magic Purity Kingdom, but the addition of the Grandmountain Kingdom made them lose a lot of land. After all, they had to focus nearly all their forces to their south.
The Spirit Spring Kingdom was supporting the Blackshadow Kingdom and the Skythunder Kingdom while trying to resist the weakened attacks from the Magic Purity Kingdom. The Magic Purity Kingdom didn't focus on them and only kept them at bay.
The Skythunder Kingdom received support from the Spirit Spring Kingdom. They were violently attacking the Magic Purity Kingdom, forcing them to commit nearly 50% of their forces to their south.
And they were absolutely decimating the Grandmountain Kingdom.
One of the reasons why the Grandmountain Kingdom attacked the Blackshadow Kingdom so desperately was the Skythunder Kingdom. The Skythunder Kingdom was gaining more and more land, and if the Grandmountain Kingdom didn't want to shrink, they needed to expand to the north.
For some reason, the Skythunder Kingdom's Mages were equipped with ridiculously valuable equipment. It was like the Skythunder Kingdom was oozing wealth.
Another reason was the dominance that warriors had over the barbarians. They were not the main force, but just a little advantage often turned the tide of battle.
After getting all of this information, Shang finally had a comprehensive picture of the "world".
'I'm in the northeast of the Grandmountain Kingdom, which is the northwest of the world. The Skythunder Kingdom is in the south. Going through the Grandmountain Kingdom or the Magic Purity Kingdom is absolute suicide. There are simply too many Mages that don't like barbarians or warriors.'
'However, the Blackshadow Kingdom is also not a good idea. Sure, they are allied with the Skythunder Kingdom, but there is so much distance between them that they wouldn't care about me. If they saw me, they would simply feed me to one of their beasts, and if anyone asked questions, they would say that they thought I was a barbarian.'
'The Spirit Spring Kingdom is a safe bet since it is a direct neighbor to the Skythunder Kingdom.'
'Honestly, I'm not sure if going through the Grandmountain Kingdom or the Blackshadow Kingdom is worse.'
'I think it would be easier to go through the Blackshadow Kingdom since they don't have any powerful physical fighters. They probably won't scan any random person for their physical power, while the Grandmountain Kingdom will do just that.'
'Well, seems like I have to fight my way through the Blackshadow Kingdom to get to the Spirit Spring Kingdom.'
Shang watched as the barbarians slowly stopped rampaging through the land. They had run out of things to destroy.
'For the next eight months, I will remain here and strengthen my body.'
'And after that, I will charge into the Blackshadow Kingdom.'
