The Affinity wheel began to spin, but Shang didn't pay any attention to it.
Just like with the previous categories, the first opponents wouldn't be an issue.
"Level one: Weak Initial True Mage."
After some seconds, Shang's opponent arrived.
It was a beautiful girl with ocean-blue hair.
Shang could already tell that she was a Water Mage.
The jester lifted his hammer and struck the bell.
DING!
The girl opened her eyes and calmly looked at Shang.
However, her expression immediately turned to horror when she noticed that Shang was already beside her.
In her shock, she couldn't react.
BANG!
She was quickly bisected by Shang's sword, and he absorbed some life energy from her corpse.
The cheering returned.
Shang looked at the vanishing corpse without any emotions inside his eyes.
The wheel returned, and Shang waited for his next opponent.
"Level two: Average Initial True Mage."
His next opponent appeared, but Shang didn't really pay any attention to them.
DING!
When the bell struck, Shang charged forward again.
That's when Shang saw that his new opponent was a young man with red hair, wearing red robes.
The Mage immediately activated his Mana Shield.
BANG!
Shang's sword hit the Mana Shield, and the Mage was thrown into the distance by Shang's attack.
The Mage's eyes widened in shock.
That attack consumed over 50% of his Mana!
He quickly summoned his Focus and prepared two Spells.
However, before he could finish the Spells, Shang appeared before him again.
BOOOM!
The Mage was flung into the distance again, his Mana Shield broken.
The Spell the Mage had been preparing fizzled out since he was out of Mana now.
Shang immediately appeared in front of him again with his sword.
In panic, the Mage unleashed the Spell that his Focus had prepared. Luckily, Foci didn't need the Mana of their Mages.
WHOOOOOM!
A wide beam of unreasonably hot fire violently shot out of the Focus, right at Shang.
BANG!
Shang released a simple Ice Blast to sidestep the Spell. In his panic, the Mage hadn't been able to aim at Shang properly.
And then, Shang's sword came down on him.
BANG!
The Mage was cut apart, and Shang absorbed some more life energy.
By now, Shang's body was slightly swollen due to all the life energy.
The cheering returned, and the corpse vanished.
But this time, when the wheel returned, Shang actually looked at it.
Shang knew that he would win against his next opponent, but it wouldn't be easy.
These were Mages, the hegemons of the world.
Fighting a Mage on his level was already beyond impressive for Shang.
"Level three: Powerful Initial True Mage."
The wheel slowed down, and it eventually stopped on one of the smaller fields.
Shang's brows furrowed.
'I've never fought such a Mage before.'
SHING!
Shang's opponent appeared, and he looked over.
His opponent was a taller woman with long, black hair, wearing expensive, dark robes.
Her black Focus was already hovering beside her.
Shang could feel quite a bit of Darkness Mana come out of her.
Yes, this was a True Mage with a Darkness Affinity.
Shang had fought Poison Mages before, but not Darkness Mages.
They were not really common in the Skythunder Kingdom, but there were a lot of them in the Blackshadow Kingdom.
Shang guessed that this woman probably came from there.
The jester slowly lifted his hammer and struck the bell.
DING!
Shang exploded forward as the woman opened her eyes.
In an instant, she had already prepared her Mana Shield.
Her eyes quickly darted around the battlefield, but her brows furrowed when she saw it.
Shang's inner world was brightly lit like it was the middle of the day.
There were no caves, no trees, no big rocks, no structures.
This meant that the only places of darkness in Shang's inner world were the tiny shadows of the blades of grass and the shadows of the two opponents.
The battlefield couldn't be worse for her.
She quickly noticed that Shang had already arrived beside her.
In an instant, she cast Mana Step, appearing over 300 meters away.
Shang couldn't even land an attack.
BANG!
Shang immediately exploded after her with an Ice Blast, his speed way too fast for someone at the Initial Commander Stage.
The Mage narrowed her eyes when she noticed that Shang was close to her again.
SHING!
She unleashed another Mana Step, and Shang followed her.
'She definitely has undergone Mana Tranquility, which means that she is rapidly recovering her Mana. Even though these quick Mana Steps cost about 20% of her total Mana each, her rapid absorption essentially means that she only loses 10% of her total Mana per cast.'
'And even more, she hasn't unleashed any Spell yet.'
As Shang approached the Mage again, her black Focus suddenly began to shine in some kind of black light.
Shang knew a lot of Spells, but he knew basically nothing about Darkness Spells.
Shang readied himself to evade.
The Focus floated into the sky.
And then, several beams of black light gathered above it.
Shang's surroundings turned dark all of a sudden.
'That's not an attack!'
Shang looked up and saw that some kind of black shield had gathered above them. It was about a hundred meters wide, and it blocked out all the light.
Darkness Mana quickly filled the area below the black shield as all the previous Light Mana switched to its other extreme.
This was the worst battlefield for her?
So what? She only had to transform it into the best battlefield!
However, this Spell was very draining on one's Mana, which was why she had made her Focus cast it. Of course, in exchange, her Focus had needed quite some time to ready the Spell.
But now, it was active.
Darkness completely consumed Shang's surroundings, making him essentially blind.
'But I didn't rely on my eye anyway,' he thought.
Shang activated his Darkness Vision, and he very quickly found her.
She had suddenly left her earlier spot without a sound and appeared a couple of meters beside him.
It was like she had vanished from one point and appeared at another.
Without his Darkness Vision, it would have been basically impossible for Shang to find her.
BANG!
Shang unleashed a Fire Blast, directly charging at her.
At that moment, the woman narrowed her eyes.
How had her opponent found her?
Nevertheless, she already had her Spells prepared.
She very quickly spoke several words.
Over the last couple of seconds, she had prepared several Spells.
After all, she wouldn't just do nothing while retreating from Shang.
Everything had been prepared.
Suddenly, in the air in front of Shang appeared a dark and gigantic maw. It was invisible to the naked eye, but Shang's Darkness Vision could see it.
It was like a giant worm had opened its maw and was currently falling towards the ground, mouth first.
If Shang continued running, he would be consumed.
BANG!
Shang jumped.
The maw landed in front of Shang as he flew over it. Even though it looked like a worm's maw, there was no actual worm here. It was only the maw.
But at that moment, some kind of wall appeared in front of Shang.
Shang hadn't been ready for it, and it had appeared too close to him.
Shang hit the wall.
CRK!
In an instant, Shang felt like everything around him tried to crush him.
It was like he was a ball that had just landed in the palm of someone's hand!
As soon as the ball touched the palm, the surrounding fingers would clamp down!
Blood exploded out of several places on Shang's body.
BANG!
At that moment, Shang's body suddenly exploded with light.
The Mage's eyes widened in horror.
Light Affinity?!
The crushing force was dispelled around Shang, and he exploded towards the Mage.
But at that moment, another maw appeared in front of Shang.
He wouldn't be able to evade this one.
