Shang spent a bit more than a year strengthening his body and Affinity.
After that year, Shang reached the Early Commander Stage, but his control over his Affinity hadn't been strengthened by much. The main problem was probably his weak mind.
Sadly, there was no cure for that due to his Warrior's body.
However, Shang wanted to reach a breakthrough in his control over his Affinity before he left this place. On top of that, he wanted to strengthen his body a bit more. After all, the relative power compared to beasts on his level always fell after a breakthrough.
Shortly before Shang had made his breakthrough, he had about 82% of the power of an Initial Commander Stage beast, but after his breakthrough, he only had about 60% of the power of an Early Commander Stage beast.
In terms of total power, that was still far more than before, but it could definitely be better.
So, Shang continued training his Affinity and strengthening his body for another year.
After that year, the power of Shang's body returned to about 73% of the power of an Early Commander Stage beast, and he finally managed to make a breakthrough in his Affinity.
'My new ability should give me more defensive power against Mages and more offensive power against beasts,' he thought as he looked at his left arm.
'Additionally, I already know what my next milestone for my Affinity will be, but that will probably take another couple of years.'
'For now, I don't want to stay inside this lake any longer.'
With another two years passing, Shang's body was now 29 years old.
Seven years ago, Shang had been a newbie relating to Commander Stage warriors, but now, he was experienced.
'I might actually have a chance of winning against Teacher Mervin now, but that's because of the Procedure and my Affinity. If our physical power were at the same level, I would probably still miserably lose,' Shang thought with a bitter smile.
'There's plenty more to learn.'
'Anyway, I should get ready for the big event.'
Shang left his inner world and returned to his body.
After leaving the sandy ground, Shang swam towards the center of the lake, but after only two kilometers, he stopped.
The only reason why he was here was to not be directly near the Plague Rat Zone.
For a moment, Shang didn't move, but his heartbeat began to speed up.
He was getting nervous.
'It's a gamble, but I need to do this.'
Over the last two years, Shang had realized something.
According to his math, his body would reach its peak at around 78% of the power of an Early Commander Stage beast.
Obviously, this was lower than the 82% he had had at the Initial Commander Stage.
What was the difference?
The Abomination he had absorbed.
If Shang continued training without absorbing any Abominations, he estimated that the maximum potential of his body would always remain at the 75% mark.
As soon as he reached the 75% mark, he would need to reach the next level, which would mean his strength would fall by another 20% to 55%.
In comparison, if Shang exclusively only absorbed Abominations, he was sure he would be able to reach 100% of the power of an equivalent beast.
With the 20% drop, this would mean that he would be at 80% of the power of an equivalent beast after a breakthrough.
This meant that the lowest point of only absorbing Abominations was 5% higher than the highest point of absorbing whatever beast.
This difference in power was astronomical.
The Abomination-absorbing Shang would be more powerful than the other Shang after he had strengthened his body for another couple of years.
This difference in power represented probably over three points in a theoretical trial.
Sadly, Shang couldn't only absorb Abominations. Every time he summoned one, he would attract the attention of the resident Zone Beast.
Most Zone Beasts probably didn't exactly care about Shang due to the Thunder Horse's mark, but if they suddenly saw several Abominations appear around him, they would very likely want to kill him.
This left Shang with only a single way to absorb Abominations, and he was about to try out this method right now.
He would need to summon Abominations, absorb one, and immediately flee to another Zone as the other Abominations distracted the Zone Beast.
However, it was still dangerous.
What if the Zone Beast decided to follow Shang into a different Zone? For example, the Empress Cobra also dealt with the Abominations in the Adamantite Behemoth Zone.
If Shang were to summon Abominations in the Empress Cobra Zone and flee to the Adamantite Behemoth Zone, the Empress Cobra would very likely chase after him and kill him.
Additionally, he could probably never allow himself to enter the Spirit Sense's range of that Zone Beast again.
Absorbing an Abomination represented going scorched earth with a Zone Beast. Every Zone Shang performed that act in would become inaccessible to him.
Sadly, that was the only way Shang could think of.
He couldn't control how many Abominations appeared. At most, he could probably somewhat control where they appeared.
Performing that trick was definitely very risky and dangerous, but if Shang wanted to reach his full potential, he needed to absorb Abominations.
Right now, Shang was around five kilometers deep in the ancient lake. The distance to the shore of the Plague Rat Zone was about four kilometers. After all, the ground went inward the deeper one went in the lake.
So, even though Shang was four kilometers away from the shore, he was only a bit more than two kilometers away from the sandy wall.
'Zone Beasts have a terrifying Spirit Sense, but I'm pretty sure that Plague Rat can't feel the Abominations if they appear down here. There is quite a lot of distance to the place where the Plague Rat lives, and there's also a ton of water between us.'
'Additionally, the terrifying pressure down here should kill all the Soldier Stage Abominations and the weaker General Stage Abominations, somewhat containing the commotion.'
'First, I summon the Abominations. Then, I quickly absorb one. After that, I will flee to the Plague Rat Zone, kill any Mage I see, and directly run to the northwest, to the next Zone.'
'The Zone to the northwest is the Ancestral Mountain Zone. As long as I run up the mountain, the Mages should stop chasing. After all, they don't want to die.'
Funnily enough, the Ancestral Mountain Zone didn't get its name from its Zone Beast but from the fact that the entire Zone was essentially one huge mountain.
The reason why it wasn't named after the Zone Beast was that no one had ever seen the Zone Beast.
It obviously lived on top of the Ancestral Mountain, and it definitely had a Light Affinity.
But that was all the humans knew about the Zone Beast.
Shang didn't want to remain in the Plague Rat Zone for obvious reasons. He would only run through it, get to the mountain, find a safe place there, and then enter the Blackshadow Kingdom.
Yes, the Ancestral Mountain Zone belonged to the Grandmountain Kingdom for the simple reason that the Blackshadow Kingdom really wasn't very interested in that Zone.
They were not the biggest fans of a Zone filled with Light Mana.
'The resident Governor should be in the Deepcore Turtle Zone, and I doubt that they will act due to some rogue barbarian.'
Shang closed his right eye to prepare himself mentally.
He only hoped that he wouldn't die.
And a couple of seconds later…
He activated his Domain of Entropy.
