The Dean was immediately interested, but he told Shang that they should talk about it when they arrived in his office.
The two of them currently walked towards the gate of the academy, and Shang saw another familiar face.
Teacher Loran was still guarding the gate at night.
When Teacher Loran heard them approach, he stood up from his chair and bowed politely to the Dean.
Then, he looked at Shang.
"You've returned," he said with eyes that spoke of shock and nostalgia.
The weird boy he had met that day had grown up.
Sadly, the changes were not to Teacher Loran's liking.
Shang felt too much like the Dean.
When Shang saw Teacher Loran, he also had a look of nostalgia in his eye.
Back then, Teacher Loran had been an impossibly powerful monster to Shang.
And now?
Teacher Loran was at the Late Commander Stage, and his Battle-Strength was on the weaker side. He wouldn't be categorized as a weak Late Commander Stage warrior in the trial, but he would also not be categorized as an average one.
As soon as Shang felt his power, he realized that Teacher Loran had long since given up on becoming more powerful.
He probably only wanted to teach students and live the rest of his life in peace.
"I'm back," Shang said as he looked at Teacher Loran with a complicated gaze.
"Are you disappointed?" Teacher Loran asked.
Shang slowly shook his head. "No. You've helped me and many others become stronger. Without you, I wouldn't be where I am today."
Teacher Loran looked at Shang with a strange gaze. "Is that a good or a bad thing?" he asked.
By the tone of his voice, Shang could tell that the question was more directed at himself.
It seemed like he felt that he had failed Shang.
When Shang heard Teacher Loran's voice, he felt a tinge of guilt.
"I am who I am," Shang said.
Teacher Loran only looked at Shang with pity.
Then, he wordlessly opened the gate.
"Go inside," he said. "You are still one of us, even if you have changed."
"Thank you," Shang said.
The Dean and Shang entered, and Teacher Loran closed the gate.
He only sighed.
'Sorry, I couldn't become who you wanted me to become,' Shang thought.
'Sadly, my goal requires me to sacrifice everything that's important to me.'
As Shang walked through the quiet academy, one memory after the other assaulted him.
This was his home.
This was where he had learned to fight.
The Dean led Shang to the fifth floor of the main building, and the two of them entered his office.
"Tell me more about the reward," the Dean asked.
Shang nodded and handed the Dean the second book. Whenever Shang got a reward from the trial, he received two books, one for himself and one for the warriors.
The Dean read through the book for several minutes, and the further he got, the more his eyebrows furrowed.
After only five minutes, the Dean put the book down and looked at Shang.
Surprisingly, he hadn't read all of it.
"Tell me what effects the Star Map has. What happens when you use it?" he asked.
Shang told the Dean in detail what he saw and what he could do with it.
There were a lot of uses, and Shang needed several minutes to explain all of the intricate uses.
The Dean's expression became more serious as Shang told him more about the Star Map.
"Truly, the Star Map is worthy of being a reward for such a ridiculous number of points," he said.
The Dean took the book into his hand and looked at Shang. "The knowledge and principle inside his book are so advanced that it is ridiculous."
"In order to create it, you would need to know all the goals of what you want to achieve. It maps out all possible knowledge that any physical fighter could possibly know and accumulate before the True Path Stage."
Shang knew that the Star Map was incredible, but only after he had heard the Dean put it into words did he truly realize how incredible it really was.
"This is a technique that is hundreds if not thousands of years in the future of a flourishing path for a physical fighter. It requires hundreds of years of research by someone far beyond my power, and they would even have to have mastery over Magic and have unprecedented knowledge about all weapons and Affinities."
"The complexity and principles of this technique are beyond reasonable for all physical fighters at the moment."
The Dean put the book down and continued looking at Shang.
"Tell me, how am I supposed to rationalize where that technique comes from?" he asked. "Nobody will believe that I was the one that created it."
When he heard that, Shang took a deep breath.
Right, how could the Dean rationalize the origin of this technique?
"We two know that there have been exceptionally powerful warriors in the past," the Dean continued, "but the world doesn't know."
"In over thirty years of being the Dean of this academy and accumulating all possible knowledge I could find, I have not found information on the past age of warriors even once."
"Everyone believes that the Mages have been supreme since the beginning. Thus, nobody will believe us when we say we found it in some ruin."
"So, how can we publicize this technique?" the Dean asked.
Shang didn't know the answer to that.
'He's right,' Shang thought. 'This technique is far beyond the current level of physical fighters. The God has probably set up the rewards in such a way that they would help warriors step by step.'
'As the average power of the warriors continues to grow, the average power of the people he sends in here from Earth will also increase. This will result in them gaining more and more points.'
'The first reward, the ranged technique, was appropriate for the current warriors. It had some exotic concepts, but a talented warrior could come up with them with enough creativity.'
'But the complexity of this technique is far beyond anything currently possible to achieve.'
'The ranged technique was worth 22 points, but this one is worth 30. It might not sound like a huge difference, but eight points represent nearly an entire level of Battle-Strength against all three kinds of opponents.'
'It's the difference between an Initial Commander Stage warrior killing an Early True Mage and killing a Mid True Mage.'
'These two levels can't be compared.'
"But there must be a way to publicize it without backfiring," Shang said. "He wants us to succeed, and he didn't give me any hints on how to bring this technique to the warriors. This means that he doesn't think that we need his help."
The Dean only looked at Shang with an even look. "Or he just wants to throw us in a problematic situation and see what we do. We are his entertainment. Don't forget that."
Shang frowned.
Yes, that could also be it.
The Dean and Shang both tried to think of a solution for several minutes.
They couldn't say they created it.
They couldn't say they found it.
They obviously couldn't say that they got it from some kind of God.
Sadly, no matter how long they thought, they couldn't find a solution.
"I can't think of a solution," Shang said.
"Me neither," the Dean answered as he looked at the book longingly.
"We could keep it a secret between the two of us, but I'm pretty sure that we will anger him if we do that. I don't think it's a good idea to get on his bad side."
Shang frowned.
He couldn't disagree with that.
