As Shang summoned one beast after the other, Jerald's eyes widened.
Shang had hunted way more than he had thought.
Jerald knew that this was the first time Shang had hunted True Path Stage beasts, and he hadn't expected him to kill so many on his first trip.
Shang sure didn't take it easy.
"Ancestral Boulder Turtle," Jerald said as he saw the corpse of a gigantic turtle. "I was the one to find that species and name it."
"Darksky Specter, they usually live in the Empress Cobra Zone, but I guess this one found its way into the Caves somehow."
"A Mithril Badger? What's a Metal Affinity beast doing in the Caves?"
"Blizzard Spreader. They are usually deep in the mountains of the Ice Wyvern Zone."
"Shang, you have quite an assortment of beasts with different Affinities here. Are you sure you hunted all of them in the Caves?" Jerald asked.
Shang nodded.
"Hmm, does that mean that the Caves actually spread further than just the Storm Eagle Zone?" Jerald mused. "It's possible. If there are no connections above a certain depth, we wouldn't be able to find the weaker ones. It's possible that there are some tunnels leading to other Zones, but they only connect to our Caves on a very deep level."
Shang continued pulling out more beasts, and eventually, Jerald had pocketed all of them.
"But honestly, Shang, you need to use a Transport Ring. The corpses are worth far more when they are in one piece."
"Transport Ring?" Shang asked with a raised eyebrow. "If you mean my Space Ring, it's not nearly big enough to hold such a huge corpse. Additionally, I can't even lift them, making it impossible for me to put them into the Space Ring anyway."
Jerald chuckled a bit. "Shang, do you honestly think that we Mages have never faced this problem? Do you really think that we didn't already find a solution to that?"
Shang rubbed the back of his head. "Sounds reasonable."
"The solution to this problem is a Transport Ring," Jerald said as he took off one of his rings. "They are similar to Space Rings but different."
"They have a much larger capacity, and they are more resilient. Additionally, they have more Magic Circles, which make it possible to store very heavy things."
"The downside is that they are not easily accessible. You need to gather additional external Mana and draw an additional Magic Circle on the ground if you want to store something or take something out. That makes it impossible to use the Transport Rings during a battle or while traveling, but it gives you the option to store an entire corpse."
The ring Duke Whirlwind had on his finger flew over to Shang. "You can take mine in exchange for two of the weaker corpses. I will also design some kind of gadget that allows you to access the ring without needing to draw a Magic Circle. Is that okay?"
Shang nodded. "Thanks."
Jerald also nodded. "How many corpses do you want to exchange for ore, and what kind of ore do you need?"
"I want everything converted into Element-Neutral Mid True Path Stage ore," Shang said.
"All of it?" Jerald asked. "That's a lot of ore, you know?"
"I don't have any other use for the corpses for now. If I need anything else, I will just hunt some more beasts."
Jerald snorted. "Hunt some more," he repeated. "Killing a True Path Stage beast is not something that a High Mage does because they are bored. They might be able to deal with the beast, but they can't lose their concentration, and they need to be mindful of being ambushed by other beasts."
"Yet, you talk about it like you are simply walking into your garden to pluck an apple."
Shang didn't think that hunting some True Path Stage beasts was anything special.
In fact, killing them had been far easier than he had expected, well, except for the centipede, of course.
"I don't see a problem with hunting more of them. I'm planning on using them as my standard sparring partner for now anyway. I will probably spend the foreseeable future fighting True Path Stage beasts to train my swordsmanship."
Jerald chuckled once again. "Quite some grand words coming out of the mouth of someone at the Peak Commander Stage."
Shang furrowed his brows.
"I'm joking, Shang," Jerald said. "I'm praising your power."
After that, Shang and Jerald talked about some general things.
Shang asked if there was news from the Council or the other Dukes. He wanted to know if they tried to deal with Jerald.
Jerald said that they didn't have the time right now. The Magic Purity Kingdom was putting more and more pressure on the Skythunder Kingdom, eating up all the focus of the leaders.
However, the pressure the Blackshadow Kingdom was under had also dropped. The Grandmountain Kingdom was still attacking them relentlessly, but the Magic Purity Kingdom had lessened its offense on them.
Right now, the Magic Purity Kingdom saw the Skythunder Kingdom as an even bigger threat than before.
The addition of the True Path Stage warriors had made it harder for the Magic Purity Kingdom to attack the Skythunder Kingdom.
Shang was glad to hear that there were currently no issues facing the Storm Eagle Zone, except for the normal ones.
After they talked for a while, Shang left for the Caves to continue his training.
However, just three days later, Jerald contacted Shang to tell him that all the ore had arrived.
Shang met Jerald behind his castle.
Jerald only smirked.
SHING!
BOOOOOOM!
A gigantic boulder of ore appeared in front of Shang.
Shang could only look at it with a shocked eye.
This boulder was probably five meters wide and five meters high!
That was a lot of ore!
"That's all for me?" he asked.
Jerald nodded.
Shang went forward and tried to lift the boulder, but it was simply too heavy.
So, Shang used Sword to cut through the boulder and stored the pieces in his inner world.
SHING!
BOOOOOM!
Another boulder appeared on the ground in front of Shang, and it was just as big as the previous one.
Shang could only look with shock at the boulder.
Then, he looked at Jerald, who was only smirking. "That one too?"
Jerald only laughed.
As Shang cut through that one too, a third boulder appeared.
Shang only looked at Jerald in surprise. "How many boulders did you bring?"
Jerald only smirked.
"A few."
