Jerald dumped six additional boulders beside Shang, shocking him quite a bit.
When Jerald had asked if Shang knew how much ore he would get for the corpses, his concerns hadn't been for nothing.
That was a lot of ore!
Shang put all the ore into his inner world and talked a bit longer with Jerald.
Then, he left for the Caves. His armor would need another two weeks to be completed.
The next two weeks, nothing of note happened, and Shang got his armor. It looked just like the last one and was even a bit better. Now, it could block two Spells of an Early High Mage, which was better than being able to block three Spells from an Initial High Mage.
Thus, another long period of isolated training commenced.
About four years later, some piece of interesting news came to Shang.
George had advanced to the True Path Stage again, and this time, his Path was very good!
It was about as good as Mervin's, which was incredible!
Additionally, George had undergone the Bloodline Infusion compared to Mervin.
By now, a couple of warriors had already managed to reach the Early True Path Stage, and Mervin had also already reached that level. However, with George being back at the True Path Stage, his powerful Path, and his powerful body, he had regained the title of most powerful warrior in the world.
Obviously, George had also used the barbarian strengthening technique, which meant that his body was as powerful as it could get.
With George's incredible talent and experience, he was certain that he was more powerful than the average Initial High Mage.
George also tried hunting True Path Stage beasts, and his power proved to be incredible. It wasn't very hard for him to kill a True Path Stage beast.
Compared to the time George had been helpless against the Exploding Mountain Turtle, George was now much more powerful.
Even though he was one level lower than he had been back then, George was now vastly more powerful than back then.
George even fought an Early True Path Stage beast, and even though he didn't manage to kill it, he forced it to run away.
At the Early True Path Stage, Mervin only managed to equally fight an Initial True Path Stage beast due to the weakness of his body, which demonstrated the difference between him and George now.
After George tested his power for a couple more months, he went to Shang.
And he challenged him to a duel.
The two of them fought.
Who won?
Shang.
And it wasn't even close.
The very reason why Shang hadn't been able to win against Mervin back in the trial was now the reason why he won against George.
Shang could unleash so many strange attacks, and he could even transform his weapon in the middle of the fight, completely transforming his fighting style and rhythm. Whenever Shang changed weapons, George felt like he was fighting a completely new person.
They had been about equal when Shang fought with his Colossal Sword, but as soon as he changed to his Great Sword, he took George by surprise more than once, winning the fight.
Shang hadn't even used Sword's Entropy on George since he feared that he would accidentally kill him.
Even Shang had been surprised by how easily he had won.
George's Path was impressive, but while he was fighting him, Shang felt like George's Path was about equally as powerful as his own.
If he only counted one of his four weapons.
So, now it was official.
George had regained his title as the strongest warrior in the world, but he lost it to Shang afterward.
Just 14 years ago, Shang had lost against Mervin, but now, Mervin also wouldn't be able to win.
Shang had officially become the strongest warrior in the world.
George didn't seem to be surprised. He had expected losing.
However, that was still far better than not fighting at all. Back then, George didn't even dare fight Shang, but now, he had tried it.
George had returned to his younger self, someone that was willing to risk their life for power.
The two of them talked for a long while and talked about the past.
They shared their perspective and experiences when they met each other. None of them were surprised about what the other person had thought back then.
After a while, George left again, and Shang's training resumed.
Another year passed.
By now, there were over 25 True Path Stage Warriors and over 80 High Mages.
When Shang arrived in this world, there had only been one.
Now, there were 25.
Many things could change in over 30 years.
Even the first warriors that had undergone the Bloodline Infusion managed to advance to the True Path Stage, and their appearance immediately made everyone realize that warriors were no joke.
The very moment when the Skythunder Kingdom realized this was when George killed a High Mage of the Magic Purity Kingdom.
Initially, the other soldiers were only fighting to gain time for a High Mage to arrive. After all, the enemy had taken them by surprise.
But then, George had managed to kill the High Mage on his own.
At that moment, the entire world had seemingly come to a halt.
A High Mage had died to a warrior.
It was beyond shocking.
As soon as the news got out, many warriors in the world started training with new fervor.
They could become as powerful as Mages!
It was possible!
The people that wanted to join the Warrior's Academy and undergo the Bloodline Infusion skyrocketed.
Luckily, the Bloodline Infusion had become so simple that it could be performed by a Commander Stage warrior on their own, which meant that it could be performed basically anywhere.
The Warrior's Academy was no longer the only place that offered to do the Bloodline Infusion.
After another two years, it had become normal and expected of warriors to undergo the Bloodline Infusion.
At the same time, due to the addition of the True Path Stage warriors, the frontlines stabilized again, even though the Magic Purity Kingdom had increased their pressure even more.
The help of the True Path Stage warriors had become integral and invaluable.
While the Skythunder Kingdom's frontlines rejoiced at the warriors' arrival, the Council and Dukes didn't like it.
They started to feel threatened.
They had secretly and even openly gone against the warriors in the past, and they feared retaliation.
What about when the warriors became powerful enough to threaten the Council?
What would they do then?
Additionally, they still felt that warriors were beneath them.
Warriors had always only done the peasant work at the frontlines. They had only been cannon fodder so that the Mages could do their work.
Warriors were dogs!
They were there to serve the Mages!
And with that, the focus of the Council and Dukes went from the frontlines back to the warriors.
They had to deal with this threat!
And they knew where they would start!
One more year passed.
Shang was currently training in the Caves again.
Right now, he was 55 years old, and he had been in this world for over 40 years.
From a young boy, he had transformed into a stalwart man that looked to be in their late twenties.
Shang was in the prime of his life.
But today, something happened.
In fact, he got an unannounced visitor.
Shang's Pseudo-Spirit Sense had picked up something that moved towards him.
It was not a human.
It was not a beast.
When Shang saw it approach, he felt like his heart had stopped.
He hoped that his guess didn't prove to be true!
The thing approached and stopped in front of Shang.
Sword left Shang's hands and floated over to the thing, touching it.
What was the thing?
It was George's spear…
And it was alone.
And then, the words Shang feared the most entered his mind.
"George was killed by an Early High Mage," Sword transmitted.
