The cheering returned, and Shang refilled his life energy with the shrimp's corpse.
Then, the wheel returned.
"Wait a second," Shang said.
The wheel stopped descending and just paused.
"Yes?" the jester asked.
"If my armor breaks and becomes useless, will it be repaired?" Shang asked.
"Depends on if you lose or win," the jester answered. "If you win, no, your armor is the price you've paid to win. If you lose, it will be repaired."
Shang nodded. His armor was extremely important. Without it, he would have died to the Serpent, and he was sure that it would also save him in the Mage category.
"Then, I won't fight," he said.
"Smart move," the jester said.
There were three possible ways the next fight could have gone.
First, Shang died, and his armor broke.
Second, Shang won, and his armor broke.
Third, Shang won, and his armor survived.
If the first case happened, Shang would lose out.
If the second case happened, Shang would also lose out. After all, Shang wouldn't be able to rely on his armor during the Mage category since he couldn't just reforge it like his sword.
His armor would have been traded for exactly one point since level 15 would be absolutely impossible for Shang to beat.
However, if Shang had access to his armor, it would very likely pay out with more than one point in the Mage category.
Shang's armor had already paid two points in the beast category by helping him win against the Serpent. His next opponent also wasn't a big problem, but Shang would have never reached that opponent without his armor.
In the Mage category, Shang was most worried about the powerful Mid High Mage. The Mages before that opponent shouldn't be that difficult, but just like the Serpent, the powerful Mid High Mage represented more than one point.
If Shang beat the powerful Mid High Mage, he would definitely beat the weak Late High Mage that followed.
But without access to his armor, Shang wasn't confident in beating the powerful Mid High Mage.
So, as long as the first two options happened, Shang would sacrifice more than he would gain, even if he won.
The only possible way to go forward without a loss was the third option.
But what were the chances of his armor surviving?
Not very high.
Shang would be fighting a beast that was so powerful that the Magic Circles on his armor wouldn't even be able to stop their attack.
If Shang got hit, he would die, and Shang believed that he very likely wouldn't be able to win without being hit.
The speed of his opponent would just be ridiculously fast.
Lastly, Sword was only at the Late True Path Stage. If Shang had to block a physical attack with it, it would very likely break into pieces, killing it.
Because of all these factors, Shang found it to be a bad idea to fight an average Peak True Path Stage beast.
"Let's see what kind of opponent you would have fought," the jester said with a smirk as the wheel spun.
Shang was also interested in what his opponent would have been.
Eventually, the wheel stopped, and the image of his opponent grew bigger.
When he saw the image, Shang sighed.
It was a smirking cheetah running through the air.
"Oh wow, that would've been bad for you," the jester said with a chuckle.
"A very fast beast with a Wind Affinity, huh?" Shang commented.
"Yep," the jester said.
Shang could imagine how that fight would go.
He would prepare himself.
The cheetah would run at him.
The cheetah would move its claws past Shang's sword, and it would cut him into pieces.
On the off-chance that Shang managed to get Brilliance off, he would survive the attack, but he doubted that his follow-up attack would connect.
That opponent symbolized the worst-luck possible.
"And with that, the beast category is over," the jester said as he jumped off the wheel, which quickly vanished.
"13 points."
"Very impressive."
"But you are only at the True Path Stage for now. Reaching such a high Battle-Strength in this level is commendable, but it will become useless if you can't create an equally outstanding Fifth Realm."
"Exceptionalism turns to strong, turns to above-average, turns to average, turns to below-average, turns to trash," the jester said with his smirk.
Shang didn't answer, but he agreed.
Creating such a powerful Path had opened up the way to the very top, but every additional step had to be just as outstanding as the first one.
Only a road paved with exceptionally powerful rocks could hold until it led to the very end.
"How good is my Path right now?" Shang suddenly asked.
"At the moment, you have the potential to reach my level," the jester said with a smirk.
"However," the jester added with a malicious chuckle, "that might not be as special as you think."
"At the moment, there are more than 1,000 High Mages with an equally powerful Path, but that number drops to 200 for Archmages and then again to 30 for Ancestral Mages. Then, it drops to merely four Mage Lords and to only a single Mage King."
The jester's smirk widened. "And there's not a single Mage Emperor that has the potential to reach my level."
"As you can see, being outstanding at your current level is definitely noteworthy, but it doesn't say much."
"There are about 1,000 people on your level that are just as hardworking and powerful as you, but that number becomes zero the further we go up the ladder."
Shang took a deep breath when he heard that there were a thousand people just as powerful as him in the world in terms of Battle-Strength.
That was more than he had expected.
However, it still proved that Shang's current method of training was effective.
Shang already knew that there were billions of True Path Stage beasts in the world.
Just how many humans were in the world?
How many High Mages were there?
Maybe there were also billions of High Mages.
And Shang was in the top 1000.
As long as he kept going…
As long as he kept training without pause…
As long as he kept working hard…
He would break into the top 200.
Then, into the top 30.
And eventually, he would reach the very top.
Shang took another deep breath.
"We can start."
