So, what was Shang's plan?
He was quite sure that he was being watched by some powerful person from the Temple of Blood. However, he couldn't be sure why he was being watched.
Was it a test for the position of Sweeper?
Was it a loyalty test?
Was it a way to make him unveil some of his secrets?
Was his Battle-Strength being tested?
Depending on the answer, it was best to show different things.
If all of this happened simply to test his loyalty, the best course of action would be to take out his Communication Crystal and inform the Keeper that Ice Princess had betrayed them.
Shang wouldn't need to kill anyone, and he wouldn't need to show his power.
Technically, Ice Princess' betrayal was not his problem. He was not a Sweeper.
Named Agents were instructed to try to stop the betrayer if they were confident in their power, but they were also free to simply retreat. In both cases, the Keeper of their branch had to be informed.
However, what if this was a test to see how strong Shang actually was?
Theoretically, if Shang's Battle-Strength were actually as outstanding as the Keeper had claimed, Shang should have the ability to fight the two Mages or delay them at least.
If Shang just decided to retreat and call the Keeper, it essentially meant that Shang didn't have the Battle-Strength that the Keeper claimed.
At least, that would be what the watcher of this situation would think.
Shang's grip around his Long Sword hardened.
'I don't think that the Keeper would want to unveil my secret for nothing. I don't trust in her goodwill, but I trust in her intelligence. Antagonizing me now would be pointless. Either she would gain a powerful enemy, or she would have to kill one of her best Named Agents. There's no benefit either way.'
'Fine,' Shang thought as his stance lowered. 'If you wanted to kill me, you would've just done so. Because of that, even if the person that sees me finds out I'm a warrior, they won't kill me or spread my secret.'
'I'll deal with those two, but I won't show my Fire or Ice Affinities.'
'Usually, I would be confident in being able to take them down, but with only half of my Affinities, this won't be that easy.'
All of this had only taken a tiny moment, and the two Mages above Shang were still planning what to do next.
"Careful!" the green-haired Mage shouted as she unleashed her Spells.
She hadn't seen Shang, but her instincts were screaming at her. Her instincts were telling her that she had to be careful and that something was targeting her friend.
Several spirals of metallic wind shot past Ice Princess, curving around her body and shooting into the distance.
The foreign Mage had a dual Affinity of Wind and Metal.
Dual Affinities were vastly rarer than Mixed Affinities.
Mixed Affinities were things like Temperature, Poison, or Twilight. They were one thing that was made up of two things.
On the other hand, dual Affinities represented two separate things one person had an Affinity for.
The two things were still separate and their own thing, but that also meant that the person had a full Affinity for both of them.
If one person had 100 points of talent for their one Affinity, someone with a Mixed Affinity of Poison, for example, would have 30 points in Darkness, 30 points in Water, and 100 points in Poison.
30 points in Darkness and Water was not even nearly enough to make it part of someone's main strength. At most, it would help them comprehend Mixed Concepts involving Darkness or Water.
They would still need to focus all of their mind on poison-specific things.
However, with a dual Affinity, the person would have 100 points in two things each. This meant that they were just as talented in two things as a normal person was in one thing.
For Magic, having dual Affinities was objectively better.
But just like with everything else, there was a tradeoff.
Both Affinities demanded attention.
While a normal True Mage could become a High Mage after comprehending a level one Concept, a person with dual Affinities needed to comprehend two level one Concepts.
Sure, it was better to comprehend more Concepts regardless, but this restriction made it impossible for someone to lead a mediocre life.
Either they went all the way, or they failed.
A High Mage with dual Affinities was either above average at least or not a High Mage at all.
A person with dual Affinities couldn't just comprehend one level one Concept, reach the High Mage Realm, and live out the remainder of their days with a relatively high status.
All or nothing.
Success or failure.
Folding was impossible.
The foreign Mage had dual Affinities of Wind and Metal. This meant that she had comprehended two Pure level two Concepts before reaching the Archmage Realm at least.
Sure, this was basically true for every Named Agent in the Temple of Blood, but this was only the bare minimum.
Almost certainly, this Mage had comprehended three level two Concepts before reaching the Archmage Realm.
Maybe even four, but Shang doubted it. The foreign Mage felt dangerous to Shang, but not that dangerous.
As the spirals of wind and metal swept past Ice Princess, a white light appeared in front of them.
It was difficult to discern, but if one looked closely, one would be able to discern the shape of an illusory crescent blade flying toward Ice Princess.
BANG!
The spirals of wind and metal shot through the shining crescent, destroying it and turning it into mere shards of light and shadow.
However, there was no person behind the crescent.
WHOOM!
At that moment, illusory images appeared around the two Mages.
Over a hundred illusory images depicting White Ghost were surrounding them.
It was like White Ghost was haunting this area, being everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
Ice Princess narrowed her eyes, gathering three of her prepared Spells in her hands, while the foreign Mage had summoned a violently twisting shield of metal and wind.
Then, the actual fight began.
