After finally creating his Path for his Addum State, Shang decided to go out and test it.
He had to test out its power and get used to fighting with it in an actual fight.
Over the last 40 years, the general and town planner had reached the Archmage Realm. For now, they still stayed in their old positions, but they would probably soon leave.
Shang had decided to make the general his substitute. Whenever Shang went somewhere else, the general would take over the town and assume the duties of Town Lord.
Today, Shang would leave for a couple of minutes, if not hours, and the general would assume command of the town until then.
After dealing with everything, Shang activated the Pathfinder Magic Circle and noted down the locations of powerful beasts.
And then, he left the town as he shot toward the north.
Just a couple of years ago, Shang had reached the Mid Fusion Realm, and with his Path for his Addum State having been established, Shang thought it would be a good idea to finally achieve the next milestone.
As Shang kept flying towards the north, he remembered the time he had just arrived in this world.
The beasts had been horrifying and powerful to Shang. Just Pest Cats had been extremely dangerous to him.
And then, he saw the Earth Fruit Hedgehog, which he had called Hegemon.
The power of the Earth Fruit Hedgehog had been insane.
It ran as fast as a speeding car, and its needles could kill beasts from hundreds of meters away.
Shang couldn't have imagined what it felt like to have such power.
Eventually, Shang had no problems with killing such beasts when he reached the Commander Stage.
Shang had obtained powers that had seemed impossible to obtain.
But before that, Shang had already seen beasts with much greater power.
The Zone Beasts.
The humongous Storm Eagle that endangered Warrior's Paradise just by flying from one point to the other.
The Ice Wyvern that had fought the Magma Wyrm above the northern battlefield.
The mysterious Empress Cobra.
The gigantic Adamantite Behemoth.
The tranquil Thunder Horse.
They had been natural catastrophes.
Just their mere presence had severely affected the climate.
In a place where the Fourth Realm had been rare and where there had only been five people in the Fifth Realm, the Zone Beasts had been in the Sixth Realm.
No human in Area 23 had even come close to threatening a Zone Beast, except for the Supervisor.
And today, Shang would take down his first Ancestral Beast.
After over 400 years of being in this world, Shang finally reached a level that allowed him to fight Initial Ancestral Beasts.
About 20 minutes after leaving the town, Shang reached his target.
His target wasn't very interested in Shang since he felt a bit too weak to enter its eyes. Sure, Shang had the ability of World Connection, but the amount of Mana inside his body wasn't even nearly on the level of an Ancestral Beast.
Because of that, the Ancestral Beast didn't look at Shang.
Eventually, the Ancestral Beast appeared in Shang's Spirit Sense, and when he saw it, he stopped for a moment.
Shang had used the Pathfinder Magic Circle to find an Initial Ancestral Beast, and sure enough, he had found one.
However, the Pathfinder Magic Circle didn't show Shang what kind of beast he would meet. He only knew at which level it was.
At this moment, Shang faced the north. The beast was so far away that it was impossible to see it with one's eyes, but Shang could see it perfectly with his Spirit Sense.
In the sky, about 250 kilometers away, floated a long snake colored in two different shades of blue.
It was around five kilometers long and hundreds of meters wide. It had two horns on its head, one ocean blue and the other ice blue.
Shang took a deep breath when he saw it.
'A serpent with an Ice and Water Dual-Affinity.'
Serpents were already quite powerful for their level, but this serpent even had a Dual-Affinity.
Without a doubt, this serpent would enter the powerful category of the trial.
'Three levels above me with a Realm breakthrough between us.'
'I know I can jump three levels against a powerful beast, but the Realm difference and the Dual-Affinity are a problem.'
'This is not just a powerful beast, but a really powerful one.'
Shang hesitated for a while.
'I can win. The fight is not hopeless.'
Silence.
'I haven't fought an actually dangerous battle in so long.'
'Additionally, I want to test out my new Addum State.'
Shang took another breath.
Surprisingly, he was quite nervous, which was unusual.
'I'm not this nervous before a big battle usually. At least, I don't remember being this nervous back then.'
'Have I trained in isolation for too long?'
'Have I avoided risking my life for too long?'
'Back then, I was so used to risking my life, but now, I feel nervous?'
SHING!
Shang summoned his sword and gripped it with all of his power.
'I can't allow this to continue!'
'I can't allow fear to influence my judgment!'
'Yes, fear is useful when it comes to comprehending something, but I can't allow it to doom me to mediocrity!'
'Might as well fight such a powerful beast.'
SHING!
Shang put his Addum in his right hand and put his long sword in his left.
And then, he charged at the serpent.
Initially, the serpent didn't pay Shang any mind. It wasn't really an aggressive beast that attacked everything it saw.
When Shang reached a hundred kilometers of distance, it still didn't pay him any mind.
When Shang reached fifty kilometers of distance, it only threw a quick glance at him.
At that moment, Shang's long sword became enveloped by Darkness Mana.
SHING!
As Shang shot forward, black streaks of Darkness Mana were left behind, and he reached the serpent in less than a second.
And then, Shang's Addum slashed forward.
It didn't seem special in any way, but underestimating it would prove to be a fatal mistake.
Right now, the Addum was filled with Light Mana which increased the mass of the sword.
As Shang swung forward, the serpent looked at him, and its eyes reflected a storm of ice and water.
It felt the power of the sword, but it wasn't scared.
