Shang returned to the town and took over as Town Lord again.
He had only been gone for a couple of minutes, and nothing happened during those.
After checking through the town and making sure that everything was alright, Shang looked at the mortal district again.
It had changed so much.
The part of the mortal district outside the town was now over two kilometers wide, and the warriors had built powerful and tall walls.
The academies were packed with students.
By now, the academy had probably reached the level of the warrior's academy in Area 23.
In just 40 years, it had closed a gap of 400 years.
And how had the Warrior Academy achieved that?
Powerful Mages.
The Mages had built the academy.
The Mages' technology protected the town.
The Mages set up the mortal district.
The Mages had simplified the Bloodline Infusion and had created several methods to forge equipment.
The academy in Area 23 had gone through several dangerous times.
The Day of Chaos.
The civil war.
The threat of other Kingdoms.
But instead of fighting the Mages, the Warrior Academy here benefited from them.
By now, there were hundreds of Commander Stage warriors in the mortal district, and there was a two-digit number of True Path Stage warriors.
As Shang thought about the True Path Stage warriors, his Spirit Sense moved and looked at his students.
They were diligently training.
At the moment, it was training time. They would get their free time in a couple of weeks.
Shang demanded that his students train for three weeks at a time with zero breaks and zero distractions.
That meant no family visits, no talking, no helping others, no running errands, no nothing.
Three weeks of complete isolation and training.
And then, they would get a week to do whatever they wanted.
They could continue to train, which Shang encouraged, but ultimately, they could do what they wanted.
The reason for this policy was a protest.
Originally, Shang demanded four weeks of focused training with only three days of free time.
However, Shang's students banded together and collectively gave Shang an ultimatum.
They wanted to become powerful to protect their loved ones, attain freedom, earn money, and so on.
They said that by only training, their lives would grow dull, unstimulating, boring, grey, and pointless.
They found their own motivation to become powerful vanish, and training had turned from a hobby into something they hated.
Their wives and children became estranged from them.
Their friends started to vanish.
If this truly was what their Master demanded from them, they would rather not be his Disciples.
When Shang had seen their protest, he had snorted in disgust.
He had seen it as a group of children throwing a tantrum.
Worthless.
Yet, even though Shang didn't want to and even though he viewed it as a stupid decision, he still changed the schedule.
Whether he liked it or not, his future was dependent on his Disciples' accomplishments, and if he didn't have any Disciples, his future looked bleak.
Because of that, he was essentially forced to give in to the demands he saw as ridiculous.
His Disciples had thanked him profusely, and they had also said that Shang was probably right in his methods. In their words, they were simply not strong enough to dedicate their entire lives to nothing but power.
They deeply respected their Master for his dedication to power and were thankful every day that their Master was willing to teach them.
But Shang didn't care.
He tried his best not to let it show, but he despised his Disciples.
They were all so weak.
He was throwing mountains of Mana Crystals down their gullets, but they could barely win against a beast a level above them.
He was essentially presenting the way to comprehend Paths and Impose on a platter, but the progress of his Disciples was slow.
Shang guessed that they would probably need 100 to 200 years to create their Impose.
Shang had only needed about 80 years, and he had done that blindly while also completely designing and reforging all his Mana Pathways. Without that, he would have probably only taken 50 years, at most.
And now, some of them would take 200 years.
How was it so difficult to comprehend these things?!
They were so obvious!
Yet, his Disciples seemingly struggled with the most basic stuff and asked stupid questions with obvious answers!
Shang tried to hide his dislike for his Disciples, but after years of being under Shang, some of them had seen through Shang.
Some of them thought that Shang despised them as weak, but others said that this was simply how their Master was and how he showed affection.
He was just that forceful because he wanted them to be strong so that they could achieve their goal!
He was doing it for their good!
But the others didn't think so.
They didn't know why, but they were sure that their Master was gaining some kind of benefit by teaching them.
Otherwise, there would be no explanation for why their Master would spend so much time on something he obviously abhorred doing with people he despised and hated.
However, all of them agreed on one thing.
Shang was extremely good at teaching.
Even though his comments were often cold, distant, and scathing, his explanations were filled with logic and insight.
Where other teachers would just recite something they had learned from a book, Shang very meticulously explained all the principles in extreme detail.
Shang actually knew the intricacies of how basically every little bit of power of a warrior worked. It was almost like Shang could recreate an entire warrior from the ground up without any reference.
The Disciples respected their Master deeply for his insight, perspective, and power.
They knew that being Shang's Disciples was giving them immense benefits.
Sadly, studying under him was no fun.
They were inadequate.
They were slow.
They were lazy.
They were stupid.
The more perceptive ones among them were reminded of these things every time Shang talked to them.
The others simply viewed Shang's words as "tough love".
But they had to get through that.
They wanted to become powerful, and learning under Shang was the most optimal way to power.
It was debatable whether Shang was a good or bad Master.
