As soon as the three of them realized that Shang wasn't a Mage, they started to rapidly talk to each other via voice transmissions.
It took several seconds for them to say anything to Shang again.
"So, you're not a Mage, right?" the purple woman asked.
Shang only nodded.
"Then, what are you?"
"You can call me a warrior," Shang said.
"A warrior?" the purple woman on the side repeated with surprise. "You mean like these strange guys from the Development Areas?"
"Similar, yes," Shang said.
Then, the woman raised an eyebrow. "Then, what are you doing here?"
"I'm part of the Contender Department," Shang answered.
"You?" the white and grey man repeated with a disbelieving expression. "You are part of the Contender Department?"
"That's what I just said," Shang answered.
Then, the purple man on the side snorted. "Oh yeah? Then, let's see."
A moment later, he took out a Communication Crystal and pointed it at Shang.
Suddenly, a short burst of light appeared, and Shang felt his Communication Crystal come out of his Space Ring of its own volition. Obviously, Shang wouldn't store something made by extremely powerful Mages in his inner world since he didn't want its existence to be exposed.
The Communication Crystal immediately displayed something to Shang.
"You have been challenged to a life-and-death duel by Cloud Rowan. Do you accept?"
When the three of them saw Shang's Communication Crystal react like that, their eyes widened in surprise.
Clouds could only issue such challenges to other Clouds, which proved that Shang truly was a Cloud.
"Do you actually mean that?" Shang asked Rowan, the purple man.
Rowan snorted in confidence. "Sure, if you're down for it."
"Why?" Shang asked.
"Nothing personal, kid," Rowan said with an arrogant smirk. "It's just that it seems like I have to clean up the Contender Department today. I get that you warriors are becoming stronger and that you guys have quite some momentum, but I think you are overestimating your own powers a little."
"Sure, you are probably more powerful than 99% of Mages if you are here, but that's probably because you are a peerless genius among warriors."
"Yet, there still is a difference between a peerless genius amongst warriors and a peerless genius amongst Mages."
"Hey," the purple woman beside Rowan shouted. "I'm a peer."
"I know what I said," Rowan answered.
The woman only snorted.
The white and grey man didn't say anything.
"You have a Poison Affinity?" Shang asked.
"Yep," the man answered, slightly altering the truth.
"Sorry, but Poison Affinities are my weakness," Shang said evenly. "Poison acts on the body, and my body is my weapon."
Rowan just looked with annoyance and disgust at Shang.
He had feared that Shang might decline.
A second later, the purple woman suddenly took out her own Communication Crystal.
Shang's Communication Crystal transmitted something to him again.
"You have been challenged to a life-and-death duel by Cloud Cindy. Do you accept?"
"Then, what about me?" Cindy asked with a bright smile.
Shang's mind focused on Cindy for a while.
"What Affinity do you have?" Shang asked.
"Why are you asking something like that?" Cindy said with a bit of annoyance. "I don't know what kind of Affinity you have. So, why should I tell you about mine?"
"Because it is my decision if I want to accept or not," Shang answered.
Silence.
Cindy snorted. "Temperature," she said.
"Oh, I've never seen someone with a Temperature Affinity," Shang said.
Then, Shang sighed. "Sorry, but I'm not confident in taking on someone like that."
"I get it," Cindy said with a nice smile.
Shang nodded once and then focused on the last person, the white and grey man. "What about you? I'm up for a fight since I need some resources, but the other two are not people I want to fight against."
The last man looked at Shang with a relatively emotionless expression. "Light Affinity," he said.
"Light Affinity?" Shang asked. "Only a Light Affinity? The two others have such rare Affinities, but you managed to enter the Contender Department with only a Light Affinity?"
The man looked with a bit of annoyance at Shang. "Entering the Contender Department is not about having a rare Affinity but about how much you can make of your Affinity."
The other two remained silent.
In a certain way, the white and grey man had the rarest Affinity of them all, a Dual Affinity of Light and Time.
Just having a Time Affinity was already incredible, but having a Light Affinity on top of that was just crazy.
Yet, nearly no one on their level had any experience with Time Magic, Time Mana, or Time Affinities, making it nearly impossible to feel the Time Mana around the white and grey man.
Especially when he did his best to suppress his Time Mana.
Shang's Spirit Sense cycled through them like he was evaluating his options.
"Who's the strongest amongst you three?" Shang asked.
The three threw a couple of glances at each other.
"Well, we all believe that we are the strongest, but we are unwilling to confirm it," Rowan said. "It's better not to fight amongst friends."
"Even you?" Shang asked the white and grey man.
"I have my ways," he said emotionlessly.
Shang hummed a bit and scratched his chin.
"If you are up for it, I think I'm willing to fight you," Shang said to the last person.
The other two looked with surprise at Shang.
"Alright," the man said emotionlessly as he took out his Communication Crystal.
A second later, Shang's Communication Crystal transmitted something to him again.
"You have been challenged to a life-and-death duel by Cloud Erel. Do you accept?"
Shang focused on his Communication Crystal for a couple of seconds.
"What are you waiting for? Accept!" Erel said.
Shang focused on Erel for a second.
Then, he focused on his Communication Crystal again.
DING!
Suddenly, Erel's Communication Crystal released some blue light, which meant that the person he had challenged had accepted his duel.
The other two smiled victoriously and excitedly when they saw that.
They were about to make some money!
DING!
But then, their eyes widened in shock as Cindy's Communication Crystal also shone in blue light.
DING!
And then, even Rowan's Communication Crystal shone blue.
For a second, they were extremely confused.
How?
What?
And then, they realized that Shang had only declined their duels verbally earlier.
He hadn't actually declined it officially.
They hadn't thought much of it since such a challenge would default to no after ten minutes of not being answered.
Then, all three of them looked at Shang with shock.
And as soon as they did, they noticed that Shang's Aura had changed.
He didn't seem as uncertain and sociable anymore.
Instead, he felt like a beast calmly waiting for its prey.
"So," Shang said coldly.
"Where do we fight?"
