The three of them looked with shock at Shang for quite some time.
Earlier, Shang had seemed a bit uncertain. He had acted like a new member of the Hibye that wasn't sure what he should do.
But now, there was no more uncertainty.
His Aura was stable and cold, with no anxiety or nervousness.
And then, Cindy broke out into laughter.
The other two looked at her with a bit of confusion.
Shang didn't react.
"You're a funny guy, Shang," Cindy said. She had heard of Shang's name when the Communication Crystal had told her that her duel had been accepted. "You acted all nervous in order to bait us into fighting you."
Cindy snorted. "But that doesn't change anything. Power is power, and we are Mages while you are a warrior."
"What's the point of accepting all our duels when you are going to die to Erel anyway?"
The two others calmed down as well and looked at Shang with a mix of pity and disdain.
"Where do we fight?" Shang asked again.
"We have to wait for Lucin," Rowan said with a calm tone. "He has to officiate everything."
Shang only nodded.
Then, everyone waited.
The three of them were talking like nothing out of the ordinary had happened, while Shang only waited in silence.
A couple of minutes later, Lucin finally appeared.
He transformed from a lightning bolt into his human form again and stopped beside everyone.
Then, he took out his Communication Crystal. "Alright, we have three life-and-death duels. It's you three versus him, right?" he asked calmly.
Everyone nodded.
Lucin also nodded and started to give everyone a run-down on how things were going to play out.
Since Shang had accepted the duel with Erel first, he would be his first opponent, and the duel would take place in five days in the big arena near the south of the Hibye.
The other two duels would be held after Shang had recovered from his earlier duel, assuming he managed to win.
Shang told them that it would, at most, take a couple of hours for him to recover.
Because of that, all three duels were scheduled for the same day, with the latter two having a fluid schedule.
"Alright, then, please hand over your Space Rings," Lucin said.
Everyone did just that. The policy to hand over the Space Rings immediately existed to make sure that the winner would truly get all the wealth from their opponent.
"Declare your assets," Lucin said.
The three Mages named several buildings in several big cities and several companies.
These Clouds received a lot of money, and to get even more money, they invested a lot of it. Like that, they would gain even more resources over the long run.
Shang had nothing to declare. He named Icy Bastion, but he also said that it wasn't his anymore. Nevertheless, Shang tried to be as honest as possible.
"Alright, if we find out that you own something you haven't declared within the next five days, you will be executed before that moment. So, if you still haven't declared something, now's your chance," Lucin said calmly.
No one said anything.
"And that's everything," Lucin said before activating his Communication Crystal again.
After a couple of seconds, several Mage Lords appeared behind Lucin.
"As policy demands, each of you will be watched and followed by three Mage Lords to make sure that nothing happens before the duels start," Lucin said.
Then, the twelve Mage Lords got split between the four combatants.
"See you in five days," Lucin said with a nod before leaving.
Shang focused on the three Mage Lords standing behind him for a while.
"Enjoy your last days," Erel said with a cold voice. "Go get your affairs in order. I don't enjoy killing, but that's something I have to live with if I want to become powerful. You can't reach supreme power without some sacrifice."
Shang didn't say anything and flew away.
Erel only coldly harumphed and also left.
After Shang left, he felt that the three Mage Lords that were supposed to watch him had vanished.
Of course, Shang was quite certain that the three of them were still watching him closely. They probably just kept themselves hidden so as not to distract Shang.
Three Mage Lords.
It would be nearly impossible to pull anything with such a powerful escort.
None of Shang's three opponents would be able to contact anyone else to transfer their wealth or to ask an assassin to take care of Shang.
Even more, an eventual assassin would need to get past three Peak Mage Lords from the Lightning Manor.
For the next five days, Shang would be the safest he had ever been.
Sadly, due to Shang's body, he still felt like the Mage Lords were about to kill him, but he had grown used to it over the last 20 years.
Yes, when the three of them had said that Shang was an Early Archmage, they were somewhat right.
Shang had already been in the Hibye for 20 years.
For the last 20 years, Shang had strengthened his Mana Pathways with the method Fleros had come up with.
However, that method was very expensive, and the Grade Seven Mana Crystal Shang had received when he arrived in the Hibye had only been enough for 20 years of training.
That was why Shang had come out today.
He needed money.
Shang had thought about joining the Wilderness Hunt, but that one would only take place in ten more years, and Shang refused to waste a full decade of his training.
Shang needed money now, and on top of that, he needed to take as much advantage of this opportunity as possible.
As soon as Shang showed his power, his life would become much more dangerous, and it would also become much harder to get money by fighting others. After all, they were free to decline the duel.
Shang was quite certain that nearly no one would accept a duel with him after he fought the first three.
A couple of seconds after leaving, Shang reached a small cave.
He sat down in the middle and just closed his eyes.
He would remain like this for the next five days.
The watching Mage Lords thought that Shang was mentally preparing himself for the duels, but that wasn't completely true.
At the moment, Shang was inside his inner world, and he was summoning one powerful Mage after the other with the Affinity Wheel.
Shang wasn't mentally preparing himself, but physically.
