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n

nShang’s eyes narrowed.

n‘Is that thing following me? Why is it continually circling me? Am I near its nest?’

nAfter a bit of deliberation, Shang continued walking towards the northeast.

nSure enough, the thing kept circling above him.

n‘Shit! That thing’s actually following me! Why is it following me when it doesn’t attack me!?’ Shang thought with frustration.

nShang moved around in senseless patterns to test if that thing was truly following him, and, sure enough, it kept following Shang, no matter where he went.

nShang’s frown intensified. He definitely didn’t feel comfortable with something like that circling above him.

n‘If it decides to attack, I have to be ready. If I don’t notice the very moment it charges down, I won’t be able to react.’

n‘The thing is very fast, but it doesn’t displace enough Mana to be a General Stage beast. It feels a bit stronger than the beasts I saw before, but it doesn’t give me the feeling of overwhelming dread that a General Stage beast does.’

nShang remembered that spider he had hidden from on his way to Warrior’s Paradise. That thing had been in the General Stage, and Shang had felt absolutely helpless.

nIn comparison, the thing circling above him felt more like an extremely powerful Soldier Stage beast.

nShang guessed that the thing was probably just like Astor, someone a level below him that could threaten him.

nHowever, in comparison to Astor, this thing was a beast, not a human.

nWhile Shang knew that he couldn’t win against Astor, everything was different when his opponent was a beast.

nShang specialized in killing beasts.

nIf Astor were a beast, Shang was confident in winning, but he would have to be very careful and not make any mistakes.

nSo, even though the thing was very fast, Shang knew that he had a chance. If it was a flying creature with a lot of speed, its defense and pure power probably weren’t that powerful. That meant that Shang could end the fight with one strike. He only had to hit it when it charged at him.

nAnd what if the beast was on the blacklist?

nFuck that!

nShang could run from all manners of beasts, but that thing was far faster than him. Running would most likely end in his death since one wrong dodge would kill him.

nSo what if he had to pay a huge fine?

nHe had to stay alive!

nSuddenly, Shang stopped.

nAnother Vanishing Snake had appeared.

nShang continued standing on the spot and concentrated on his Darkness Vision.

nHis instincts were shouting at him, and Shang saw the Darkness Mana being displaced.

nWHOOOSH!

nShang frowned.

nJust like last time, the thing above Shang swooped down and killed the Vanishing Snake.

nSince Shang had been prepared this time, he had seen the thing move. He had barely looked in the direction of the Vanishing Snake before he saw a green streak shoot across his vision.

nShang hadn’t been able to see much detail, but he had seen green feathers.

n‘A green bird, huh?’

nFor a moment, Shang thought of the mission he had seen.

n‘Capture a Spear Stork.’

nSpear Storks could reach the Commander Stage, and Shang had guessed that this might be a Spear Stork. That would explain its terrifying power.

nHowever, Shang hadn’t seen a long beak. In fact, he hadn’t seen any beak due to the speed of the green bird, but Shang was sure that it wasn’t a Spear Stork.

nAfter all, if the green bird had a long beak, Shang would have seen it. He had only been able to see prominent features, and a long beak would have been a prominent feature, but since he saw nothing, it meant this thing didn’t have a long beak.

nAfter this event, Shang also had an inkling as to why the green bird was following him.

n‘It’s using me as bait to catch Vanishing Snakes,’ Shang thought. ‘It only strikes when I can feel the Vanishing Snake too, which probably means that the Vanishing Snake needs to come out of hiding to hunt.’

n‘The green bird can’t see the Vanishing Snakes when they hide, which is why it follows me. The Vanishing Snakes see me as their prey, which gives the green bird an opening to strike.’

nShang took a deep breath.

n‘However, the green bird really is terrifying. Vanishing Snakes are at the Late Soldier Stage in general, and the green bird should be on the same level. Yet, the Vanishing Snakes couldn’t even defend themselves.’

n‘That’s bad,’ Shang thought. ‘I came here to hunt Vanishing Snakes, but if this thing keeps killing them, I won’t be able to kill any of them.’

n‘I might as well go to the northwestern forest if the most valuable prey in the northeastern forest is unavailable.’

nShang weighed his options.

n‘Forget it. I’m already too far in the northeastern forest. Turning around now would waste a ton of time. I might as well hope that the green bird gets its fill of Vanishing Snakes and goes-‘

n‘Wait!’ Shang suddenly thought with widened eyes. ‘Aren’t Vanishing Snakes multiplying by being eaten? Does that mean that the bird in the sky is already at death’s door?’

n‘Is it?’ Shang thought with furrowed brows. ‘Why do I feel like it isn’t?’

n‘Maybe it isn’t eating the Vanishing Snakes?’

nShang concentrated on his Darkness Vision again.

nThen, he searched through the surroundings for places with dense Mana.

nA couple of seconds later, Shang found something.

nIt was the headless corpse of a translucent snake!

n‘Is it only eating the heads? I mean, the eggs should be in the belly at the back, not in the head.’

n‘Seems like the bird knows that it can’t eat the entire corpse.’

nThen, Shang sighed.

n‘Sadly, I can’t turn in that corpse. It has obviously been killed by a beast, and the academy won’t accept such a corpse.’

n‘Anyway, I should continue. I hate having this death bird flying above my head the entire time, but it probably doesn’t care about me. Might as well continue.’

nWas this a smart decision?

nProbably not.

nMost humans would have turned around. After all, the green bird was a huge unknown factor that could potentially end their lives. It was too risky to continue.

nHowever, for some reason, Shang enjoyed this feeling of danger.

nDancing on the edge of a cliff made Shang feel awake.

nHe felt alive.

nThe mix of terror, uncertainty, and excitement brought Shang a unique feeling that he had missed inside the academy.

nWhat was this feeling?

nShang wasn’t sure, but it was the feeling of control.

nWhy control? This didn’t seem to be related to control at all.

nIt meant that Shang’s destiny was in his own hands.

nIf Shang died out here, it would be due to his own lack of skill.

nThere were no external factors like on Earth. On Earth, other, higher-ranked people often decided one’s fate. If Shang were the most competent person for a job, he still wouldn’t get it as long as the manager didn’t like him.

nIn that situation, Shang’s skills and abilities would have been easily enough to succeed, but other people had decided to take this chance away from him.

nBack when Shang had still been a fighter, he had known that he had had the abilities to enter the MNFA. However, it had still taken him another year to prove himself to them.

nWhy had it taken so long?!

nCouldn’t they see how he had won every fight?!

nBut in this wilderness, everything was up to Shang.

nHis abilities were the only things that would decide his success.

nAnd Shang was confident in his abilities.

nHe knew that he would survive!

nAnd he wanted to prove that to himself.

nHe wanted to prove that he was in control of his life.

nThe more dangerous his surroundings, the more powerful he would feel after coming out victorious!

nShang didn’t know all this. He only knew that he wanted to be in danger.

nIn his mind, he believed that the more danger he survived, the more powerful he would become.

nAnd that was true. Combat experience was incredibly important, and surviving difficult situations increased combat experience like nothing else.

nShang continued going towards the northeast, but he couldn’t get far before something happened.

nThe green bird in the sky suddenly swooped down again, but it wasn’t attacking Shang.

nBefore Shang could find the target the green bird was attacking, he heard an aggressive screech coming from it.

nIt was the kind of screech that a bird would use when a predator came close to its nest.

nShang looked over.

nBANG!

nThen, he heard the loud, explosive sound of two heavy objects hitting each other.

nShang’s eyes widened.

nHe saw a translucent snake, but this one was different!

nIt was over ten meters long while the other one had only been one meter long!

nThe explosive sound Shang had heard had been its fangs clamping down on each other.

nLuckily, the bird managed to barely evade the violent teeth.

nAt that moment, Shang’s heart stopped.

nHe hadn’t noticed that Vanishing Snake at all!

nNot even his instincts had warned him!

nBut now that he saw it, he noticed the sheer amount of Mana it displaced.

n‘General Stage!’ Shang realized.

nThat also explained why the green bird hadn’t been able to kill it.

n‘What is a General Stage Vanishing Snake doing here?! I’m not that close to the Empress Cobra Zone, am I? Did it come to have its young?!’

n‘What **ty luck is that?!’

nThe bird screeched again as it hovered near the Vanishing Snake.

nThen, it scratched the air with its talons.

nCRK!

nShang’s eyes widened when three gigantic gashes opened up on the Vanishing Snake’s side!

nThe three gashes were deep, and blood exploded out of them.

nThe snake hissed and tried to bite the bird again, but the green bird flew away.

nApparently, it had decided to retreat back into the sky.

nThat had probably been its strongest attack, and it had fled after seeing that its target was still alive.

nWhen Shang saw the three huge gashes on the snake, a glint appeared in his eyes.

nShang’s heart pounded heavily as he made his decision.

nHe would kill it!

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