n

n

nThe wheel slowed down and eventually stopped on Shang’s next opponent.

nIt was a Pest Cat, but it had several things that didn’t fit the image of a normal Pest Cat.

nFirst of all, it had long eyelashes, which showed that it was very feminine.

nIt also had a big belly, which reminded Shang of a pregnant woman.

nLastly, it wore a dainty crown.

nShang quickly realized what beast this picture symbolized.

nHe hadn’t seen one yet, but these beasts were worth a ton of money.

nIt was Pest Queen.

nPest Queens were the main source of the Pest Cat problem.

nWhen a Pest Cat reached the General Stage, it had a chance of evolving into a Pest Queen.

nA Pest Queen would abandon its agility in exchange for ranged abilities and vastly increased fertility.

nPest Cats only had six children per pregnancy in general.

nPest Queens, on the other hand, could store sperm from male Pest Cats like ant queens, and they could endlessly birth Pest Cats as long as they had enough food.

nIts children would catch all the food for it while having children of their own from time to time.

nOne Pest Queen could produce as many children as 30 Pest Cats!

n‘Luckily, they are not great in direct combat. Their danger comes from their fertility and their army of Pest Cats,’ Shang thought.

n‘But that was to be expected. After all, I am supposed to fight a weak Early General Stage beast.’

nAfter a short moment, the Pest Queen appeared in the distance.

nIt looked similar to a Pest Cat, but it had a gigantic belly, and dark shadows swirled around its body.

nThe jester lifted its hammer again and struck the bell.

nThe Pest Queen noticed Shang and screeched a warning while slowly walking backward.

nShang readied his sword and exploded forward.

nWhen Shang was only 50 meters away, the shadows around the Pest Queen’s body began to shoot at Shang like living missiles.

n‘Each shadow is filled with Darkness Mana, and when hit by it, the target will lose a lot of life energy.’

nThe shadows were quite fast, but they weren’t as fast as the Spells all the Adepts had unleashed on Shang.

nOver the last month, Shang had focused his entire training on being able to evade devastating attacks, and he had become very good at it.

nShang swayed to the side, barely evading the shadow.

nThen, the second shadow appeared, and Shang evaded it too.

nIn comparison to Mages, the Pest Queen couldn’t unleash all its shadows in rapid succession. It could either release several at once or one every half a second.

nHalf-a-second was a short time for a normal human, but it wasn’t as short for a General Stage warrior.

nShang evaded several shadows and came closer to the Pest Queen.

n‘Without the procedure, my body wouldn’t be fast enough to evade its attacks that easily. I would need to fight from a safe distance and exhaust the Pest Queen of Mana.’

n‘It would be about as hard as fighting the Trash Bird back then. I would probably be able to win, but the fight would still be quite close.’

nAs Shang evaluated his newfound power, he basically danced through the shadows the Pest Queen shot at him.

nIn comparison to evading all the Adepts’ spells, evading the Pest Queen’s ability was easy.

nWhen Shang was only ten meters away from the Pest Queen, it suddenly turned black and seemingly melted into the ground.

n‘There it is. That’s its Shadow Escape, the very reason why Pest Queens are so hard to find.’

nNo more shadows shot at Shang, and the Pest Queen fully vanished.

nIt was like it had never been there.

nShang closed his eyes and concentrated on the Darkness Mana in the air.

nShang’s world was bright, and there wasn’t much Darkness Mana inside it. If Shang had still been at the Soldier Stage, he wouldn’t have been able to see his surroundings with Darkness Vision.

nBut now, as a General Stage warrior, Shang could somewhat perceive his surroundings, even during the day.

nShang could feel the general direction of the Pest Queen.

nThe Pest Queen was obviously a beast with a Darkness Affinity, and Shang could feel it.

nRight now, it was rapidly fleeing into the distance.

nShang followed the Pest Queen but kept around thirty meters between them.

nAfter some seconds, the Pest Queen changed its direction, but Shang kept following it.

nFive seconds later, it changed directions again.

nShang kept following it.

nSplash!

nSuddenly, like it was emerging from a pool, the Pest Queen reappeared, and it screeched at Shang.

nShadow Escape used up a boatload of Mana, and over half its shadows had disappeared.

nThen, ten shadows shot at Shang at once.

nIt was like the Pest Queen had shot at Shang with a shotgun.

nThis was exactly why Shang had kept some distance between him and the Pest Queen.

nShang quickly jumped away and barely evaded the shadows.

n‘Without the procedure, I would have been hit by at least one.’

nShang charged forward again, and the Pest Cat unleashed more shadows.

nThis time, there were 20.

nShang managed to avoid them again.

n‘I would have been hit again. With that hit, I would have probably used up nearly all my Mana.’

nThe Pest Queen screeched loudly again, and it unleashed all its remaining Shadows, which were 30.

nShang barely avoided this barrage.

n‘I think this attack would have heavily injured me.’

nShang looked at the Pest Queen.

nThere were no more shadows swirling around it.

n‘But I think I would have won.’

nShang ran at the Pest Queen, and it only continued screaming at him.

nWhen Shang reached it, it quickly attacked Shang with its claws.

nHowever, in comparison to normal Pest Cats, the Pest Queen’s attacks were slow.

nShang easily jumped over the claw and flipped over the Pest Queen, severing its head during the flip.

nShang landed, and behind him, the corpse of the Pest Queen collapsed.

n‘This would have been quite an intense and dangerous fight for my past self,’ Shang thought.

nShang turned around and glanced at the corpse while the imaginary crowd cheered for Shang again.

n‘But the procedure has changed everything.’

n‘A fight that would have threatened my life in the past now only counts as a warm-up.’

n‘With this round won, I have matched teacher’s score in the beast category. He never attempted the fifth level since he was afraid that he would die.’

n‘I mean, I understand him. I’m pretty sure I also wouldn’t have tried the fifth level without the procedure or knowing that I couldn’t die in the trial.’

n‘The last fight would have nearly killed me, and challenging the fifth level would have been stupid and suicidal.’

nShang sighed.

n‘However, in comparison to teacher, I have the advantage of having asked the right question and the procedure.’

n‘The Mages are only so powerful because they have thousands of years of progress. One outstanding Mage after the other solidified and strengthened the path of Magic.’

n‘Generations upon generations of geniuses have pushed the path of Magic to the absolute peak.’

n‘And now, thanks to the Dean, I get to feel a small part of this accumulated power.’

nThe wheel returned and began to spin.

nShang looked at the wheel.

n‘The fifth level also isn’t my limit. Without the procedure, the fifth level would be nearly impossible.’

nThe wheel slowed down.

n‘This will be a fight that would have killed my past self.’

n