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nThe man charged at Shang with a huge and bloodthirsty grin on his face as Shang only walked toward him with a neutral expression.

nA moment later, the man reached Shang and lifted his gigantic club.

nBANG!

nShang exploded forward with more speed, parts of his back being injured due to the absence of life energy.

nThe man struck down.

nThe attack was incredibly fast.

nThe speed of Shang’s opponent was far faster than his speed, and the club had an incredible reach.

nShang couldn’t evade the strike.

nShang let go of Sword.

nAnd then, he angled his head to the side.

nCRACK!

nThe club hit Shang’s left shoulder and didn’t stop. It destroyed the entire shoulder, severed the arm, and pushed Shang’s broken ribcage down. It was almost like he was shaving off an entire half of Shang’s body.

nThe man only smiled widely.

nPack!

nShang’s right hand touched his opponent’s left hand.

nA nearly-dead Shang hung from the man’s arm.

nThe man only smirked with arrogance at Shang.

nAnd then, the man’s arm began to atrophy.

nThe man’s expression changed, and panic appeared in his eyes.

nHe violently shoved Shang away.

nCRK!

nShang pulled the atrophied arm with him.

nBANG!

nShang’s right foot hit the ground and exploded with ice.

nThe fear-filled eyes of Shang’s opponent only watched as Shang touched the man’s chest with his right arm.

nIn panic, the man let go of his club and punched Shang with his other arm.

nBANG!

nHowever, just before he could reach Shang’s head, a regenerating stump intercepted the man’s punch at his elbow. Shang was still hit a bit, and parts of his skull broke, but he managed to keep hold of his opponent.

nThe man began to scream in terror as he saw the muscles of his chest vanishing.

nShang’s left arm had regenerated, and he also grabbed the other arm of his opponent, absorbing more life energy.

n“AAAAHHHHH!”

nThe man screamed in unending pain as his body thrashed around in panic.

nAnd a moment later…

nBANG!

nShang’s fist exploded on the man’s neck, destroying it.

nSilence.

nShang slowly stood up from the corpse of his opponent and moved his regenerated shoulder.

nWhy had Shang not looked at the wheels?

nBecause he knew that he would win.

nThere was a big difference between how a beast fought and how a warrior fought.

nOver 90% of a beast’s power came from their inherent abilities and their powerful body.

nIn comparison, a warrior’s power mainly came from their techniques, which worked in tandem with their body.

nHow could Shang fight beasts above his level even though his body was much weaker than theirs?

nIt was technique.

nTechnique was the power of a warrior.

nTechnique was the very thing that decided a warrior’s power.

nBecause of that, the gap between the weakest and the strongest warrior on a given level was many times wider than the gap between the weakest and the strongest beast on a given level.

nBeasts couldn’t fight across their level unless the most powerful beast of the lower level fought the weakest beast of the next level. After all, they relied on their physical powers.

nMeanwhile, it was much more common for warriors to fight across levels.

nOne shouldn’t forget Mattheo and Astor. Both of them had completely destroyed Shang when he had just appeared in the academy, even though Shang’s body was far more powerful.

nThat was because Shang’s techniques and battle experiences regarding humans had been horrible back then.

nAnd the same thing was true with Shang and his current opponent.

nThe man with the club had nearly no experience, and he was obviously used to only striking with his club once to end the fight. In essence, the man had fought like a beast. He was using the power of his overwhelming offense to overwhelm his opponents.

nSadly, that only worked against people weaker than him.

nAny decent warrior could counter such a one-dimensional battle style.

nAn average Early General Stage warrior could have equally fought this man.

nAs for a talented warrior?

nWell, the woman with the bow would have decimated this man.

nAnd Shang knew that he could do the same thing.

nThe difficulty curve of the beast category and the difficulty curve of the warrior category were very different.

nThe beasts became stronger and stronger with each level as their main source of power became stronger.

nHowever, when it came to warriors, it was different.

nFighting a weak Early General Stage warrior was far easier than fighting a weak Early General Stage beast.

nHowever, fighting a strong Early General Stage warrior was far more difficult than fighting a strong Early General Stage beast for Shang.

nAt least, it was like that at Shang’s current level.

nAs soon as warriors and beasts reached the Peak General Stage, things would change.

nAt that point, beasts would outclass all warriors.

nAnd things only got worse at the Commander Stage.

nBut for now, Shang could easily take care of the weaker Mid General Stage warrior.

nThe cheering returned, and the corpse vanished as Shang cleaned his uniform. Luckily, as long as the core of the uniform wasn’t damaged, it would regenerate itself.

nSuch a uniform was expensive, and it would be a waste if it became unusable due to some random strike.

nThe two wheels returned.

nShang looked at them, filled with Mana and life energy. He had completely recovered to his peak during the fight.

n“Level eight: Average Mid General Stage warrior.”

nThe wheels began to spin.

n‘The next fight won’t be easy,’ Shang thought. ‘A talented Early General Stage warrior can fight an average Middle General Stage warrior. However, being able to fight one is different from winning against one.’

nThe first wheel stopped at fist weapons.

nShang readied himself as he looked at the second wheel.

n‘An average Middle General Stage warrior should be about as powerful as an average Early Adept. I never won against someone with such power.’

nThe second wheel stopped at the Fire Affinity.

nAfter a short beam of light, Shang’s opponent appeared.

nIt was a man with short, red hair, and he wore a uniform similar to what Shang was wearing right now.

n‘Let’s see if I win this time.’

nThe jester lifted his hammer and struck the bell.

nAnd then, Shang’s opponent opened his eyes.

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