n

n

nSoran stood in the middle of the cave and looked up at Shang, who was currently sitting in the small hole he had created.

nAnd then…

nSoran smiled.

n“I’ve heard your initial conversation with teacher,” Soran said, “and I think I need to apologize for my previous words.”

n“You could have killed the three students without any repercussions. After all, you had teacher’s permission. He even encouraged it.”

n“However, instead of doing that, you decided to spend some money to let them live.”

nSoran jumped over to the hole, and Shang made space for him.

nSoran looked at the desecrated corpse and grabbed its Space Ring to inspect it.

n“To be honest, when I heard what had happened, I grew angry and disgusted because I was sure that you would simply kill the three of them,” Soran said as he looked through the Space Ring.

n“But imagine my surprise when I heard that you didn’t want to do so.”

nAfter some seconds, Soran threw the Space Ring over to Shang. “No information about the requester, as always.”

n“There are a couple of things in there that are worth a bit, but they can’t compare to the Space Ring itself. I would advise you to sell the Space Ring to the academy for a good profit unless you need it yourself.”

nThen, Soran saw the Focus, and his eyebrows rose in surprise.

n“Now, that’s some money,” he said as he took hold of the Focus. “I would advise you to also sell this to the academy.”

n“The academy?” Shang asked. “What would you even do with it?”

nSoran only smiled. “We sell it back to the Cleaning Service in our monthly auctions. A fully assembled Focus is worth far more than its components, and it would be a waste to dismantle it while we have a buyer waiting.”

nShang nodded.

n“Anyway,” Soran said as he looked at Shang again with a smile. “I’m glad you’re not as heartless as I thought you were. To be frank, I assumed you were just like teacher, and teacher… well… you know.”

nShang nodded. “I know how different you two are.”

nSoran also nodded.

n“So, what’s the solution to my current problem?” Shang asked.

n“I’ll show you. Where are they?” Soran asked.

nShang put the Focus and Space Ring into his world and jumped away from the tunnel, landing on the ground.

nSoran followed Shang, and the two of them walked down the tunnel.

nHowever, they didn’t need to walk for long.

nJust a couple of seconds later, they heard the sounds of hurried footsteps, and some moments later, the team of three arrived in Shang’s tunnel.

nAstor was the first to see Shang and Soran, and when he did, he let out a huge sigh of relief.

nThe team ran over and stopped in front of Shang.

n“What happened to the Adept?” Sarah asked with furrowed brows.

n“I dealt with him,” Soran said before Shang could say anything.

nShang didn’t contradict him.

n“Thank you so much, Vice-Dean Soran,” Sarah said with a polite bow.

nThe other two also bowed in thanks.

nSoran only nodded with a smile. “We can’t have outside people attack our students. Shang called me as soon as he saw the attacker, and I arrived as quickly as I could.”

nThe team nodded, but they also furrowed their brows.

n“If we had known, we wouldn’t have come back,” Elver said with a sigh.

n“You couldn’t possibly know,” Soran said with a calm tone. “If Shang shouted about contacting me, the enemy would have run.”

n“Speaking of,” Astor said as he remembered something. “Why did he run when we appeared?”

n“The explosion,” Shang said calmly. “The fire attacked him from the front and from behind, severely depleting his Mana. After that, I got a surprise attack in, and he fled. The reason why I chased him was to give his location away to Vice-Dean Soran.”

n“By the way, where did the fire come from?” Elver asked.

nSoran only smirked. “I think I know,” he said as he looked at Shang. “The Firebomb was finally proven to be useful, right? I told you that you would need it at some point, but you said that something with this little power couldn’t even injure anyone.”

nShang only looked down with a frown.

n“Vice-Dean, you shouldn’t make fun of Shang in this situation,” Astor said with a cold but respectful voice. “You should have seen him! He managed to survive against a Mid Adept with a Poison Affinity for a long time, and he even managed to chase him away!”

n“I know, I know,” Soran said with a smile as he put a hand on Shang’s shoulder. “I’m only teasing him because I’m proud of him.”

nShang only frowned.

n‘Soran is very different from the previous times I met him, except for the very first time. When I met him the very first time, he was also this chipper, but as soon as he learned more about me, he became cold.’

n‘Was my decision to spare the others worth so much that Soran changed his entire behavior towards me?’

nShang glanced at Soran.

n‘It could also be a method of reinforcing good behavior. I did something he approved of, and he immediately went in to praise me for my actions. It’s almost like I’m a dog.’

n‘…or a student. He is a teacher, after all.’

n“However, I don’t only have good news,” Soran said as he furrowed his brows.

nThe other three looked at Soran with curiosity.

n“You three are not inexperienced, and you three know that an Early General Stage warrior can’t resist a Mid Adept under normal circumstances,” he said.

nThe other three remained silent.

nSHING!

nAt that moment, Soran summoned three pieces of paper.

n“The reason why Shang can be so powerful is related to the academy’s secrets and to the reason why he has been missing for the past year. For now, it’s still a secret, but if everything works out fine, we will be able to publicize it in about two months.”

n“But Shang’s power still needs to be kept under wraps, even when the secret eventually becomes public. Today, you saw Shang’s true power, and I can’t risk certain people learning of Shang’s power.”

nSoran handed all three of them contracts, and they read through them.

n“A Magic Contract,” Sarah said with a frown.

nSoran answered. “Sorry, but we can’t take any chances.”

nThe contract stated that the three of them were forbidden from speaking of Shang’s power in any regard.

n“There is no duration on the contract,” Sarah stated.

nSoran nodded. “This has to remain a secret indefinitely.”

n“You want us to have a Magic Circle mess with our memories indefinitely?” Sarah asked without any happiness.

nA Magic Contract put a Magic Circle into someone’s mind. If that person intended to unveil the secrets, all manners of consequences could occur.

nThe person could die.

nA part of their memory could be wiped.

nBut, in this case, the issuer of the contract, Soran, would be informed, and the signer of the contract would feel pain until they gave up.

nSuch a contract put a burden on someone’s mind, and it was mostly used as a last resort.

n“That’s why you get 100,000 gold each,” Soran said. “It says so on the contract.”

n‘That’s what teacher meant when he said that it would cost me a lot of money,’ Shang thought.

nWhen Elver heard that, he immediately signed the contract and handed it back to Soran with a smile.

n100,000 gold was a lot of money!

nEarlier, Elver had still been worried about his future. After all, he hadn’t forgotten his argument with Sarah.

nElver had thought about if he wanted to quit the team or not.

nBut now, the decision was made.

nWith 100,000 gold, he wouldn’t need to hunt for a long while, and he could fully focus on his training.

nThat was over a year’s worth of income!

nJust in exchange for signing a contract? No problem!

nSoran smiled at Elver and handed him a Space Ring.

nElver excitedly took the Space Ring and looked inside.

nBut it was empty.

nElver looked at Soran with confusion.

n“The Space Ring is your reward,” Soran said. “It should be worth about 100,000 gold.”

nElver’s eyes widened, and he looked at the Space Ring with shock.

nYeah, Space Rings were worth 100,000 gold, but those Space Rings were the cheapest of the cheap.

nThis one was probably worth double!

n“Thank you so much!” Elver said with a bow.

n“Can we change a clause?” Astor asked.

nSoran looked over. “Which one?”

nAstor looked at Shang.

n“I don’t need the money,” Astor said, surprising everyone but Sarah. “Shang saved our lives, and I’m willing to keep his secret. I don’t need any money from him.”

nWhen Shang heard that, he somehow felt warm inside.

nShang hadn’t felt the warmth of friendship ever since he had left Earth.

nA friend who was willing to forego such a large amount of money for someone else was truly rare and valuable.

n“It’s not Shang’s money,” Soran said. “It’s the academy’s money.”

n“Oh, okay, never mind then,” Astor said with an awkward laugh as he signed the contract.

nSoran nodded and also gave Astor a Space Ring.

n“Thanks, Astor, really,” Shang said.

n“It’s what friends are there for, right?” Astor asked with a smile.

nShang nodded after a bit. “I guess so.”

nNow, only Sarah was left.

nSarah looked at the contract.

nThen, she looked at Soran and Shang.

nAnd back at the contract again.

nShe furrowed her brows.

n“I don’t have a choice in the matter anyway,” she said with a cold voice as she signed.

nSarah shoved the contract towards Soran, who handed her the Space Ring.

nAfter that, Sarah left without saying a word.

n“Thank you all,” Shang said.

n“No, I should thank you,” Elver said with a bright smile.

nAstor only nodded with a smile of his own.

nSarah didn’t say anything.

nAfter that, everyone traveled back to the entrance of the Caves.

nHowever, during their short journey, Soran found a small moment to whisper something to Shang.

n“I lied. It’s your money.”

nShang wasn’t surprised.

n