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The Wild Forest was still visible to the south, but it didn\'t reach the huge castle.

Shang could tell that the castle was entirely made out of Commander Stage ore, which definitely wasn\'t cheap. One could even call it wasteful to create such a huge castle out of Commander Stage ore. If used for weapons, this castle could equip thousands of Commander Stage warriors with a full set of armor and weapons.

It wasn\'t difficult to guess who lived here.

"Everyone, please wait at the entrance. I have to say goodbye to my replacement for today," Duke Whirlwind said with a smile.

Then, Duke Whirlwind passed by the bowing guards, who were True Mages, and entered.

Yes, this was Duke Whirlwind\'s home.

\'All of this ore has the Wind Affinity,\' Shang thought. \'I can imagine that comprehending Wind Spells and mastering Wind Mana in such a place would give double the reward for half the effort.\'

Everyone waited for a couple of minutes until Duke Whirlwind returned with a smile. "Let\'s continue," he said before he activated the Blessing of Wind again.

And then, everyone continued toward the northeast.

"Might I ask who your replacement is?" Shang asked.

"It\'s one of King Skythunder\'s advisors," Duke Whirlwind said. "He doesn\'t need to do much and only needs to take care of any threats that are beyond the capabilities of my subjects. Most likely, he will just stay in my house and meditate all day."

Shang nodded. "And he wasn\'t interested in seeing this group of new warriors?" Shang asked.

Duke Whirlwind only chuckled a bit. "Shang, you\'ve lived your entire adult life in Warrior\'s Paradise, a city made for warriors. Everything inside Warrior\'s Paradise revolves around warriors."

"You should know that, outside my territory, warriors are seen as lower-class people."

Shang didn\'t answer.

"Many Mages know that it is polite and appropriate to treat a warrior like they would treat Mages, but there are enough Mages that don\'t follow that policy."

"Why should they talk to someone beneath them? It\'s just a waste of their time, at least in their mind," Duke Whirlwind explained.

"Even though he knows about the effects of the procedure, it doesn\'t make a difference in the advisor\'s mind. So what if the warriors have a more powerful body now? That isn\'t nearly enough to close the gap."

Shang remained silent.

\'Arrogance, huh?\' Shang thought. \'I don\'t think arrogance is wrong, but I think that it is stupid to be arrogant in front of an entire category of people. People are too diverse, and a lot of people can create miracles with nearly no resources.\'

Duke Whirlwind didn\'t say anything further, and Shang also didn\'t start the conversation again.

About two minutes later, the Wind Mana in the atmosphere radically reduced, and the sky grew darker. Dawn had just arrived, but the sun was barely visible due to all the clouds that had suddenly gathered.

Shang knew that he was now entering the Empress Cobra Zone.

He had never been inside the Empress Cobra Zone before, and Shang was quite interested in what it looked like.

\'I might not be able to feel Wind or Water Mana, but I can tell if there is a lot or only a little of it present,\' Shang thought as he looked at the clouds.

\'The air feels wet and cool, which symbolizes the presence of a lot of Water Mana. Although, just looking at the thick cover of rainclouds should already be enough.\'

Shang also felt that the Darkness Mana became thicker and thicker the more he advanced.

\'Water Mana gathers together high in the air and blocks the sun, creating a nearly lightless environment, which gives Darkness Mana a place to thrive.\'

As the group continued, Shang also noticed that more and more small lakes appeared.

Some of the lakes looked like one would imagine a typical lake to look like.

Some of the lakes were filled to the brim with greenery and dead plant material, essentially creating a swamp.

And other lakes looked completely different.

Shang looked at one lake in particular.

It was only about ten meters across, and its color was a mix of brown and purple.

It looked very similar to the poison lake the Poison Adept had created.

There were only very, very few plants visible on or near the lake, and Shang could even see the occasional bone sticking out of it.

"That\'s the nest of an adult Swamp Millipede," Duke Whirlwind said when he saw Shang\'s interested gaze.

"Oh," Shang uttered in interest.

"In comparison to the Storm Eagle Zone, Swamp Millipedes are on the blacklist in the Empress Cobra Zone. They keep the environment nice and poisonous, just as the Darkness and Poison Affinity beasts want it," Duke Whirlwind explained.

Shang felt it quite amusing and ironic that one of the big four pests in the Storm Eagle Zone counted as a protected beast just a couple of kilometers further to the east.

"If you go further to the south, you will find more and more powerful beasts until you will eventually see the Empress Cobra," Duke Whirlwind said.

"Have you seen the Empress Cobra before?" Shang asked.

"I think so."

Shang looked at Duke Whirlwind with surprise. "You think so?"

Duke Whirlwind nodded. "You could consider Vanishing Snakes as grand-grand-grand-nephews of the Empress Cobra. Just like them, it can become practically invisible."

"One night while searching for something near the south of the swamp, I noticed the subtle displacement of a little bit of Wind Mana while the Water and Darkness Mana saw no change."

"I looked closer, and I noticed that parts of the sky and nearly all the trees to my south seemed a little bit distorted. I fully focused on my senses, believing that there was a beast that was trying to ambush me. Maybe it was a True Path Stage beast with a Darkness Affinity?"

"But no matter how much I looked, I couldn\'t find anything, and the distortion I thought I saw had also vanished."

"However, when I looked at the area from high in the sky, I could see a gigantic but subtle imprint of a long, slithery body. The trees or vegetation were not damaged in any way, but the grass just looked a slight bit darker, and it was pressed down just a tiny bit."

"I think I saw that Empress Cobra, but I can\'t be sure," Duke Whirlwind said. "If it wasn\'t the Empress Cobra, it could have only been a beast of the Fifth Realm."

"Or I could have just imagined it," Duke Whirlwind said with a smile. "The signs were very subtle, after all."

Shang had listened to Duke Whirlwind\'s retelling of his encounter with rapt attention.

In comparison to the majestic and very noticeable Storm Eagle, the Empress Cobra was very hidden and subtle.

Shang had asked Duke Whirlwind that question because he remembered learning that the appearance of the Empress Cobra was completely unknown. The only person that had ever seen it was King Skythunder, and depending on one\'s definition, this might not even count as seeing.

King Skythunder checked on the status of every Zone Beast every decade. He was the only one powerful enough that could perfectly hide from True Path Stage beasts and evade beasts in the Fifth Realm. That made him the only one eligible for this dangerous task.

Back then, King Skythunder hadn\'t seen the Empress Cobra, but he had been able to approximate its position, size, and orientation based on feeling the Mana of the surroundings.

He had gotten a very accurate picture of its silhouette, but he hadn\'t seen it with his own eyes.

According to him, the Empress Cobra was about four kilometers long and about 100 meters wide.

Sadly, that was everything he had found out.

As the group continued traveling down the street, the area became darker and damper until it was so dark that a normal person wouldn\'t even be able to see their hands in front of their eyes.

But Shang was different. The more Darkness Mana was around him, the easier it was for him to see.

Shang still found it a bit weird, but he could somehow tell where everything around him was. This sensation could be likened to how one always knew where their limbs were, even if they didn\'t see them at the moment.

He could see a couple of beasts walking around, swimming, hiding in trees, hiding in the ground, and he could even see the occasional flying beast.

However, all of the beasts avoided Shang\'s group.

The amount of Mana that Duke Whirlwind gave off was too big of a red flag.

Getting through the Empress Cobra Zone took a bit longer than getting through the Storm Eagle Zone, but after about 30 minutes, everyone arrived at the northern border.

Shang had only seen a dark, oppressive, and poisonous swamp around him while running through the Empress Cobra Zone.

But now, things looked different.

The rays of the morning sun touched their bodies again, and the Darkness and Water Mana slowly vanished.

And Shang saw another Zone he had never seen before.

The Adamantite Behemoth Zone.