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Shang exploded forward with a Blast, his sword in its Saber State slashing downward.

CLINK!

A long sword parried the attack and tried to push the saber to the side.

However, Shang's attack had only been a feint, and his power was actually focused on pushing his opponent away.

The opponent's sword didn't have enough power behind it to push Shang's saber away, which resulted in the person holding it being flung backward.

Shang immediately exploded after them.

His opponent was open.

This was the perfect opportunity to strike!

Black flames appeared around Sword, and it struck the enemy's sword.

CRACK!

The sword broke into pieces, and Shang's sword continued slashing forward.

But he missed.

Where his opponent had just been was now a hole in the ground.

SHING!

Suddenly, a sword shot out of the hole, right toward Shang's head.

Shang slashed the sword away.

SHING!

And then, Shang's eyes widened.

Right now, a second sword had come out of the ground beneath him, and it had stabbed him in the butt.

The entire sword was inside Shang's body right now, and he knew that his opponent could kill him now if he so chose to.

The ground below Shang moved to the side to reveal the head of a smiling man.

"My dear Count Sword, your creativity is still lacking," Mervin said with a smile.

Then, Mervin pulled his sword out of Shang's butt and stepped out of the ground.

Shang quickly healed his body and sighed helplessly.

"I still can't win, huh?" he asked.

"This is our first fight, Shang," Mervin said. "I don't think the word still is appropriate here."

"Right," Shang said, turning to face Mervin.

A moment later, a thundering applause echoed throughout the courtyard.

This had been an exhibition match between Shang and the new Dean of the Warrior's Academy, Mervin.

Shang had asked Mervin for a sparring match to see how far he had come and to learn some new things. Mervin had no problem with the match, but he also wanted to show the students of the academy how strong a warrior could become.

"Don't be too hard on yourself, Shang," Mervin said. "You nearly had me a couple of times, and I actually had to resort to such an unorthodox technique. I don't usually use my Earth Affinity in such a way, but I just couldn't help it. I needed all of my power to win against you."

Sure enough, Mervin hadn't exaggerated. His armor and clothing were cut in several places, and some blood was still flowing from some open wounds.

The fight definitely hadn't been easy.

Of course, Shang couldn't use all his powers. For example, he didn't use his Darkness Affinity, although it also wouldn't have helped much.

He also hadn't worn Jerald's armor since Mervin didn't have a comparable set.

"Give it a couple of years," Mervin said. "My Path is set while yours is still developing. In a couple of years, you will overtake me. It seems like your Path is far grander than even mine."

Shang didn't disagree.

He wanted to tell Mervin that the stability of his Path was all thanks to him, but he just couldn't tell another person about his secrets.

Shang knew Jerald, and he had known that he could trust him.

Mervin, on the surface, appeared even more trustworthy, but Shang couldn't really look through his personality.

Additionally, there was actually no need to tell Mervin where he had come from.

"Thank you for the fight, Teacher Mervin," Shang said with a short and polite bow.

Mervin reciprocated the bow. "The pleasure is all mine, Count Sword."

"You really don't need to call me that," Shang said.

"Why not? It's your title," Mervin said with a smile.

Shang only sighed.

Now that Shang was no longer part of the Warrior's Academy, Mervin stopped acting like a serious teacher. He joked around more now, and this was one of his jokes.

A couple of weeks ago, Shang had been given his title.

The ceremony had been held in Jerald's castle, and all the Mage nobles living in the Storm Eagle Zone had watched, even if there weren't many.

Every noble with a rank of Count or higher received a unique title. This was also how Jerald had received the title of Whirlwind.

Shang's title was Sword.

During the ceremony, Shang also received his own territory to manage.

In the beginning, Shang had not been even the slightest fan of that. He wanted to focus on his power, not manage some town or something. It would only distract him.

But when Shang saw his territory, all his worries vanished.

It was just a random part of the Wild Forest.

There was literally nothing to manage as long as Shang didn't make it so.

Usually, the Dukes gave the Counts the goals they wanted them to achieve, and it was the job of the Counts to make it happen.

Procuring gold, warriors, and Mages were the most common goals.

And Jerald's goal for Shang's territory was that it shouldn't bring in less than it does now, which was basically zero.

If Shang wanted, he could create a castle or even a small town in his territory since it was quite big. He could theoretically manage everything in there and demand taxes, which definitely wouldn't be little.

Or he could just do nothing.

And, obviously, Shang chose the latter.

The main reason why Jerald had granted Shang the title was to take the first step towards making the warriors equal to Mages in terms of status. If there was one warrior Count, there could be more in the future.

Naturally, having a dirty peasant warrior amongst their ranks made the other Counts in the other Zones protest. They immediately complained to the Council, who saw this as a prime opportunity to throw more dirt onto Jerald's image.

However, the Head of the Council surprisingly shot that idea down.

"Count Sword has the power and the achievements to be a Count," she had said.

The Council was horrified that their Head had said something like that, but they couldn't get a reason as to why she had said these things out of her.

Of course, the protests didn't let up, and the other noble Mages only grew angrier.

They just couldn't accept that a warrior was now a Count.

They could accept a warrior Baron but not a Count.

That was too high for mere warriors.

After all, a Count was in practice just one step below a Duke. There was also the Liaison Rank, which would give someone temporary authority on the level of the Duke of the territory, but it wasn't a permanent Rank.

Shang and Mervin exchanged a couple more words, and Mervin held a grand speech for all the students, complimenting Count Sword for his power and naming him the second strongest warrior in the world.

Shang didn't feel comfortable hearing all these praises come from Mervin. He was a rather proud person, and he agreed with everything Mervin said, but it felt so strange and weird hearing these things come out of someone else's mouth.

It didn't feel real.

While Shang was the target of contempt from the other noble Mages, for the students in the Warrior's Academy, he was their hero.

He was a young warrior that managed to become the first warrior Count in history!

In the students' minds, Shang had reached the same level of mystery as the original Dean.

After talking with some people, Shang left the academy again.

Another long period of isolated training was about to begin for him.