Astor said his goodbyes and left.
Shang wanted to talk with Mattheo, but Mattheo had already left while Shang was talking with Astor.
Before the lesson began, Mattheo had said that his father owned the Warrior's Academy. Together with his father's focus on Magic, Shang was already pretty certain who Mattheo's father was.
It was probably Duke Whirlwind.
Shang didn't think that Mattheo was the dean's son. After all, the dean probably wouldn't have pushed Mattheo so hard into the path of a Mage.
Sadly, Shang couldn't confirm his guess since Mattheo had already left.
After the lesson, Shang wasn't certain what he should do right now. He had finally reached his goal of upgrading his weapon, and he had finally managed to learn more about his swordsmanship.
Now, he could fully focus on learning.
Without a good weapon, Shang had been in a troublesome situation since he hadn't been able to work on his techniques.
'Well, I guess it's time to learn. At the moment, I don't need money or Contribution Points, and I also don't need to train against beasts.'
'For now, I should focus on accumulating knowledge, on my techniques, and on fighting other humans.'
'Seems like I'm going to visit a couple of lessons.'
Shang left the training field and went to his room to check the schedule. There was always a small break between classes for exactly this reason.
'Another lesson for beast knowledge starts soon,' Shang read.
'Alright, let's start the learning process!'
Shang quickly left his room and entered the meeting room. A couple of students looked at him with weird expressions, but they didn't interact with him.
Teacher Niria arrived rather quickly and began her lesson.
"Foreign beasts in the northwestern forest," she announced.
The last time Shang had been here, teacher Niria had talked about foreign beasts in the northeastern forest.
It seemed like the northwestern forest also had foreign species.
Teacher Niria explained that there were two problematic areas.
The south and the northwest.
The south was obviously a problematic area due to the General Stage beasts from the Wasteland.
The northwestern part was problematic due to the Ice Wyvern Zone.
Shang hadn't heard much about the invading species of the Ice Wyvern Zone since they weren't nearly as dangerous to the ecosystem in the forest itself. Yes, the species themselves were still very dangerous to the hunters, but they didn't destroy the forest.
The northeastern forest was in constant danger due to the Swamp Millipedes and the Vanishing Snakes.
In comparison to that, the only real danger to the environment in the northwestern forest was the Life Scarabs.
The beasts from the Ice Wyvern Zone sometimes came to the Wild Forest, but most of them only arrived there due to certain circumstances.
The beasts didn't need to have their children in the Wild Forest since the Ice Wyvern Zone had plenty of weaker areas. Because of that, only rarely would one see a beast from the Ice Wyvern Zone having a child in the Wild Forest.
Most General Stage beasts only came to the northwestern forest due to being driven out of the northwestern forest by a more powerful beast or if their Affinity was Wind.
There weren't that many, but there were a couple. Of course, since there weren't many invading species from the Ice Wyvern Zone, the dangerous area also wasn't as big.
However, the south was very dangerous.
The southern part of the northwestern forest was even more dangerous than the southern part of the northeastern forest.
What was the reason for that?
Vanishing Snakes.
The Vanishing Snakes killed many young beasts. Many beasts remembered the place of their birth, and they were more likely to have their children at a similar location to where they had been born.
Due to the Vanishing Snakes, not many beasts managed to leave the northeastern forest before reaching the General Stage, which meant fewer beasts had children there.
The Vanishing Snakes weren't in the northwestern forest, which meant that this was the primary spawning ground for all kinds of beasts that usually lived in the Wasteland.
Teacher Niria talked for an hour about invading species from the Ice Wyvern Zone and two hours about invading species from the Wasteland.
As the lesson dragged on, Shang got a certain feeling about the two forests.
When Shang had just arrived, the two forests looked identical. After all, they had the same trees, and they both had Pest Cats.
Shang had also learned that both forests were called the Wild Forest.
Because of that, the two forests basically felt like the same area to Shang.
But by now, Shang saw the difference.
The northwestern forest gave off a feeling of power and confrontation. There were not that many ambush predators, and there were plenty of powerful beasts walking around without hiding.
The local menace, the Life Scarab, also made it feel a bit brighter and more natural. After all, the trees definitely weren't subtle.
In comparison, the northeastern forest was basically shrouded in a dark and poisonous mist. Shang hadn't seen many powerful beasts walking around in the northeastern forest, but the ones that were there attacked with an ambush.
The northwestern forest felt brown or red.
The northeastern forest felt black or purple.
These two areas were very different from each other.
Shang had learned a lot over the last three hours. By now, he also knew several more beasts and knew if they were on the blacklist or not.
And, sure enough, there was no beast that even resembled a Spire Mire.
After the lesson was over, Shang went back to his room.
"Shang, come here."
Or, at least, he wanted to.
Shang turned around. "Yes, teacher Niria?" he asked.
The other students were confused and looked at each other. Teacher Niria had already given Shang private lessons, and now she was calling him to her in public?
Shang walked over to teacher Niria.
SHING!
A small token appeared in teacher Niria's hand. On the token was the shadow of a gigantic eagle and a blacked-out city beneath it.
Shang furrowed his brows as he looked at the token.
A gasp of shock echoed throughout the classroom as the students began to whisper to one another.
"What is-"
"Teacher Niria!" another student said with a nervous but slightly angry tone. "Would you please explain to me why he is getting the token? As far as I know, I'm the best hunter in this Grade!"
Shang looked over.
It was a girl with white hair, and a long, silver bow was on her back.
Teacher Niria calmly looked over at the student.
"Have you killed a General Stage beast before?" she asked.
The student moved back a bit. "I couldn't find a group that accepts me yet," she answered.
"So, you are not the best student," teacher Niria said.
The surrounding students had fallen into silence.
Wait, did that mean that Shang had killed a General Stage beast before?
There was a group willing to take him with them?
pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ "Has he?" the student asked.
Teacher Niria nodded. "I have seen the corpse with my own eyes. It was a General Stage Vanishing Snake."
Silence.
A General Stage Vanishing Snake?
As a Soldier Stage warrior?
That was insane!
"But he isn't even in our class!" the student said.
"So? He's the best hunter amongst everyone at the Soldier Stage in the academy. If he doesn't deserve a token, nobody does."
Shang was still confused about what kind of token he got.
Teacher Niria looked at Shang. "Don't leave the city on the Day of Chaos. Gather in the middle of the academy shortly before sunrise. I will take you to watch."
Shang's eyes widened.