Sword God in a World of Magic

A couple of minutes after Shang left the Wild Forest, Mervin caught up to him. Shang didn't ask Mervin how it went since there was no point to the question.

"Are you planning to sell the corpse or give it to the academy?" Mervin asked.

"Academy," Shang answered.

"What's your choice based on?"

"I have enough gold," Shang said. "Speaking of gold, I haven't paid the fee for the exam yet."

"You don't have to," Mervin said.

Shang's eyebrows rose in surprise. "What do you mean? I thought I needed to pay five gold."

"The fee is only there to stop weak warriors from wasting our time," Mervin explained. "Weak warriors have issues with getting so much gold. Of course, we still get some requests from some rich kids. That can't be helped."

"But when they inevitably fail, they will at least reimburse us for the time wasted. In short, you only need to pay if you fail the exam. You obviously didn't."

Shang thought about Mervin's words, and he realized that Mervin's words made a lot of sense, but there was still something that irked him.

"But why are you not accepting the gold from the ones that manage to succeed in the exam?" Shang asked. "Doesn't the academy need gold?"

"No, it doesn't," Mervin said. "95% of our spending goes to the support of the teachers. You have to remember that the teachers in the academy are still interested in becoming more powerful, and the academy gives them resources to support them in this endeavor. Of course, they have to teach the students in exchange."

"Okay, but that doesn't explain why you don't need money," Shang said. "After all, you have to pay the teachers."

"Warriors at the Commander Stage are the most elite warriors you can find," Mervin explained. "Nearly all the teachers belong to some kind of organization or power. The academy isn't directly paying them but giving them access to valuable resources. The only thing the teachers get is the ability to purchase these resources. We are essentially spending zero money on them."

only working in exchange for some kind of membership for some

highest quality," he explained. "There are expensive and rare pills and tonics from all across the world. There are weapons and techniques that are exclusive to some countries and organizations. There

there are materials from beasts in the

Stage?" Shang

a High Mage. The name comes from our dean. Since he is the first warrior that reached the True

first three Realms are named after the jobs the warriors took up for the Mages. Warriors in the Soldier Stage are mostly soldiers. Warriors in

in the eyes of the Mages, that's it. The highest a warrior can ever

become nobles or leaders of actual organizations. They can only

Then, Mervin smirked.

the mold. He was the first that managed to step out of the Realm of

mind imagined the power

to

furrowed

get one answer after every major breakthrough,' Shang thought. 'I am in the First Realm, and I have gotten the answer to my first question. I will most likely receive my second answer when I reach the

are nine questions

above the High Mage Realm?" Shang

frowned. "Why are you suddenly so interested in Mages?" he

there is an after. However, the Mages should know

a bit,

Realm after the High Mage Realm. It's called the Archmage Realm, and it's the most

and he is the ruler over

Duchy, but it unofficially belongs to the Skythunder Kingdom. The King of the Skythunder Kingdom is

logical question. "Are

even higher Realm. For the past thousands of years, the goal of

one has

again, and they were in front of the gate of

questions, but he fell into