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."

working in exchange for some kind of membership

access to are of the highest quality," he explained. "There are expensive and rare pills and tonics from all across the world. There are

materials from beasts in the True

Stage?" Shang

Mage. The name comes from

Realms are named after the jobs the warriors took up for the Mages. Warriors in the Soldier Stage are mostly soldiers. Warriors in the General Stage are mostly officers. Warriors in the Commander Stage are the leaders of the

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

nobles or leaders of actual organizations. They can only

Then, Mervin smirked.

to break the mold. He was the first that managed to step out of the Realm of being a servant

mind imagined the power and prestige

first person that managed to speak

Shang's brows furrowed as he remembered

get one answer after every major breakthrough,' Shang thought. 'I am in the First Realm, and I have gotten

nine questions and nine

a Realm above the High Mage Realm?"

are you suddenly so interested in Mages?" he asked

if there is an after. However, the Mages should know

a bit,

Mage Realm.

Duke Whirlwind is a High Mage, and he is the ruler over three

belongs to the Skythunder

mind quickly went to the most logical question. "Are there also Emperors?" he

answered. "In order to be crowned an Emperor, someone would need to reach an even higher Realm. For the past thousands of

one has succeeded up to

Warrior's Paradise again, and they were in front of

any further questions,