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."

are only working in exchange for some kind of

wares the teachers have access to are of the 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 are materials from

Stage?" Shang

the equivalent of a High Mage. The name comes from our

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.

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

of

Then, Mervin smirked.

out of the Realm of being a

imagined the power

first person that managed to speak

furrowed

and I 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

there are nine questions

Realm above the High Mage Realm?"

so interested in Mages?" he

warrior, we don't know if there is an after. However, the Mages should know if there

a bit,

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

that you met Duke Whirlwind before. Duke Whirlwind is a High Mage, and he is the ruler over three Zones, the Ice Wyvern Zone, the

unofficially belongs to the Skythunder Kingdom. The King of the Skythunder Kingdom is an Archmage,"

mind quickly went to the most logical question.

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

no one has

Shang and Mervin had already entered Warrior's Paradise again, and they

didn't ask any further questions, but he