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."

in exchange for some kind of membership for some exclusive

expensive and rare pills and tonics from all across the world. There are weapons and

there are materials from beasts in

Path Stage?"

Mage. The name comes from our dean. Since he is the first warrior that reached the True Path Stage, he got to name

up for the Mages. Warriors in the Soldier Stage are mostly soldiers. Warriors in the General Stage are mostly officers. Warriors in the

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

nobles or leaders of actual organizations. They can only

Then, Mervin smirked.

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

mind imagined the power and prestige of

person that managed to speak to the

Shang's brows furrowed

nine questions, 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

are nine questions and

a Realm above the High

interested in Mages?" he asked with a

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

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

but it unofficially belongs to the Skythunder Kingdom.

logical question. "Are

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

has succeeded

had already entered Warrior's Paradise again, and

ask any further questions, but he