Sword God in a World of Magic

The lesson was over faster than Shang had anticipated. He had felt like only a couple of minutes had passed, but, apparently, Shang had fought Astor for nearly three hours.

After the first two fights, Shang hadn't won another one. Astor had perfectly countered all of Shang's attacks after knowing what he could do.

Surprisingly, nearly every fight, Shang felt like he had Astor on the ropes. Astor was always so close to losing every single time.

Yet, for some reason, Astor managed to somehow wiggle out of his disadvantaged state.

At that point, Shang had already committed too much, making it harder for him to resist Astor's offensive.

The closest Shang had gotten was when he had loaded his sword with an Ice Blast. He had struck upwards against Astor's sword, completely destroying the attack.

However, Astor managed to block Shang's killing blow by, ironically, jumping into the attack with his chest. The defenses of his uniform activated, and Shang's attack was stopped.

Sure, that only worked once, but it had stopped Shang's most dangerous attack.

Teacher Loran gave his feedback to all the students, including Shang. This time, teacher Loran had actually seen Shang's swordsmanship, which meant that he could give actual feedback.

Surprisingly, teacher Loran didn't criticize Shang's swordsmanship much.

He said that he could already see an initial fighting style forming, which was a good thing.

He said that Shang obviously preferred a very fast and explosive fighting style and that he should focus on that.

One sentence in particular rang true in Shang's mind.

"Don't focus on your weaknesses. Focus on your strengths and make them even stronger."

Shang's weakness was obviously defense. He had no shield or great weapon that could act as a shield. Because of that, Shang had to parry or evade attacks, which wasn't easy.

Shang could work on his defense, but that might take too much work, and it might even ruin his already established fighting style.

Working on his defenses would essentially count as a plan B. If his opponent managed to get through Shang's speed and dodges, Shang would need to defend himself.

That sounded like a good idea, but there was another way forward.

"if" will always

was so destructive

teacher Loran meant by working on his strengths instead of his

opponent ever managed to

of

"Always fighting Mattheo can get boring since we know each other's moves perfectly. I'm glad you finally managed to reach a level

Shang nodded. "Thanks."

to go. After all, I am a full

of the Caterpillar Class can't learn real techniques, which means that our powers are always lower

comparison to

That puts me at above-average for normal students. I'm still a bit short when it comes to

average, huh?" Shang

Astor nodded.

comparison

Class, you are a bit below average. In comparison to students in general, you are on the lower side. If you were in

took a

still so weak when it came to fighting

troubled," Astor said with a raised eyebrow. "You just came here like one or two weeks ago. The other students had years of training

"Give it time."

looked to

two weeks, but he still felt a bit ashamed

sure. Shang knew that he

Not

even more, fighting Mages was

that point, Shang remembered

a form of practical exam or something

that be fighting other

gathered some experience in fighting warriors, but he hadn't

same time, Shang

the teachers

Vice-Dean talk about his quota while referencing the next

Everyone basically wants them,"