Sword God in a World of Magic

Shang walked back to the defensive line. Even though the fight hadn't been ended by him, he had still gained some knowledge.

Now, he truly knew how annoying the Trash Birds were.

Shang now knew exactly why every single hunter avoided fighting Trash Birds.

They were worth nothing.

They mainly focused on running away.

And their defensive weapons were at the peak of being annoying and painful.

It was like that species specifically evolved to be as unappealing to humans as possible.

It was ugly, useless, annoying, loud, and worthless.

An animal from Earth with equivalent status and worth would probably be a rat.

Of course, a Trash Bird was still much stronger than a rat.

'I would have only needed to resist two more attacks. I should have been able to avoid the next attack with another Blast of mine. The last attack would have been up in the air, but even if it hit me, its feet had already been injured quite badly. Even if it hit me, I would have probably survived.'

'I think I had a good chance at victory.'

'That's one step closer to fighting an actually powerful Initial General Stage beast.'

Shang's brows furrowed.

'However, there is only so much I can improve on. I have already reached the greatest speed possible, and my body has also reached its peak. There are only two ways to increase my power without advancing in my Realm or undergoing the procedure.'

'First, specific knowledge and experience regarding my target. I'm already very experienced in fighting beasts in general, but I don't have a specialized fighting tactic for every single beast I can fight.'

'After today, I learned a lot about the Trash Bird, and the next time, it will be even easier. At that point, I will have created a specific technique to deal with it.'

'That's one way to increase my power.'

'The other way is to work on my Affinity. At the moment, I can use my Affinity for speed and flexibility, but I don't have a good way to turn it into a direct weapon.'

Shang looked at his left arm.

'I've been training on my Affinity for a while now, and I can feel that I'm getting close to being able to concentrate it. If I manage to achieve that, I can increase my offensive power by a lot.'

'However, the price of my Affinity will make it harder for me to increase my speed if I also use it offensively. The attack with my Affinity could only be used as a finishing blow, and if the opponent manages to evade that, I will be in trouble since I can't increase my speed anymore for quite some time.'

'But that's about it.'

Shang snorted.

in a more sophisticated way is literally what a Mage does. So, to increase my

can get why so many warriors give up on the warrior's path and learn Magic.

Shang reached the defensive line again. Sure enough, everyone

Late General Stage beasts had joined, and most of the teams

sidelines had either already finished their

Bird from here. So, how was it? How was your first Trash Bird?"

"Annoying," Shang grumbled.

"That's what I thought!" the hunter shouted with laughter. "Anyway, you should know that the Trash Bird's excrement can increase potency. Not many people know about

looked at the hunter,

go grab some. You will earn a lot of

only looked at the

Spire Mire

hunter, Chuck McGuiness, tried to keep his laughter in check. "No," he said with barely

looked at Chuck

for your shit anymore," a hunter beside Chuck shouted with a

the

other hunter said. "Your name's Shang, right? Would you be interested in joining our

noticed that none of them seemed to have a complaint about

this was a team filled with Early General Stage hunters. They exclusively hunted Early General Stage beasts, which was still above Shang's

fact that they were willing to let him join meant that they valued his future power very

I'll have to decline," Shang

of the team

they had expected something like that. They hadn't asked Shang

a good idea, Shang?" Chuck asked from

Shang looked at Chuck.

keep working forever," Chuck said. "You should know that their bodies become more and more powerful

beast while being at the Early General Stage, but

in the entire world if you can take out a beast on your own

completely impossible at the Early Commander Stage,"

Chuck genuinely

had given Shang advice several times. It was like he was trying to repay Shang for the joke he played

physical fighters. We're physis," Chuck said with a bitter smile. "We are fighting with the very thing the beasts have the advantage in. Our intelligence and tactics can only achieve so much. At some

saw the Exploding Mountain Turtle

Shang nodded.

level a secret. He is at the Early True Path Stage, just like the Exploding Mountain Turtle," Chuck said

the fight with your own

Shang nodded again.

and the Exploding Mountain Turtle had been

Dean had

was to cut