Sword God in a World of Magic

Shang entered the eastern wall in the morning.

For the last ten months, he had focused on increasing the power of his body, and he was now at the Peak General Stage.

Today, he would test his power against an Early Commander Stage beast. At least, that was the plan.

At the moment, Shang's body was just as powerful as the body of an Early Commander Stage warrior. In a way, by fighting an Early Commander Stage warrior, Shang was not jumping any levels.

However, the physical powers of beasts had become far more powerful than back when Shang had only been at the Early or Initial General Stage.

There wasn't a single warrior in the world that could defeat a Commander Stage beast alone while being at the same level.

Shang quickly purchased a couple of talismans and jumped down the wall.

Even though Shang had gotten used to running very fast, flying was still something new to him, and he enjoyed the solitude in the air.

A couple of minutes later, Shang landed near the entrance to the Caves.

It was the same one he had used three years ago with Astor, Sarah, and Elver.

Then, Shang sighed.

'I haven't thought about them in forever. Originally, I wanted to make some friends, but then this entire Wilbury thing started. I was so focused on becoming more powerful that I didn't even talk to them once.'

'Friends, huh?' Shang thought as he looked at the sky. 'I think I want friends. I've gotten used to the loneliness, but I still wonder from time to time how it would be to have a friend in this world.'

'But what am I supposed to do with them? I'm being targeted by people way more powerful than me. The last time it happened, the three of them also nearly died.'

'On top of that, what if the enemy wants to use them as hostages? I won't walk into an obvious trap, which means that my hypothetical friend will just lose their life for nothing.'

I should put this

jumped into the

BANG!

issues. This

bit, Shang charged down one of the tunnels. The beasts around this place weren't

intersection, Shang went down, deeper into the Caves. Just like Sarah, Shang had purchased a map for the Caves, which basically cost him nothing due to his

Foci with one Amplifier each,

had earned, Shang had the net worth of

everyone had the luxury of having several Adepts come after them. Killing Mages

Stage beasts while

some spiders, pangolins, moles,

He was running too fast, and

to a large hole in the ground that had several tunnels connected

time, Shang could see beasts leave one tunnel and go to a different one. In a way, this tunnel was quite

a running start, Shang jumped off

was falling, Shang broke one of the talismans he had purchased. A second later, Shang's body vanished and

talisman was specifically designed to allow someone to descend this

lightly landed on the

of the tunnels. By now, his mind had reached the power of a Peak Apprentice, allowing Shang

of minutes, Shang took a left, which led him further

right, went straight, took another left, and eventually, he arrived at a peculiar

quite steep but not steep enough to fall

specific tunnel was called the "Commander

one would enter the part of

of Commander Stage warriors. In the Caves, the deeper one went, the stronger the beasts. This meant that, as long as one remained at the upper parts of the Commander

One could meet an Initial Commander Stage beast

like this wouldn't happen

only very rarely used by beasts. Commander Stage beasts had no reason to ascend the slide, and General Stage beasts had

slide and slid down with his