Sword God in a World of Magic

Shang thought that assumption to be stupid, but he could see where they were coming from.

Yes, the barbarians were very simple-minded, almost like beasts. They even lived in tribes and just followed the strongest one blindly.

"So, you think that the barbarians' minds become more similar to beasts," Shang said.

"Correct," George said. "We don't know it yet, which is why we are running the tests. Some deaths or some heightened aggression would be acceptable, in my opinion, but decreasing the warrior's intelligence would not make them stronger but weaker."

"They wouldn't even be able to create any sort of True Path, which would force them to follow the barbarian path to the end, which means they will just become beasts. That's not our goal. We want warriors."

"I see where you're coming from," Shang said, "but I really doubt that side effect actually exists. I've been using that technique for ten years, and I haven't changed."

George and Jerald raised an eyebrow each.

"Okay, bad choice of words," Shang said. "What I meant is that I didn't become dumber."

"We know," Jerald said, "but the things we saw in those barbarians' minds are very worrisome. We saw their lives and how horribly they performed in school. They were being taught the most basic things, but they still-"

"Wow, wait a second," Shang said as he interrupted Jerald. "What did you just say? Schools?"

Jerald furrowed his eyebrows. "Yes, schools. We've seen the schools in their minds."

"What schools?" Shang asked in shock. "There are no schools for barbarians."

"Shang, we've read their minds. We saw the schools. There are schools," Jerald said.

"No, there are not!" Shang shouted. "I've been at the northern border where all the elite and talented barbarians go, and not even one of them talked about any sort of school. How would schools even be possible? Everyone lives in a stupid fucking tribe with the most backward ideologies."

"I led over ten of the most talented barbarians for months, and I've taught them basically everything they know. They didn't even know about the most basic concepts, and I had to teach them all of these concepts."

"Even more, they learned the concepts pretty quickly as soon as they actually listened to me."

I've never heard

and George furrowed

That didn't seem right.

had inspected the minds of several barbarians,

meant that whatever the Inquisitors reported had to be true, and the barbarians' minds also

there was

Shang got an idea. "Have there been barbarians that didn't see any

are even dumber

"what if the schools are only

"A front?" George asked.

stated, I've been with the most powerful barbarians, and I know how they live. They didn't go to any school, and I

got something like an education while the talented barbarians

of the barbarians probably isn't fake, which means that there are some schools for the trash

education get sent to die on the southern front? That seems like a

somehow managed

that the weak barbarians in the south go to school so that the Skythunder Kingdom thinks that the barbarian strengthening technique makes them dumber, dissuading them

Shang nodded.

looked at each other for a

Jerald said as he looked back at Shang, "but this plan

warriors didn't visit

been using it for a decade. I even used it in unintended ways.

tell you that my mind can block off all the foreign Mana in my body. When

it directly attacks it, and my willpower has to resist its force. This is not some war over resources where it

mind breaks, I will turn into a beast. This means that the

even touch my mind, how is

that the strengthening technique has some kind of subtle effect on

George looked

in the barbarian's minds. I'll

Shang nodded. "Thank you."

to be true, I'll have to commend the Grandmountain Kingdom. They actually managed to stop us from