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."

anywhere. I've never heard anyone mention any schools in several

George furrowed

That didn't seem right.

had inspected the minds of several barbarians, and the Inquisitors' loyalty

that whatever the Inquisitors reported had to be true, and the barbarians' minds also hadn't been altered

there was

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

are even

"what if the schools are only

"A front?" George asked.

the most powerful barbarians, and I know how they live. They

the southern border got something like an education while the talented barbarians in the

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

die on the southern front? That

they went to somehow managed to weaken the

his chin as his brows furrowed. "So, you're saying that the weak barbarians in the south go to school so that the Skythunder Kingdom thinks that

Shang nodded.

looked at each other for a

as he looked back at Shang, "but this plan

that there are no schools!" Shang said. "I am sure that the talented warriors didn't visit

works since I've been using it for a decade. I even used it in

off all the foreign Mana in my body. When the foreign Mana starts to reawaken, it tries to take over my mind, but this is not some kind of

some war over resources where it gains control

beast. This means that the foreign Mana didn't even reach my mind. If

can't even touch my mind, how is it supposed to change

the strengthening technique has some kind of subtle effect

and George looked

you," Jerald said. "I will ask some of my Inquisitors to review the things they have seen in the barbarian's minds. I'll tell them to look for any clues that the schools might be fake and designed to

Shang nodded. "Thank you."

to commend the Grandmountain Kingdom. They actually managed to stop us