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 anyone mention

George furrowed

That didn't seem right.

the minds of several barbarians, and the Inquisitors' loyalty

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

there was

got an idea. "Have there been barbarians that

Jerald answered, "and they are even

if the schools are only a

"A front?" George asked.

the most powerful barbarians, and I know how they live. They didn't

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

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

barbarians with an education get sent to die on the southern front? That seems like a stupid waste

they went to somehow managed to weaken the

furrowed. "So, you're saying 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 from using the

Shang nodded.

at each other for

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

there are no schools!" Shang said. "I am sure that the talented warriors didn't visit any kind of school, and I can assure you that they learn quite quickly when

the technique works since I've been using it for a decade. I even

Mana in my body. When the foreign Mana starts to reawaken, it tries to take over my mind, but

resist its force. This is not some war over resources where it gains control over some, and I get control back. This is a stalemate.

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

it can't even touch my mind, how is it

way that the strengthening technique has some kind of subtle effect

and George looked at each

to review the things they have seen in the

Shang nodded. "Thank you."

to commend the Grandmountain Kingdom. They actually managed to stop us from making use of this technique for maybe