Sword God in a World of Magic
chapter-291

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 guess I should put this entire friend thing on hold.'

Shang jumped into the Caves.

BANG!

Shang landed on the ground without any issues. This time, not even his joints hurt.

After looking around for a bit, Shang charged down one of the tunnels. The beasts around this place weren't a danger to him.

At the first 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 substantial wealth.

Shang had already sold four Foci with one Amplifier each, which came to a total of four million gold.

Together with all the other gold he had earned, Shang had the net worth of a Mid Commander Stage warrior.

Not everyone had the luxury of having several Adepts come after them. Killing Mages was far more profitable than killing warriors or beasts.

Shang saw a couple of General Stage beasts while passing through the Caves.

He saw some spiders, pangolins, moles, and even a centipede.

Of course, none of them were interested in attacking Shang. He was running too fast, and he was giving off quite a strong feeling of danger.

Shang came to a large hole in the ground that had several tunnels connected to it. The hole was nearly an entire kilometer deep.

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

After a running start, Shang jumped off the edge and fell down the hole.

As he was falling, Shang broke one of the talismans he had purchased. A second later, Shang's body vanished and was seemingly replaced by some green wind.

This talisman was specifically designed to allow someone to descend this hole without any beasts annoying them.

About a minute later, Shang silently and lightly landed on the ground, and his body reappeared.

He looked around for a bit and walked down one of the tunnels. By now, his mind had reached the power of a Peak Apprentice, allowing Shang to memorize the entire map he had bought.

After a couple of minutes, Shang took a left, which led him further down.

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

This tunnel was quite steep but not steep enough to fall down completely.

This specific tunnel was called the "Commander Slide".

It was named as such because, after arriving at the slide's end, one would enter the part of the Caves where Commander Stage beasts lived.

The Caves were far better than the Canyon for a new team 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 Stage part of the Caves, one wouldn't meet Mid, Late, or Peak Commander Stage beasts.

In the Canyon, the Commander Stage beasts were all mixed. One could meet an Initial Commander Stage beast and then meet a Peak Commander Stage beast just a hundred meters further.

Something like this wouldn't happen here.

Luckily, this slide was also only very rarely used by beasts. Commander Stage beasts had no reason to ascend the slide, and General Stage beasts had no reason to descend it unless they had just reached the Commander Stage.

Shang jumped onto the hard slide and slid down with his feet.

The slide wasn't as even and smooth as the other parts of the tunnel, making it rather dangerous.

SSHHH!

Some ice appeared on Shang's feet, which smoothened the ground below him, allowing him to slide down without any issues.

Just a couple of seconds later, Shang's body had reached quite a lot of speed.

'This is probably as fast as I have gone with the sled wagon back then,' Shang thought.

A bit later, a stone appeared in Shang's way.

Shang jumped over the stone without any issues and lightly landed on the slide again.

'Sure enough, without a Domain, sliding down here is quite dangerous. Fortunately, my Affinity is a bit different.'

If someone lost control over their Affinity while sliding down, they might hit one of the very hard stones with their head or back. In a way, this slide acted just like the entrance to the Caves themselves. It was a filter for people that were too weak.

The slide was quite long, and Shang continued sliding for nearly five minutes.

'I have no idea how deep down I am right now,' Shang thought. 'I'm at least several kilometers deep in the ground.'

After sliding past a corner, Shang saw something, and he lifted an eyebrow.

'Really? An Initial Commander Stage Crack Spider is hunting here?'

A couple hundred meters to Shang's front, he could feel the gigantic Crack Spider. By now, Shang's Darkness Vision had become even better, and it was no issue for him to feel everything clearly for a couple hundred meters as long as there was enough Darkness Mana around.

The Crack Spider was nearly twenty meters wide and long, and it was sitting on the ceiling.

It obviously was there to catch any newly advanced Commander Stage beasts.