Shang slowly walked away from the training field, scratching his chin as he thought about how he should proceed.

'My goal is obviously power. To get there, I need to increase my Battle-Strength since I can't work on my level right now. To increase my Battle-Strength, I need more experience. I'm very good at fighting against beasts, and I'm more than fine with Battle-Strength in that regard.'

pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ 'So, logically, I should work on my Battle-Strength against humans. However, the issue is that I can't even properly fight other humans since my weapon gets destroyed with basically every attack. So, the first priority should be my weapon.'

'Sarah has taught me a lot about Affinities and weapons, and I'm pretty confident that I should get ore fitting for my Affinity.'

'Now, the question is, how do I have to combine the ore to make it work? If I were to combine the four different Affinities I have that I know of, do I need to get one-quarter of each, or do I need to get a full load of each?'

Shang wanted to look at his sword, but he remembered that he wasn't allowed to pull it out without a very good reason.

'That's the issue. Do I need all of it or just a bit? I mean, the logical first step would be to buy two units of ore with a Fire, Ice, Light, and Darkness Affinity. If that still isn't enough, I can simply buy more.'

'Luckily, my weapon isn't simple, and I don't need a blacksmith. The God gave me the weapon precisely due to the absence of powerful blacksmiths at the higher levels. He said it's too much to force me to blaze two paths at once. So, according to him, I don't need a blacksmith. I probably only need to put my sword close to the ore.'

'Can my sword handle multiple Affinities? Oh, why am I even asking? I think the God thought of that. I don't think that something like that is too hard for him.'

'So, first step, get two Units of ore for everything, and to get there, I need money or Contribution Points.'

'I still need to ask Sarah where I can get the ore relatively cheap, but that has to wait for the next lesson, which should be in two days.'

'Then, I should earn money and Contribution Points until then.'

Shang walked back to the main building and entered his room. Then, he checked the map in the rulebook again for all the different boards for missions.

The exchange hall had the mission board for escort missions and transportation missions.

The main gate had missions that took place in Warrior's Paradise. Those missions often consisted of someone renting a student for a specific amount of time. It was often for research or for teaching, as in that the student taught the person that submitted the mission.

Those missions didn't give that many rewards. After all, there were plenty of students that wanted to earn Contribution Points without risking their lives in the outside. Due to the great number of students willing to accept these missions, the rewards were very low. After all, even if 99% of students wouldn't accept a mission with such low rewards, 1% would still accept it.

The main building had a mission board that offered missions coming from different Zones and even other countries. Nearly all of these missions came from the countries themselves or directly from the army.

The Soldier Stage students were just that in the army, students. Sure, they were powerful inside the Soldier Stage, but actual armies used General Stage warriors.

What would the students be used for?

Assistance, low-ranking guards, transportation.

Unimportant jobs.

So, why ask for students?

Two reasons.

First of all, the army could pay the students in recognition and knowledge. This meant that the army didn't need to pay a lot for their help. Students also didn't mind the low rewards since they would learn a lot and also get acquainted with a couple of officers in the army. That would make it far easier to join the army in the future.

Second, the students from this academy had a bright future ahead of them, and by having them inside their army for a while, the likelihood of a student joining said army would increase.

Shang remembered that one female officer he had met in Blizzard's Edge. She had said that she was also part of the Warrior's Academy. Shang had wondered why she was there, but now it made sense. She had probably accepted one of these missions.

'Wait a sec,' Shang suddenly thought as he realized something. 'She was in the General Stage, right? And she said that she was part of the Warrior's Academy, right?'

'So, does that mean that she is part of that special training program? Additionally, she is obviously a member of the ones with the blue uniforms, the ones that want to become officers in the future.'

Shang blinked a couple of times.

'Wow, back then, I thought that basically all the students in this academy were outstanding, but she's in a league of her own. She's probably well on her way to the Commander Stage.'

'Huh, I guess I met a future knight. Who woulda thought?'

'Anyway, back to the missions. I think I should accept some of the missions near the north of the academy.'

What missions were in the north?

Beast hunting.

Beast hunting gave a lot of rewards, and Shang wouldn't need to travel very far. After all, Warrior's Paradise was just a stone's throw away from the wilderness.

However, the missions were dangerous. Going alone into the wilderness could end in tragedy. Just one wrong move and one might actually stumble across a beast they couldn't defeat. Only confident hunters accepted these missions, and they often went in pairs as insurance.

But for Shang, these missions were perfect.

Shang left the room and walked towards the south first. When he arrived at the market, Shang bought a couple of beast sacks. Teacher Mervin had delivered the corpse of the Pest Cat, which included the beast sack.

When Shang asked for beast sacks, he simply got several of them handed to him, free of charge.

The academy wanted to encourage people to hunt beasts, which was why the beast sacks were free.

After getting his beast sacks, Shang went towards the north. He walked past the training fields until he reached an area close to the city walls.

There, he saw a big board with plenty of missions hanging on it.

Then, Shang looked at the missions.