Shang was a bit surprised that he had to fight someone as powerful as Astor right at the beginning.

Did teacher Loran want to punish Shang for annoying him?

Teacher Loran noticed Shang's expression and snorted. "Don't think of yourself as too important," he scoffed. "You are the only person that I haven't seen fight yet, and I need to see your fighting style first."

"And that's why you're sending me against the strongest of the grade?" Shang asked with a frown.

"Blame your body," teacher Loran said. "You have an unfair advantage over everyone else."

Shang didn't like hearing that he had an unfair advantage, but it was the truth. It was already a shame that he was the only student in a lower grade than they were supposed to be.

"This is your first lesson in the academy, right?" Astor asked from the side as he slowly readied his huge sword.

When Shang saw Astor look at him with his readied sword, he felt his heart shake.

Powerful!

Astor felt so very powerful!

Astor was on a lower level than Shang, and Shang's body was nearly twice as strong as Astor's. Yet, Astor still felt so incredibly powerful to Shang.

Shang knew that he wouldn't win.

Shing!

Shang took out his sword and readied it. He knew that he couldn't win, but he would still give his all. This was not a fight for survival but a learning opportunity!

"As always," teacher Loran said, "whenever you draw your weapons, you must feel genuine killing intent. This is not an exception!"

Then, teacher Loran looked at Shang. "Under my supervision, none of you two will die. At my level, I can walk back and forth between you two over ten times before you can even finish half a swing. If you actually manage to kill your sparring partner, I will dedicate my life to being your servant. That's how confident I am."

The other students didn't react to teacher Loran's words. They all already knew of the power of a Commander Stage warrior.

Even the weakest Commander Stage warriors could reach 200kph in a single step, and that wasn't even their top speed. Additionally, even though they were warriors, their minds had still been infused with a lot of Mana just by having such a Mana-rich body around them.

Even a Commander Stage warrior with a warrior's body had, at least, a level two mind, which would technically allow them to become Adepts, as long as they knew how to properly cast spells.

That meant that their reaction times and thinking speeds were unimaginable for some mere Soldier Stage warriors.

Even if Shang were to use the sneakiest and fastest attack available, if teacher Loran didn't want it to hit, it wouldn't hit.

Shang nodded. He didn't exactly know how powerful Commander Stage warriors were, but since teacher Loran assured him that much, he believed him. Teacher Loran didn't seem to be the lying kind.

Shang readied himself and watched Astor carefully.

Astor slowly lifted his sword. As he did, the ground beneath him began to crack for some reason. It was almost like Astor had suddenly become far heavier.

Astor's body rotated until the sword was behind him.

For a moment, the world seemed to freeze.

Shang was preparing himself. If he were fighting for his survival, he would have struck first. However, Shang wanted to learn. If his opponent didn't take this fight seriously and Shang did, Shang could theoretically win. As long as an opponent was caught unprepared, even someone very weak could take them down.

Because of that, Shang let Astor prepare himself.

Astor was over ten meters away, but for some reason, Shang's instincts screamed at him. On top of that, Astor's pressure built more and more.

And then, Astor stopped.

In that instant, Shang felt his instincts scream at him! They were shouting that he would die if he didn't evade right this instant!

So, Shang did as his instincts told him.

BANG!

A small explosion of dirt appeared beneath Astor. All his power was put into his sword, and he swung forward.

And then, when the sword reached sufficient speed, he stopped adding more power to the swing, which resulted in Astor's sword flying forward.

However, Astor didn't let go.

All the power that Astor had pushed into the slash outweighed his body's weight by far too much. On top of that, his sword was ridiculously heavy.

This all culminated in Astor being carried forward by his heavy sword.

Obviously, on Earth, such a maneuver was impossible. After all, a human just couldn't put in that much power. However, if someone took up an incredibly heavy hammer and swung it with all their power forward, they would still need to take a couple of steps forward while trying to stop it.

That was the same principle but pushed to the extreme.

And it had incredible effects.

Astor had moved with astonishing speeds for his level.

If Shang hadn't evaded early, thanks to his instincts, he wouldn't have had the time to react to Astor's attack properly.

Astor was one level below Shang, but with that swing, Astor had reached a speed that surpassed Shang's top speed.

Astor used an incredibly heavy and hefty sword, and speed should be his weakness. He had traded speed for immense destructive potential and a potential shield, which could be used by simply turning the sword sideways.

But with that move, Astor had managed to completely get rid of his weakness.

Now, Astor had his two strengths without the weakness.

And his offensive power was… scary.

Shang had barely evaded and quickly readied his counterattack.

Yet, Astor had also stopped right beside Shang. It was almost like he had used Magic.

But wait, how could Astor suddenly stop? Where did all the power of the swing go?

Into another swing.

Astor's sword didn't stop. It simply changed direction.

Shang had readied a counterattack, but Astor's sword was already slashing at him.

Shang knew that he could hit Astor, but he would have to exchange hits with him.

Usually, Shang had no issues with trading hits. After all, he was very good at dealing with injuries, and he had a lot of regenerative abilities.

But this time, it was different.

If Shang got hit, all his regenerative abilities wouldn't matter.

That attack had so much power behind it that Shang would most likely explode, and if he didn't, he would lose everything below his chest at the very least.

Shang wasn't confident in taking Astor's head during that time, which was essentially the only way he had to kill him.

So, in short, this meant that Shang would most definitely die while Astor would maybe die.

That was not a good trade.

However, it also was too late for Shang to evade.

Because of that, he could only block the swing with his sword. At worst, he would get some broken arms, which would heal rather quickly.

For a moment, Shang considered using his Affinity. With a powerful blast of wind, Shang could push himself out of harm's way.

However, Shang put the secrecy of his Affinity above victory in a spar.

So, Shang readied his block.

And then…

WOOOSH!

A strong wind blew Shang's hair back, but the attack never arrived.

Teacher Loran also hadn't done anything.

It was Astor who had stopped.

For a split second, Shang wanted to attack since his instincts told him that his opponent had lost all momentum, but a second later, his rational mind took over.

Astor slowly pulled his sword back. "Teacher Loran will protect our lives, but not our weapons," Astor said.

Shang looked at his sword, and at that moment, Shang felt his sword's feelings.

It was deep terror.

It was like the sword had just faced death.

Shang gritted his teeth. In his need to come up with a solution in basically no time at all, Shang had overlooked the fact that his sword wasn't invincible. Yes, it had never been broken before, but the Frozen Lake Stag had put a scratch in it.

Was Astor's attack stronger or weaker than the attack of the Frozen Lake Stag?

It wasn't even a question.

"I win eight out of ten fights because I manage to destroy my opponent's weapon," Astor slowly explained. "My fighting style revolves all around the weight of my weapon. It needs to be so heavy that I can barely swing it by using all of my power."

"Materials of the First Rank can't achieve such heaviness. Because of that, a vast majority of my wealth gets invested into my weapon, and it is currently comprised of materials equivalent to the Middle General Stage."

"With its sheer weight and hardness, it can even destroy materials equivalent to the Early General Stage in one swing."

"I know a lot about weapons, and I can tell that your weapon wouldn't have even proved a hindrance. My sword would have cleaved through it and your body if teacher Loran weren't here," Astor slowly explained.

Then, Astor walked back to the same location he had started from earlier and readied his weapon again.

"This one doesn't count. This time, try to take the fight actually serious and attack me before I can get all my momentum going," he said as he pointed his sword at Shang from a distance.

Shang took a deep breath.

He had made a mistake.

He had nearly lost his weapon.

In the future, he had to be more careful with the durability of his sword.

Shang closed his eyes for a moment and readied himself mentally.

"Thank you, and sorry," Shang said as he readied his sword again. "This time, I won't let you build your momentum."

Astor nodded.

And then, he readied his swing again.