A couple of minutes after Shang left the Wild Forest, Mervin caught up to him. Shang didn't ask Mervin how it went since there was no point to the question.
"Are you planning to sell the corpse or give it to the academy?" Mervin asked.
"Academy," Shang answered.
"What's your choice based on?"
"I have enough gold," Shang said. "Speaking of gold, I haven't paid the fee for the exam yet."
"You don't have to," Mervin said.
Shang's eyebrows rose in surprise. "What do you mean? I thought I needed to pay five gold."
"The fee is only there to stop weak warriors from wasting our time," Mervin explained. "Weak warriors have issues with getting so much gold. Of course, we still get some requests from some rich kids. That can't be helped."
"But when they inevitably fail, they will at least reimburse us for the time wasted. In short, you only need to pay if you fail the exam. You obviously didn't."
Shang thought about Mervin's words, and he realized that Mervin's words made a lot of sense, but there was still something that irked him.
"But why are you not accepting the gold from the ones that manage to succeed in the exam?" Shang asked. "Doesn't the academy need gold?"
"No, it doesn't," Mervin said. "95% of our spending goes to the support of the teachers. You have to remember that the teachers in the academy are still interested in becoming more powerful, and the academy gives them resources to support them in this endeavor. Of course, they have to teach the students in exchange."
"Okay, but that doesn't explain why you don't need money," Shang said. "After all, you have to pay the teachers."
"Warriors at the Commander Stage are the most elite warriors you can find," Mervin explained. "Nearly all the teachers belong to some kind of organization or power. The academy isn't directly paying them but giving them access to valuable resources. The only thing the teachers get is the ability to purchase these resources. We are essentially spending zero money on them."
Shang's eyebrows rose. "So, the teachers are only working in exchange for some kind of membership for some exclusive shop?"
Mervin snorted. "The wares the teachers have access to are of the highest quality," he explained. "There are expensive and rare pills and tonics from all across the world. There are weapons and techniques that are exclusive to some countries and organizations. There are ores and materials deep from inside danger zones."
"And most importantly, there are materials from beasts in the True Path Stage."
"True Path Stage?" Shang asked.
"That's the name of the Fourth Realm for warriors," Mervin said. "It's the equivalent of a High Mage. The name comes from our dean. Since he is the first warrior that reached the True Path Stage, he got to name it."
"The first three Realms are named after the jobs the warriors took up for the Mages. Warriors in the Soldier Stage are mostly soldiers. Warriors in the General Stage are mostly officers. Warriors in the Commander Stage are the leaders of the armies."
"However, in the eyes of the Mages, that's it. The highest a warrior can ever become is the leader of an army."
"They can't become nobles or leaders of actual organizations. They can only lead armies."
Then, Mervin smirked.
"That was until the dean managed to break the mold. He was the first that managed to step out of the Realm of being a servant and managed to step onto the very level of actually important leaders."
Shang's mind imagined the power and prestige of the dean.
The first person that managed to speak to the Mages eye-to-eye.
However, Shang's brows furrowed as he remembered something.
'The God has asked me nine questions, and I get one answer after every major breakthrough,' Shang thought. 'I am in the First Realm, and I have gotten the answer to my first question. I will most likely receive my second answer when I reach the Second Realm.'
'Yet, there are nine questions and nine answers.'
pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ "Is there a Realm above the High Mage Realm?" Shang asked.
Mervin frowned. "Why are you suddenly so interested in Mages?" he asked with a snort.
"Because, since the dean is the strongest warrior, we don't know if there is an after. However, the Mages should know if there is an after," Shang asked.
For a bit, Mervin remained silent.
"Fine," he said. "Yes, there is a Realm after the High Mage Realm. It's called the Archmage Realm, and it's the most powerful Realm in existence."
"I've heard that you met Duke Whirlwind before. Duke Whirlwind is a High Mage, and he is the ruler over three Zones, the Ice Wyvern Zone, the Storm Eagle Zone, and the Empress Cobra Zone."
"The Whirlwind Duchy is theoretically an autonomous Duchy, but it unofficially belongs to the Skythunder Kingdom. The King of the Skythunder Kingdom is an Archmage," Mervin explained.
Shang's mind quickly went to the most logical question. "Are there also Emperors?" he asked.
"No," Mervin answered. "In order to be crowned an Emperor, someone would need to reach an even higher Realm. For the past thousands of years, the goal of every King has been to become an Emperor."
"But no one has succeeded up to now."
By now, Shang and Mervin had already entered Warrior's Paradise again, and they were in front of the gate of the academy.
Shang didn't ask any further questions, but he fell into thought again.
'The Archmage Realm would count as the fifth Realm, but that would only answer my fifth question. There are still four more to go.'
Shang threw a covert look to Mervin.
'That's probably the extent of what he knows. I don't know why, but not even a warrior at the Commander Stage knows what's beyond the Fifth Realm.'
'I'm unsure if Duke Whirlwind knows about the Realm beyond the Archmage Realm, but for now, I should assume that everyone believes that the Archmages are the most powerful Mages in existence.'
'But one thing is certain, there are at least eight Realms to being a Mage. I'm not sure if there are truly nine or if the last question was simply a hail Mary from the God to get me to reach a place no one has been in before.'
'However, one thing is certain. There are at least three more Realms after the Archmage Realm.'
'Yet, funnily enough, the strongest warrior in the world is the dean. I don't believe that the God has lied to me about that.'
'The people in this country believe that the dean has managed to step out of the rank of servants and look the Mages into the eyes, but they don't realize the true power of the Mages.'
'The dean is in the fourth Realm.'
'The strongest Mage is, at least, in the eighth Realm.'
'The most powerful Mages probably look at the dean as an especially outstanding child. He's very impressive for a child, but he's just that, a child.'
As Shang and Mervin stepped through the gates of the academy, they saw Soran waiting for them.
Soran saw the Beast Sack on Shang's shoulder and nodded.
"Put that to the side for now," Soran said, gesturing to the Beast Sack. "You have more important things to do."
"The dean wants to see you."