In order to obtain high-quality mana gathering and purifying techniques, Shane not only required an astronomical amount of wealth but also had to complete a bunch of missions allocated by the system to obtain permission to buy better manuals.
Accomplishing some of these missions was both tricky and demanding, owing to the strict time limit that some missions had, and the level of difficulty. It was believed that some missions involved performing tasks that were beyond most human capabilities, while others involved invading foreign Primordial Dimensions, that humanity had never entered before.
Some of them were even inhabited by other races and bloodbaths couldn't be prevented everytime.
Shane remembered a case, where a human prodigy with a mana purity of 80% had ventured into a foreign Basic-Dimension, only to cause problems with other races which had almost led them to war.
Fortunately, the authorities of both sides had gotten hold of their troublemakers and controlled the situation, before it had blown out of proportion. The human prodigy was allowed to accomplish his mission, as long as humanity vowed to never return to that particular Dimension.
Losing a foreign Dimension in order to retrieve their captured human prodigy, who had a high chance to accomplish his mission, wasn't considered a bad deal, as mankind was already conquering more than enough shelters.
Having a stable position in 30 Basic-DImension was still far away from satisfying humanity, which was filled with greed and an insatiable desire to have more.
As such, roughly 8 more shelters were in their construction phase as of now.
200 years ago, humanity had a population of more than 10 billion, but with the blessing in disguise, called Primordial Dimensions, old age and disease weren't considered a problem anymore.
While beings at higher stages could reduce their fertility rate, it did not apply to anyone below the Master stage. With their increased strength, even older humans seemed to regain their youth while cultivating, while one's fertility rate decreased which was an odd contrast.
In the past, the average age of humans was 80 years and was roughly the same compared to the mortal stage. While the apprentice stage increased one's lifespan by roughly 20 to 30 years, entering the expert stage would lead to another increase of approximately 50 years.
If one lived a healthy life without sustaining serious injuries, one could grow old further and live beyond the age of 100. In fact, the age of 170 wasn't uncommon for people at Expert stages.
Breaking into the Master stage, one would have a lifespan of more than 300 years.
This meant that a large number of humans that survived the horror unleashed by the Primordial Dimensions were still alive, provided that they had entered the Master stage, without being killed by monsters.
It was also estimated that mankind had recovered from the loss of 20 billion casualties and even created a new population record, which Shane was neither sure about nor did he really care.
As long as he was left on his own, he was fine with everyone bearing as many children as they wanted.
In the end, it could be considered an advantage to humanity because humans' fertility rate was considered to be extremely high compared to a few races, if not all. Goblins, for example, were tenacious and even rabbits feared their reproduction ability.
But their innate strength was much lower compared to humans and one didn't even need to mention their intelligence.
In order to reach the intelligence of humans, they would have to evolve either into Goblin mages, Shamans, Goblin Lords, or through a series of evolutions into a Goblin King.
These were only a small part of their population, as such mankind was still in a better position than them. Shane didn't even know if Goblins habited a planet somewhere in the universe, or if they only lived within the Primordial Dimensions.
Umbra was still searching for a perfect position to support Shane during a battle. He was still way too small to coil around his neck, without falling down. As such, fighting together seemed still hard, even though the required will and spirit existed.
Looking out of Shane's chest pocket of his black robe, Umbra's head stuck out. One could consider this position as the best possible spot to support Shane with some shadow needles in order to distract the opponents.
Right now, Shane could see a bunch of mid-Wild stage sparky horned goats with reinforced horns with feeble electric currents spreading out from them.
Getting hit by these horns would not only be extremely painful but also shocking, as the electric currents would force their way through armors and even mid-Wild beasts.
Sparky horned goats weren't especially powerful in other aspects but their horns were definitely a threat one wouldn't want to face.
But, Shane sneaked up to a group of ten without even the slightest hint of fear in his eyes.
He was ready to kill these goats, as they were rare to find, so close at the outskirts of the mountain.
The sparky horns of the goats could be used to make a variety of elemental weapons at the Mortal grade, with a common quality as the worst possible outcome.
After injecting mana into these weapons, small sparks would envelop them, increasing their lethality by a small margin.
As such, each of the 4th Wild stage beasts was worth around 7 silver coins.
This wasn't comparable to the products manufactured by the sparky horns, which were worth more than 50 silver coins, but Shane didn't mind that.
His plan right now was to generate money to invest it once again in his human capital.
Shane was only slightly more than ten meters away from his prey. His next few steps would have alarmed them so he had to be careful. An 8-meter radius was the estimated distance for most beasts to notice invaders by either smelling, hearing, or feeling them.
This radius would only increase with the ranks and assassinating them would become even harder. But, right now a distance of 8 meters was more than enough for Shane to prevent his first target from evading him.
Leaning forward, Shane circulated mana within his lower body, and from a slow first step, he pushed himself forcefully from the ground. He reached a breathtaking speed, surprising the oblivious sparky horned goats that grazed innocently, causing their horns to release electric sparks.
He crossed the distance of 8 meters within a single moment. Shane had to twist his body, as the sparky-horned goat that he targeted, surprisingly reacted much faster than he had anticipated.
But it only lowered its head to fight him head-on with its horns, which wasn't that smart. Shane's body was exceptionally flexible owing to the strenuous exercises that his strict instructor made him do.
How he hated that devil!!! Shane thought for a quarter of a second before he laid his eyes on the mid-Wild stage goat in front of him.
It was only 45 centimeters in height if one were to exclude its head. Shane exerted his force to jump over it, while twisting his body to thrust out the dagger, causing a deep wound, close to the neck.
Unfortunately, his attack was slightly off the mark, and Shane still had to face 10 opponents at the same time. However, unbeknownst to him, Umbra shot out a paper-thin shadow needle into the deep wound he had created, decreasing the combat strength of the already injured sparky horned goat even more.
Most people would feel a deep sensation of danger while fighting against 10 beasts at the same time. But, the only thing that Shane did was to smile innocently, finally having a chance to fight a real battle, exactly what he had wished for.
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