Ch. 531..540

Chapter 531 531 – Meeting Everyone

A person stepped through the new portal shortly after it appeared.

"Seems like the guys from the Grandmountain Kingdom are here," Agon said with a snort.

Shang and Jerald looked over with interest.

They hadn't met the leaders of the Grandmountain Kingdom yet, and they wondered what they would be like.

The first person that stepped through was a thin, brown-haired man that looked to be in his thirties. He was about 165 cm tall, and he had several bags under his eyes.

Shang thought that he looked like a thin programmer from Earth.

Someone that didn't move much while staying up late to play games.

He had a very bored expression, and he looked like coming here was already too stressful for him.

However, the amount of Earth Mana Shang could feel coming off of this guy was insane.

There was no doubt.

This was King Grandmountain.

"You look tired as always, Wilbur," Koran said with a polite chuckle.

King Grandmountain, Wilbur, only moved his bored and annoyed gaze at Koran. "How long until the meeting starts?" he asked in a tired voice.

"It will start in about an hour," Koran answered.

Wilbur only nodded absentmindedly and walked to the side of the plateau.

Obviously, he wasn't very interested in meeting the others.

Jerald only raised an eyebrow and walked over. "Greetings, I'm-"

"It doesn't matter who you are," Wilbur cut off Jerald without turning around.

However, he also didn't sound aggressive. He simply sounded like talking to Jerald was too bothersome.

"I will be gone in a month anyway. Introduce yourself to the others," Wilbur said.

Jerald was a bit taken aback by King Grandmountain's off-putting demeanor, but he still retreated without saying anything further.

A second later, a middle-aged woman with beautiful blue hair stepped through the portal. When she saw Jerald retreating from Wilbur, she immediately knew what had happened.

"I must apologize for Assistant Supervisor Wilbur Grandmountain," she said in a cold but polite tone. "He is very busy. If you need anything from him, please contact me. I'm his assistant. You may call me Mrs. Flowing Blossom, Mr. Whirlwind."

Jerald was a bit surprised by the distant and overly polite form of address. "Thank you, Mrs. Flowing Blossom. I don't mind. I can understand why Mr. Grandmountain is so stressed."

Mrs. Flowing Blossom only nodded politely and walked over to Wilbur.

Funnily enough, they didn't talk, and Mrs. Flowing Blossom only waited obediently behind Wilbur.

'Sure enough, not everyone is as approachable as Koran,' Shang thought.

SHING!

Two other people stepped through the portal.

One was a middle-aged woman with long, brown hair, while the other was another thin man wearing a white coat.

Shang recognized the coat the man was wearing as the coat that all the researchers in the Grandmountain Kingdom wore.

However, Shang was more surprised about the woman.

He recognized her.

The woman also very quickly noticed Shang, and her eyebrows shot up in surprise.

Then, her eyes narrowed, and she snorted. "I knew it."

This was the Governor that had found him after he had arrived in the Grandmountain Kingdom. Back then, Shang had acted like an isolated barbarian. Sadly, she had still sent him to the frontlines.

Shang found it a bit awkward to meet her here.

Jerald noticed the exchange. "You know her?" Jerald asked Shang.

Shang nodded. "She was the Governor that sent me to the frontlines."

"Oh, her," Jerald said with a small chuckle.

Then, Jerald walked up to her and offered his hand. "Hello, I'm Jerald Whirlwind, and I am the new Assistant Supervisor of the southern area."

The woman focused on Shang for one more second before looking at Jerald.

Then, she shook Jerald's hand. "Zara Cliffer, I am the new Assistant Supervisor of the northwestern area."

After that, she gestured to the person beside her. "This is my assistant, Hans. You can contact me for important things directly, but please communicate with Hans for unimportant matters."

Jerald nodded politely and also shook hands with Hans.

"I'm looking forward to working with you," Hans said with a bright and friendly smile.

"The pleasure is mine," Jerald answered.

Hans looked around Jerald at Shang. "Is this your assistant?" he asked.

"He is my plus one, but he isn't my assistant," Jerald said with a laugh. "He's my friend, and he is the reason why I even got this job."

Hans and Zara looked a bit surprised.

How could an Initial True Path Stage warrior have such a big impact on Jerald getting the job? Their powers should be worlds apart.

Hans also introduced himself to Shang, who did the same thing.

Zara wasn't really interested in talking with Shang. Apparently, she was still a bit annoyed that Shang managed to trick her back then.

A couple of minutes later, the next portal opened.

This time, the people of the Blackshadow Kingdom stepped through.

The leader was a tall woman with long, black hair, and her eyes were frosty and prideful.

This was Queen Blackshadow.

Apparently, Queen Blackshadow didn't have a plus one, and the same thing was true for her successor.

Behind her stood a tall and thin man with black hair and black eyes. A cold aura came off him, and most people felt uncomfortable being near him.

'Surprisingly, the people from the Blackshadow Kingdom are exactly as I expected them to be,' Shang thought.

Koran's demeanor was not what Shang had expected at all, and Wilbur was also different. Shang had expected King Grandmountain to be a chiseled and tall man.

But the further Shang thought about it, the more Wilbur's appearance actually made sense.

Barbarians lived in the Grandmountain Kingdom, but the Grandmountain Kingdom wasn't actually led by them.

The researchers and Mages led the Grandmountain Kingdom.

The introductions with the people from the Blackshadow Kingdom were curt but polite. Queen Blackshadow introduced herself in a polite but distant manner.

Her successor was even more extreme. "Yora Darksky, nice to meet you," he said in a flat tone.

Shang could hear that Yora wasn't actually acting like someone superior in front of Jerald.

In fact, Yora reminded Shang of someone.

Himself.

Yora's demeanor was very similar to Shang's own demeanor.

A couple of seconds later, the next portal opened, and the people of the Spirit Spring Kingdom walked through.

The leader was a brightly smiling young woman with white hair, and when she saw the new faces, her smile became even brighter.

She immediately jumped to Zara, the new Assistant Supervisor of the Grandmountain Kingdom, and introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Rela Spirit Spring, and can I say that your hair looks fantastic?" she quickly said.

Zara was a bit taken aback. "Thanks," she said awkwardly. Then, she coughed to regain her bearings. "My name is Zara Cliffer, and I'm the new Assistant Supervisor of the northwestern area."

"Happy to meet you, Zara! I can already tell that the Grandmountain Kingdom will make a great resurgence soon!" Rela spoke loudly with a bright voice.

"Thanks," Zara answered again with a bit of surprise.

Then, Rela quickly jumped towards Jerald and introduced herself.

Jerald only chuckled politely. "Nice to meet you, Rela. I think I will be working very closely with your successor soon."

Rela and Jerald talked with each other for a while, just exchanging compliments.

After introducing herself to Jerald, Rela smirked and literally jumped over to Queen Blackshadow.

"Sunny!" she shouted happily as she threw herself at Queen Blackshadow.

Queen Blackshadow's face turned a bit red, and she gently tried to push Rela away. "What's the matter with you, Rela?! This is an official meeting, not a playground!"

"I can't help it! I just missed you so much!" she shouted.

While still hugging Queen Blackshadow, Rela looked over at Yora Darksky behind her. "Yora, I also haven't seen you in a while."

Yora only nodded in greeting while Rela giggled.

'Well, she seems a bit chipper than I expected,' Shang thought. 'Anyway, I should also introduce myself.'

Shang walked to Rela and slowly extended a hand.

"Ew, go away! You're creepy!" Rela shouted as she threw a side-eye at Shang.

Shang's hand froze.

 

 

Chapter 532 532 – Protagonist

Shang could only look at Rela Spirit Spring with raised eyebrows.

He hadn't expected that reaction.

Some of the people that knew Rela only chuckled a bit, and Shang pulled his hand back.

Then, he walked back to Jerald without saying anything else.

It was a bit direct, but he could deal with people not liking him.

No reason to make a big deal out of it.

Then, the last two people stepped through the portal.

A young woman with short green hair and another young woman with long light-grey hair stepped through the portal.

Shang could tell that the first one was a Peak High Mage while the second one was a Late High Mage.

The two went and introduced themselves to all the present people until they eventually reached Jerald.

"Hello, I'm Fia Stormbright, and this is my plus one, Lira Stormbright, my sister," the green-haired woman said.

"Hello, you two. I'm Jerald Whirlwind, and this is my plus one, Shang Sword. Nice to meet you," he said.

Everyone shook hands and introduced themselves.

Now, only two people were missing.

Shang simply waited at the side while Jerald was talking with Fia Stormbright and her sister.

Shang knew what they were talking about. After all, Jerald had already told Shang about his future plans.

If Relon actually gave permission, the Skythunder Kingdom would finally have a chance to resist the Magic Purity Kingdom.

After a couple of minutes, one more portal opened, and Charles Pendragon stepped through.

"Hey, hey, people! Charles Pendragon here!" he shouted loudly. "I will be the new Assistant Supervisor for the central area, and I don't have a plus one since the old man is taking all the good Mages with him."

From the side, Koran only sighed. "Why do you have to call me old man in front of everyone?"

Charles only put his hands on his hip and puffed out his chest. "It's not my fault that you're old!"

Koran only rubbed his forehead in annoyance.

"You found a weird one," Agon said from beside Koran.

"Yes, but he's very talented and capable," Koran said.

"Even if he doesn't seem that way," Koran grumbled.

All the current leaders were talking in a group. They had even pulled Wilbur in, forcing him to participate.

From what Shang could see, the five current leaders knew each other very well.

The plus ones also seemed to know each other.

At that moment, Shang noticed something.

"Where's Miriam?" Shang asked Agon with a voice transmission.

"She's preparing everything right now," he answered.

"Oh, okay," Shang answered.

Everyone continued talking, and they eventually split into groups.

Jerald was talking with the two sisters from the Spirit Spring Kingdom while Zara Cliffer tried to strike up a conversation with Yora Darksky, who didn't seem interested at all.

Meanwhile, Shang only stood at the side, not talking with anyone.

"Sucks, doesn't it?!" Charles suddenly said to Shang in a loud voice.

Shang only furrowed his brows and looked at him. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"I mean being ignored," Charles said with a snort.

Shang only raised an eyebrow. "I'm not being ignored. I simply don't care about conversation very much."

"Hmph, that's what someone that's being ignored would say," Charles added with a snort.

Shang only rolled his right eye, but he didn't answer.

A couple of seconds passed with Charles just standing beside him.

"You should've seen Queen Spirit Spring when she arrived," Shang suddenly said.

Charles was surprised that Shang was talking to him. "Oh? Why?"

"She called me creepy," Shang added.

Charles only snorted in laughter. "You kind of look creepy."

Shang looked at Charles. "How am I creepy?"

"I mean, look at you," Charles said. "You constantly have this look in your eyes, eh, eye that makes people think you have something devious planned. Additionally, this eyepatch of yours makes you seem shifty."

"You look like a bandit or a pirate."

Shang scratched his chin.

"That could be."

"It is," Charles added.

Shang only nodded.

Charles looked at Shang for a while, wondering why he didn't feel any sort of rejection coming from him.

"Why are you suddenly so willing to talk?" Charles asked.

"Huh?" Shang asked, not understanding what Charles meant.

"When we met a couple of months ago, you basically told me to fuck off," Charles said with furrowed brows.

"Yeah, because we were in the middle of being invaded by your future Kingdom," Shang said. "Talking with you was not my priority."

Charles raised an eyebrow in skepticism. "That's all?"

"What else?" Shang asked. "It's not like I have anything against you. I don't even know you."

For a while, Charles only looked at Shang, but his nervousness calmed down.

"Do you miss Earth?" he asked via voice transmission.

"No, why?" Shang asked.

Charles only sighed. "I miss Earth. There are no video games in this world. Like, I get that I am kind of living in a video game right now, but the video games always skip the boring part. No one wants to play a game where you literally sit in one place for years, just thinking about stuff."

"It would be so great if I could just skip the entire process of training. It's so tedious and boring."

"So?" Shang asked. "Training isn't always fun, but the results are worth it. Also, being able to skip the process might not even be a good thing. You need practice to train efficiently, and if you skip it, your willpower might reduce, making it harder to train in the future."

Surprisingly, Charles managed to strike up a conversation with Shang, which wasn't easy.

Even though Shang said that he didn't care that Charles came from Earth, maybe, just maybe, he actually cared a bit.

BANG!

Some minutes later, a lightning bolt hit the middle of the plateau, and Relon stepped out of the small crater.

He looked around and nodded at the present people. "Has everyone gotten acquainted?" he asked.

Relon received a chorus of positive answers.

"Good, then the first goal of the meeting has been achieved."

"Let's start the meeting."

The groups broke up and stopped in front of Relon.

"First, let me welcome you all to the Lightning Manor. You are now all officially employed by one of the most powerful organizations in the entire world. Not many people can achieve that."

After that, Relon went into a speech in which he explained some additional details that weren't inside the contract.

Those details were nothing crucial, just some specific stuff about how Relon was running the place.

He also talked a bit about what every Assistant Supervisor should look out for.

Relon talked for about two hours.

"Do any of you have any suggestions?" he asked after talking about how to manage everything.

At that moment, Fia Stormbright, Lira Stormbright, and Jerald threw a glance at each other.

Then, Jerald stepped forward.

Relon nodded towards Jerald.

"I have a suggestion."

"Speak. We are all colleagues here," Relon said.

The current leaders looked at Jerald with interest while Agon only smirked.

Agon had already told them that Jerald had something big planned.

"Even with the weakening of the Magic Purity Kingdom in a month, it will still be difficult to further diversity in our Kingdoms," Jerald said. "While war is a great aggregator for growth, if too many people die, it will hinder growth. People in the Fourth Realm count amongst the powerful in Area 23, but they have not yet reached the level that we need them to be."

"Yet, how are these people supposed to reach that level when they are getting incinerated on the frontlines?"

Relon nodded. "I can see where you are coming from. I presume you have a proposal regarding that?"

Jerald glanced at Fia Stormbright, who nodded back.

Then, Jerald turned to Relon.

"The role of the Magic Purity Kingdom is to be the antagonist. In many popular stories, the antagonist can only be defeated when many smaller camps of the protagonists band together."

Relon raised an eyebrow as Jerald continued talking.

"I propose to include the Spirit Spring Kingdom in the Skythunder Kingdom, and if they so choose to and accept, to fuse the Grandmountain Kingdom and Blackshadow Kingdom."

"With that, we will have three Kingdoms."

"We have the antagonist."

"We have the protagonist working together with all the other paths."

"And we have the neutral camp that lives with the other paths but uses them like tools."

Jerald looked back at Fia Stormbright.

"We already came to an agreement."

 

 

Chapter 533 533 – Wilbur

The present people looked with shock at Jerald.

Such a suggestion would change the entire structure of Area 23!

"Impossible," Wilbur, King Grandmountain, said from the side with a snort.

"How is it impossible?" Jerald asked.

"I can understand that the Skythunder Kingdom and the Spirit Spring Kingdom are very similar and that they could pull something like that off, but this will never work for the Grandmountain Kingdom and Blackshadow Kingdom. The two Kingdoms have been enemies for too long."

Jerald only smirked. "So?"

Wilbur furrowed his brows. "That's not something you can just brush off like that."

"Why not?" Jerald asked. "If we look past the enmity between the Blackshadow Kingdom and the Grandmountain Kingdom, we can see that they have very similar philosophies. The Mages in the Grandmountain Kingdom enslave the barbarians to become more powerful, and the Blackshadow Kingdom does something very similar by enslaving beasts."

"Even more, your two Kingdoms were made to work together. The Blackshadow Kingdom has Summoners, which are just a lesser-known path of Magic. However, these Summoners need strong food to strengthen their beasts."

"And the Grandmountain Kingdom is creating all of this food by enslaving the barbarians."

For some seconds, no one said anything.

The thought of creating barbarians just to feed them to beasts felt terrifying.

"Are you even listening to yourself?" Wilbur asked with narrowed eyes. "You're suggesting feeding humans to beasts!"

"Tch."

Wilbur looked at Queen Blackshadow, who had just snorted in disdain.

"I don't see the problem," she said. "We've been doing that for decades, if not centuries."

"This has nothing to do with you," Wilbur said with a venomous voice.

"This has a lot to do with me," Queen Blackshadow said. "After all, you just said that feeding humans to beasts is horrible, but enslaving them is not an issue. Do YOU even hear yourself?"

Wilbur looked at Queen Blackshadow for a while longer before turning to Jerald. "It won't happen. The Grandmountain Kingdom will not work together with the Blackshadow Kingdom."

Jerald only looked at Wilbur with a knowing smirk. "I'm sorry, but the decision is not yours."

"What are you talking about? The Grandmountain Kingdom is my Kingdom. As Assistant Supervisor, I have a certain amount of freedom on how I can manage my Kingdom," Wilbur said.

"I'm not talking about Relon," Jerald said.

Then, he gestured to Zara Cliffer. "It's hers."

Wilbur looked at Zara Cliffer with narrowed eyes. Obviously, he was trying to intimidate her.

Zara Cliffer looked at King Grandmountain with a slightly intimidated expression. After all, he had been her King for over a century.

"God, what's there to worry about?"

Everyone looked over at Shang, who had just spoken.

It was quite ballsy of him to speak up at this point.

Shang ignored Wilbur and only looked at Zara. "You are not his subject anymore. You're an employee of the Lightning Manor. You should know that he can't just sabotage your work or kill you just because of some personal reason. It says so in the contract."

"Who allowed you to talk here?!" Wilbur shouted in anger. "You're just a plus one!"

Shang blinked once.

Then, he looked over at Relon, who was scratching his chin in thought. "Can I talk here?" Shang asked in a bored tone.

Relon glanced at Shang, nodded, and returned to thinking.

"He did," Shang said to Wilbur. "Also, don't you realize that you are literally the only person here that's so against all of this? There are obviously useful facets to this proposal, and they deserve deliberation instead of an instant refusal."

"Tell me, is this an ego thing?" Shang asked with a bored voice.

"Ego thing?" Wilbur repeated like he had just been slapped in the face and couldn't think straight.

"Yes, an ego thing," Shang repeated. "You basically made the barbarians, but you can't accept that warriors are just flat-out better than barbarians in literally every single regard. Is sacrificing the barbarians to the beasts a hit to your ego? Can you not let go of a failed experiment?"

"Silence!" Wilbur shouted, his voice shaking the plateau. "A mere warrior in the fourth Realm can't even begin to comprehend the mind of an Archmage! Learn your place, slave!"

Silence.

Everyone looked over at Wilbur with surprise.

Even Relon had been taken out of his thoughts.

Then, a couple of people sighed.

"That explains it," Koran, the King of the Magic Purity Kingdom, said. "So that's why the Grandmountain Kingdom is doing so horribly and why he was even willing to ally with my Kingdom."

"He actually believes the things he has been teaching his Kingdom," Koran said with another sigh.

"Koran," Wilbur said with narrowed eyes. "This has nothing to do with ego, and I don't believe these things. There are simply too many problems with the proposal."

Koran only shook his head.

Nobody would believe him now.

There had been so many words he could have used to insult Shang, but he had used slave.

The problem wasn't the word itself but the reason why he chose that specific word.

The Assistant Supervisors dispersed certain ideologies in their Kingdoms to achieve a goal.

However, the Assistant Supervisors knew that these ideologies were lies created to strengthen the other paths.

Koran's Kingdom hated everything that wasn't Magic, but he himself didn't have any issues with warriors or other Paths. He was simply playing his role as antagonist.

Yet, Wilbur had actually lost the mindset of an Assistant Supervisor and had actually adopted the very ideology he was indoctrinating his Kingdom with.

That was not how an Assistant Supervisor should think.

Their minds and beliefs had to be separate from their Kingdoms.

They were here to strengthen the different Paths, not to weaken them.

"Wilbur," Relon said.

Wilbur looked with a bit of nervousness at Relon.

"I think you've been here too long," Relon said.

At that point, Wilbur's face whitened.

"Don't worry," Relon said. "I'm not confiscating your payment or your rewards. Taking away 150 years of your hard work because of a slip of the tongue would be too cruel."

"I'm just asking you to leave the major matters to your successor from now on. Just take it easy for the next month. Don't do anything stupid and simply wait for the end of your shift."

Wilbur gnashed his teeth.

Then, he looked at Shang with narrowed eyes.

He was at fault!

"Wilbur," Relon said with a threatening voice. "I saw that look. Shang is employed by the Lightning Manor just like you. I can forgive a slip of the tongue, but if I see you try to sabotage things knowing that you shouldn't do that, being let go and having your reward confiscated will be the least of your worries."

"Do I make myself clear?" Relon asked with a strict voice.

Wilbur closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Yes," he said, trying to sound calm.

"Good. Now, I think it would be better for you to leave the meeting early," Relon added.

"Sure," Wilbur said with an annoyed voice.

SHING!

A portal appeared, and Wilbur walked through it without saying anything.

Then, Relon looked back at Jerald.

"Now, for your proposal."

 

 

Chapter 534 534 – How Things Will Go Down

"I think your proposal has merit," Relon said. "If the people are under too much pressure, they don't have any space or time to realize their potential."

"However, while I will allow you two combine your two areas, all parties involved in the merger must agree. As Assistant Supervisors, you all still have a certain amount of freedom regarding how you manage your areas," Relon explained.

Jerald looked at Fia, and Fia only turned to Relon.

"We already agreed," Fia Stormbright said. "We still have to iron out the details, but a couple of days after the old Assistant Supervisors leave, we will proceed with the merger."

Relon nodded. "I would suggest giving up the current land of the Spirit Spring Kingdom. Both of your Kingdoms are rather weak, and I don't think you have the defenses to defend such a long border."

"That was the plan," Fia answered.

"Good," Relon said.

Then, he turned to Yora Darksky and Zara Cliffer. "If you want to merge or not is up to you. I'm not asking you to come to a decision right now, but I would like an answer within the next two weeks if you want to go through with it or not."

Zara Cliffer and Yora Darksky looked at each other.

They weren't sure if they should. After all, the Grandmountain Kingdom and Blackshadow Kingdom had warred for over a century by now.

Nearly every living person had been born during the war, and it felt like something that would never stop.

"Any other suggestions?" Relon asked.

Nobody answered.

"Good, then the meeting is adjourned."

BANG!

Relon transformed into a lightning bolt and flew away.

Most of the people remained standing there, not sure how all of this would go down.

"Hey, you two."

Zara and Yora looked at Charles, who only smirked at them.

"I'm not as nice of a guy as the old man," he said. "If I have to play the antagonist, I'm going to be a real antagonist."

"That means no enslaving other paths," he said as he looked at Zara. "You better increase your power soon, or you will lose your job right after you start it."

Zara narrowed her eyes at the threat.

However, she also knew that all of this was just part of the job and that Charles was just doing what he was supposed to be doing.

The Magic Purity Kingdom was the antagonist, and Charles would act like it.

Then, Charles looked at Jerald and winked at him before summoning his portal and leaving.

Jerald was a bit confused by Charles.

The last time, Charles attacked Jerald, and after that, he was rudely told off by Shang.

Why was Charles suddenly helping him?

Agon returned to Jerald and Shang with a smirk. "Nice going, you two. I hate seeing that prick and his constant attitude saying that he's too good for everything."

Agon obviously referred to Wilbur.

"After seeing him, I'm not surprised that the Grandmountain Kingdom is such a shitshow," Shang said.

Agon laughed while Jerald looked at Shang with surprise. "Shitshow? I've never heard that word before."

Shang blinked once. 'Talking with Charles reminded me of Earth. I don't think shitshow is an actual word in this world.'

"I think you can guess the meaning," Shang said.

Jerald nodded with a slight chuckle.

After that, the three of them returned to Agon's castle.

"What's the plan?" Jerald asked.

"Regarding?" Agon asked.

"When you will leave," Jerald elaborated.

"Oh, that," Agon said as he walked over to his throne. "After being driven into a corner, the Queen of the Blackshadow Kingdom will launch an attack against the King of the Grandmountain Kingdom. As the two are fighting, the King of the Magic Purity Kingdom will get involved."

"The King of the Skythunder Kingdom and the Queen of the Spirit Spring Kingdom see a chance to finally take down the King of the Magic Purity Kingdom after he leaves all his powerful Mages behind to help the King of the Grandmountain Kingdom and attack."

"A big battle happens, and I will launch a Spell that will drain me of all Mana and kill all the other leaders. Zara Cliffer will take advantage of that moment and kill me when I'm out of Mana."

"That's how things will play out for the general public."

"In truth, the Supervisor will make an Illusion Magic Circle. We will still fight openly, but at the moment when I launch my last Spell, the Magic Circle will activate. In truth, the Spell doesn't cost me all my Mana, just half. I will intentionally miss, and we all fly up until we can't be seen from the ground anymore."

"Then, we will simply fly away from Area 23 while everyone thinks that we have died."

Jerald nodded. "What about the Space Rings?"

"We will act like we destroyed them and most of their contents while scattering some random stuff across the land below us," Agon explained.

"Sounds good," Jerald said.

Shang only looked at Agon.

When he first saw Agon, Shang had been overwhelmed by his power.

Now, Agon was someone familiar to Shang.

And soon, Agon would leave, leaving Jerald in charge of the Kingdom.

Many years ago, Jerald had told Shang that his dream was to be King, and now, that dream was about to become a reality.

"Then, goodbye, Agon," Shang said. "I will start training soon, and I don't think we will see each other again."

Agon only smirked. "Your discipline regarding training is what made you so powerful in such a short amount of time. Based on how you were fighting, I can tell that you comprehended four different Paths before reaching the True Path Stage."

"For Mages, that would equate to comprehending four different Concepts before becoming a High Mage."

"I'm not entirely sure how the world will react to your true power. Maybe they will try to help you become even more powerful, or they might fear your potential."

"Be careful of whom you show your power to."

"Just like your Affinity," Agon said. "Every powerful organization is searching for the Child of Calamity."

Shang's insides shook.

He knew that Agon knew part of his Affinity, but Shang hadn't thought that Agon even knew that he was the Child of Calamity.

Shang had seen the term in the book Lucius had left behind, and he had thought that this term was a secret.

Apparently, it wasn't that big of a secret.

"Why are you helping me?" Shang asked.

"I've been born into the Grandmountain Kingdom as a barbarian, and they have denied me the opportunity to become more powerful," Agon said. "Everyone deserves a shot at power, including you."

Shang took a deep breath.

"Thank you, Agon. This means a lot to me."

Agon nodded with a smirk. "Now, go train! I want to hear from you when you are the first warrior to reach the Fifth Realm."

Shang also nodded. "It was nice meeting you, Agon."

Agon only nodded again.

Then, Shang left the castle and flew toward the Caves.

Meanwhile, Jerald looked at Agon. "Child of Calamity?" he asked.

"Oh? I was under the impression you knew," Agon said.

"I know of Shang's Affinity, but I don't know about this Child of Calamity thing."

"Interesting," Agon said with a smirk.

 

 

Chapter 535 535 – Training Resumes

Shang returned to the Caves to continue his training. Right now, he didn't need to fight anyone, and he needed an isolated place far away from any significant dangers.

Sure, the Caves were dangerous since there were True Path Stage beasts and Archbeasts, but as long as Shang didn't go too deeply into the caves, he wouldn't meet any of those beasts.

Additionally, since all the True Path Stage warriors and High Mages were on the frontlines, Shang also wouldn't meet another human here.

Lastly, he wanted to keep his training a secret. If people somehow realized that Shang was tampering with his Mana pathways, someone that might want to kill him could take advantage of that moment.

However, the thing with his Mana pathways would only become a problem later. For now, Shang decided to focus on his performance regarding his attacks.

Before he touched his Mana pathways, he wanted all of his attacks to be perfect. After all, what if the correct usage of the attack required different Mana usage than the incorrect usage?

Shang wanted to perfect his attacks.

He wanted to further his self-created fighting style until it was exactly how he wanted it to be.

Then, he would adapt his body to his fighting style.

'My Path constantly evolves and changes. The Mana pathways were created over three years ago, and I have gained a lot of experience since then. I have fought so many beasts and warriors, giving me plenty of opportunity to see the weaknesses in my fighting style.'

Shang looked at his right hand. 'For other warriors, your Path is set at the moment you reach the True Path Stage. After that, you have to perfectly remain within its boundaries and further it by following the guidelines they themselves had set when they reached the True Path Stage.'

'Yet, people grow and gain more experiences. Something that I view as perfect today might contain several flaws that I will only notice decades later.'

'Then what? Am I supposed to tread this faulty Path to the end, knowing of all of its weaknesses and not being able to rectify them?'

'No thanks,' Shang thought with a sneer. 'No, I will continue to change the boundaries I have set in the past and will adapt them to my future self.'

'Many people would probably be against doing that. After all, the Mana pathways have essentially been created by the world. I never decided what kind of Mana pathways I would create. They just magically appeared when I reached the next Realm.'

'Do I know better than the world what makes me powerful?'

Shang narrowed his right eye. 'Yes, I do!'

Then, Shang looked up. 'The God has created this world, and he has set up all the rules that allow innumerable Paths to reach supreme power.'

'But even that might have flaws.'

'I might not be able to build something better right now, but eventually, I will have gained enough experience to create something that only belongs to me.'

'My own Path.'

'A Path that nobody else in the world can follow.'

Shang smirked.

'And isn't that exactly what you want, God?' Shang thought.

No one answered Shang's thoughts.

"Let's start," Shang said to Sword as he readied it.

Sword didn't answer, but Shang knew that it was ready.

Then, Shang ate the treasures he needed to train in his Great Sword Style.

Yes, he would start with his Great Sword Style first.

Shang knew that this training session would take a long time. After all, there were innumerable ways to swing a sword, and he would need to perfect each and every one of them.

Every single swing needed the body to move differently, and it also needed very different amounts of Mana and ways it could move.

Shang needed to perfectly execute every single possible swing at any given moment.

He would essentially need to become a precise machine.

He needed to program his body, Mana, and mind into performing every single task perfectly every time it was performed.

The way forward was brutal.

Warriors could swing their swords for days at a time. Some of them could even do it for weeks.

But eventually, the monotony of training would set in.

They would go out.

Meet their children.

Meet their partner.

Meet their friends.

Earn money.

Do their job.

Then, they would return to training again, and everything would be repeated.

Another component was the fear of risking one's life.

Most people wanted to become powerful so that they didn't need to risk their lives.

Everyone wanted to live, and their power was supposed to help them live.

So, why would they want to risk their lives by fighting a powerful beast or a powerful Mage just to train?

That was putting the cart in front of the horse.

Yet, Shang was willing to do exactly that.

For Shang, survival didn't come first but power.

If Shang couldn't become powerful, what purpose was there to life?

Living a life without being able to become more powerful sounded like leading an existence worse than death to him.

If his goal was to become the most powerful, he needed to be the one that worked the hardest and sacrificed the most.

And he would do just that!

As Shang continued swinging, his mind became colder and colder.

People normally didn't notice the distracting and clouding veil emotions cast on them since the emotions were constantly present.

Shang achieved an emotionless state, but it wasn't due to some thoughts or realization.

This was simply the effect of the Icy Death Crystal Shang had ingested.

The Icy Death Crystal influenced Shang's mind with cold apathy and hatred towards an opponent, and right now, Shang was his own opponent.

His entire mind focused on nothing but surpassing his previous self.

There were no worries.

There were no distractions.

Shang didn't even think about the feeling he felt when he said goodbye to someone, knowing that he would never see them again.

Only the current version of Shang was in his mind, and he wanted to beat him!

He needed to grow more powerful!

Shang continued swinging his Sword deep in the underground.

And yet again, the world above him moved through time without him.

The world was changing without Shang's presence or influence.

 

 

Chapter 536 536 – Changing Kingdoms

One month passed while Shang was training in isolation, and it was time for the old Assistant Supervisors to leave.

Just as Agon told Shang and Jerald, the Kings and Queens had a grand battle at the border between the Blackshadow Kingdom and Grandmountain Kingdom.

Many powerful Mages were present, but they could only watch as people far beyond their power fought with each other.

During that battle, the watching Mages came to a terrifying realization.

Their power actually didn't matter!

The power of the Kings was so great that not even ten Peak High Mages could make a difference in the fight!

This realization came when the most powerful Mages of the Magic Purity Kingdom got involved.

Five Peak High Mages and ten Late High Mages had banded together to assault King Skythunder, but they had all been decimated by a single explosion of lightning.

Why had they been fighting the war?!

What was the point of the war when they were all helpless in front of these powerful leaders?!

Of course, the 15 Mages that had assaulted King Skythunder were actually just the ones that Koran would take with him to the outside world. They weren't actually dead.

First, Queen Blackshadow "killed" King Grandmountain.

Then, she was "killed" by King Magic Purity.

Queen Spirit Spring got involved and fought with King Magic Purity while King Skythunder attacked him from range.

After a grand battle, King Magic Purity decided to expend a lot of Mana to kill her.

That was when King Skythunder saw his chance and killed King Magic Purity.

King Skythunder had won.

But then, several spears of earth shot at him.

It was Zara Cliffer!

The spears completely obliterated his body, leaving nothing but bloody dust behind.

The watching Mages couldn't believe what they had just witnessed.

All the five leaders of the world had died!

What did that mean for the world?!

At that moment, Zara Cliffer shot forward and pocketed the valuable materials the leaders had dropped, but Yora Darksky did the same thing.

In the end, they both got about half.

This was a way to help the shrinking Grandmountain Kingdom and Blackshadow Kingdom to survive.

With these valuable materials, they could create more High Mages and Summoners.

Then, everyone immediately retreated to their own Kingdoms, and the news spread across Area 23.

All the Kings and Queens were dead!

For the next two weeks, no Kingdom would battle each other.

Too much had happened, and all the Kingdoms were embroiled in internal conflicts.

The only Kingdom spared by internal conflict was the Skythunder Kingdom.

The reason for that was that there were no contestants.

Jerald was the most powerful Mage, without a doubt, and no one could possibly fight over leadership with him.

As soon as King Skythunder died, Jerald immediately assumed command of the Kingdom.

But the other four Kingdoms had it far worse.

In the east, Fia Stormbright had to contest with two other Peak High Mages.

One of them wouldn't be an issue since it was just Rela Spirit Spring's plus one, and they were supposed to die to Fia Stormbright in a battle later, but the other Peak Mage was a problem.

Fia Stormbright might have gotten the position, but she also needed to show that she was the most powerful by assuming control of her Kingdom.

Luckily, her sister, Lira Stormbright, was helping her.

In the northwest, Zara Cliffer also had to contend with two Peak High Mages. One was Mrs. Flowing Blossom, Wilbur's plus one, and the other was the leader of the barbarian research department.

She would also have it difficult.

In the northeast, Yora Darksky had to contend with one Peak High Mage since Queen Blackshadow didn't have a plus one, but it also wouldn't be easy.

As for the Magic Purity Kingdom, things were complicated.

On one hand, the Magic Purity Kingdom had lost nearly all its very powerful Mages, leaving Charles Pendragon as the only Peak High Mage, but there was an issue.

Charles was the most powerful Mage, but there was literally no one supporting him.

His past conduct had made him appear incompetent to all the Mages in the Magic Purity Kingdom.

Yes, Charles was very powerful, but not even a single person believed that he could lead the Kingdom.

In their minds, Charles was more of a follower than a leader.

Additionally, it was public knowledge that Charles couldn't even use Mana Shield, which was seen by many as a curse.

Mana Shield and Mana Step were the two things every Mage had. They were in the very center of the entire Mage Path, and everything revolved around these two Spells.

Knowing these two Spells essentially meant being a Mage.

And Charles Pendragon was missing one of them.

So, was he actually a Mage?

Right now, four of the five Kingdoms had to deal with internal conflicts. All the powerful Mages wanted as much of the land as possible.

With no more Archmages present, they finally had a shot at becoming King!

A month passed.

And then, things changed rapidly!

During a debate between the two leading parties in the Spirit Spring Kingdom, something happened.

Fia Stormbright was arguing with the other Peak High Mage about how the Kingdom would be run while Lira Stormbright and the other High Mage's supporters looked on from the sidelines.

But during the debate, someone invaded the castle and attacked Fia's opponent.

Fia's opponent shouted at his supporters and Fia to help him. After all, this was an internal matter!

However, instead of helping him, Fia helped the invader.

But instead of attacking her opponent, Fia went over to her opponent's supporters and stopped them from attacking.

"Do you really think he can survive? The battle is already over!" she told them.

The High Mages were furious, but they didn't dare to do anything.

After all, they didn't want to die.

They knew the invader very well, and they knew that Fia's opponent would die very soon.

It was the new King of the new Kingdom in the south of the world.

It was King Storm of the Storm Kingdom!

The Skythunder Kingdom was no more, and a new Kingdom took its place.

Advisor Whirlwind had assumed control of the Kingdom, crowning himself as its new King, King Storm!

And King Storm was powerful!

In just five seconds, King Storm killed his opponent and landed behind Fia.

After that, Fia made her announcement.

She wouldn't become Queen Stormbright.

No, she would become Archduke Stormbright of the Storm Kingdom!

The Mages felt betrayed and protested, but Fia told them very clearly why she was doing this.

Yes, most of the truly powerful Mages of the Magic Purity Kingdom were dead, but their High Mages still outnumbered the Spirit Spring Kingdom's High Mages five to one!

With the recent revolution in the previous Skythunder Kingdom, the Storm Kingdom had also been weakened by a lot.

She announced publicly that the only reason why the Magic Purity Kingdom hadn't already destroyed the Spirit Spring Kingdom was that the previous Skythunder Kingdom had helped them so much.

Without the constant help of warriors and High Mages, the Spirit Spring Kingdom would have been destroyed over 50 years ago.

She told everyone that her priority was not the culture or the land. Her priority was not to keep the spirit of the Spirit Spring Kingdom alive.

No, her priority was the Kingdom's people and beasts.

The lives!

And she refused to sacrifice every living being in her Kingdom just to keep the culture and spirit of the Spirit Spring Kingdom alive.

Survival was the most important and the best way to survive for all the individual people and beasts was to join the Storm Kingdom.

And then, she announced that they would sacrifice 70% of their land and only keep the 30% bordering the Storm Kingdom.

Nobody was happy with that solution, but there was nothing they could do.

Fia, Lira, and Jerald would only defend the Kingdom for a week.

After that, they would only send forces to defend the new borders of the Storm Kingdom.

It was up to the individual to decide if they wanted to join the Storm Kingdom or not.

But that wasn't really a choice.

What could the previous Spirit Spring Kingdom do with only three Late High Mages?

Even though ten of the Magic Purity Kingdom's Late High Mages had died, they still had 15 of them left.

Now, the Spirit Spring Kingdom was in the same dilemma the western Skythunder Kingdom had been in.

But there was nothing they could do.

It was either move to the Storm Kingdom or die to the Magic Purity Kingdom.

At the same time, Zara Cliffer and Yora Darksky teamed up to get rid of their respective opponents.

Then, they also announced their fusion, but compared to the fusion of the previous Spirit Spring Kingdom and the Storm Kingdom, this fusion was much, much, much more difficult to pull off.

The internal warfare between people would continue for literal decades.

Meanwhile, the fusion between the Storm Kingdom and the remnants of the Spirit Spring Kingdom went relatively smoothly.

All the Late High Mages of the previous Spirit Spring Kingdom got a leadership position, surprisingly outnumbering the leaders of the Storm Kingdom.

After all, the Storm Kingdom only had a single Late High Mage, which was Sylvia Eternalfrost.

A lot of the new policies came from the people from the previous Spirit Spring Kingdom, making it much easier for Spiriters to live in the Kingdom.

And King Storm very rarely opposed their policies.

Because Jerald gave them so much freedom, the integration went rather smoothly.

The Skythunder Kingdom had a lot of Mages and a couple of warriors.

But the Storm Kingdom had a lot of warriors, a lot of Mages, and a lot of Spiriters.

The world was changing.

And Shang only continued swinging his sword in the Caves, not feeling any of the changes.

 

 

Chapter 537 537 – Variety

Shang only kept swinging his sword.

He wasn't sure how long he had been swinging his sword, but he knew it had been a long time, judging by how many resources he had consumed.

As more and more time passed, Shang's mind seemed to vanish.

He didn't think about Jerald anymore.

He didn't think about the Kingdom anymore.

There was just nothing.

Only Shang and Sword existed.

Shang had truly transformed into a machine that only performed one task over and over again.

Time stopped mattering.

The world stopped mattering.

During his long and isolated training in the Peak Commander Stage, Shang had still been contacted by Jerald time and time again with news. Jerald had always kept him up to date with the developments of the Kingdom.

But now, nobody was contacting Shang, and he was thankful for that.

The fewer distractions there were, the better.

Only his power was important.

Everything else was unimportant.

Shang only focused on the feedback of the Wind Blade Seed.

As more time passed, more and more of the good sounds appeared.

Shang was making progress.

Eventually, Shang managed to perfect one of the swings.

Every time he used the attack, he would hear the sound signifying that he had succeeded.

It was a lot of work to get this down just right, but Shang knew that there was more he needed to do.

Being able to unleash a perfect attack during practice was one thing. Doing the same thing during a chaotic battle was something entirely different.

But for now, Shang only concentrated on being able to perform his attack.

Performing the attack during a battle would be a task for the future.

Shang focused on the next attack until he could perform that one perfectly as well.

Then, the next one.

And the next one.

The time inside the Caves never seemed to move.

There were always the same beasts, the same walls, the same Mana...

Everything was always identical.

The absence of night and day also made the area feel even more isolated from time.

But Shang just kept swinging.

He just continued swinging.

As more time passed, more and more of his attacks became perfect.

He didn't know how long it had taken him, but eventually, Shang managed to perfect even his last attack in his Great Sword State.

After accomplishing that, Shang took a deep breath and repeated every single attack again.

Everything was perfect.

For just a moment, Shang paused.

'The first step is complete. Two more to go.'

Shang grabbed his Great Sword and walked deeper into the caves.

He had to practice his attacks on actually moving targets that also struck back.

Shang's first opponent was a beast at the Initial True Path Stage.

This beast had a body just as powerful as Shang, which gave him good practice.

Even though attacking a moving target was very different from just attacking nothing, Shang managed to get back into his flow rather quickly.

It only took him several hours of training against about 50 Initial True Path Stage beasts.

Naturally, Shang didn't kill all of them. After all, he would need these beasts again when it was time for his next State to be tested.

After dealing with the Initial True Path Stage beasts, Shang went to the Early True Path Stage beasts.

This time, things became much more difficult.

Shang was definitely more powerful than the beasts, but he needed to switch attacks very often while preparing a different one, completely off-setting his rhythm.

Additionally, Shang now needed to actually use his Ice Element in attacks, making it even more difficult to unleash everything perfectly.

The Mana movement was identical, with or without using Elemental Mana. However, the addition of Elemental Mana made it harder to control. After all, there was a lot more power behind the second one.

This time, it took Shang much longer.

In fact, Shang even left the Caves and went to the Crater during the end of his training.

The variety of beasts in the Caves had dried up, and Shang had essentially already fought against every single Early True Path Stage beast inside the entire Caves.

Luckily, just like the Caves, the Crater also had basically no visitors, which meant that Shang wasn't being interrupted during his training.

Shang continued fighting against the Early True Path Stage beasts in the Crater, but he still avoided killing them.

Funnily enough, Shang noticed that the performance of his attacks had become even worse after fighting the new opponents.

'I think I've underestimated the impact of variety on my performance,' he thought.

Shang continued fighting the different beasts in the Crater for a long time.

Eventually, Shang perfected his attacks again.

But instead of changing to Mid True Path Stage beasts, Shang decided to try a further increase of variety first.

Shang left the Crater, flew towards the northeast, and entered the Empress Cobra Zone.

He flew deeper and deeper into the Empress Cobra Zone until he arrived at the deadliest part of the entire Zone.

The True Toxin Swamp.

This was where the True Path Stage beasts lived, and Shang immediately jumped into battle again.

Sure enough, his attacks stopped being perfect, but their quality hadn't dropped by too much. He was still succeeding about 90% of the time.

Perfecting his attacks in his new environment didn't take as long as the first time.

Then, Shang went back to the Caves and the Crater to test his attacks again. He wanted to make sure that he hadn't lost his touch with the other opponents.

He messed up once, but everything after that was perfect again.

'I think I need even more variety. If I want my attacks to be perfect, they have to be perfect no matter who my opponent is.'

After making his decision, Shang shot toward the Ice Wyvern Zone.

Eventually, Shang stopped above a mountain range encircling a forest.

Shang knew this place very well.

This was Jerald's garden, the place where Shang had first appeared in the world.

Shang's Spirit Sense encompassed the garden, but he couldn't find a single beast at the Commander Stage.

'Seems like the hedgehog died or left.'

Usually, Shang might have fallen into memories, but this was not the case today.

Shang wasn't here for memories but to train.

Shang flew towards the middle of the garden and blasted through the thick sheet of ice above the central lake.

This was one of the tunnels that led to the gigantic underground lake below the Ice Wyvern Zone.

The True Path Stage beasts and Archbeasts could only be found in the tunnels leading to the lake and the lake itself.

This was Shang's next training stop.

 

 

Chapter 538 538 – Cusp Of Understanding

Over the next several years, Shang traveled from one dangerous location to the next, always fighting powerful beasts.

There were so many beasts Shang had never fought against, and he felt his Battle-Strength become more and more powerful.

Eventually, Shang went through every single Zone that the Storm Kingdom owned.

During all this time, Shang always flew through the air at a very high altitude to avoid being seen by others, and he always only trained in locations where no one else was.

It wasn't that Shang was afraid of being seen by others. Shang simply didn't want to get taken out of his training mindset by having a conversation with someone.

Shang finally had time to fully work on his power, and he wouldn't allow anyone to interfere in his training.

After Shang had gone through every single Zone, he decided to do the same thing again while fighting Mid True Path Stage beasts.

Those beasts were already quite powerful, and Shang couldn't fight them without actually using his Elemental powers.

The fights became more stressful, and Shang had to react even quicker than before, making it even harder to perform his attacks perfectly.

Like a machine, Shang went from Zone to Zone to battle all the powerful beasts.

He was no longer seeing his surroundings.

He only saw himself, his power, and his next training dummy.

Everything had turned into a routine, and Shang was barely even conscious while fighting.

It was like his body was completely moving on its own.

Over many years, some people managed to take a glimpse of Shang from afar, but they weren't sure who that was.

Weren't nearly all the True Path Stage warriors at the frontlines?

Was there actually a True Path Stage warrior inside the Storm Kingdom that wasn't involved in the war?

After a while, most people started to doubt when someone told them that they had seen a True Path Stage warrior.

It was common knowledge that the True Path Stage warriors were all stationed at the frontlines.

They must have just been confused.

He didn't know how long it took, but Shang eventually returned to the Caves.

His attacks had become perfect yet again.

Then, Shang did one last thing.

He wanted to fight an average Late True Path Stage beast.

This definitely wouldn't be easy.

The last time he had fought one was during the trial. The average late True Path Stage beast back then had been that ice hedgehog, and Shang had only killed it by using Dusk.

If Shang were to go all out and use all of his States, he would definitely win without question.

However, Shang's goal was not to win but to train.

This meant that the fight would take a long time, making it very dangerous for Shang.

Nevertheless, Shang wanted to push himself even further.

He needed his attacks to be absolutely perfect in absolutely every single moment.

By now, Shang had already come to terms with the entire philosophy behind advancing inside the True Path Stage.

In the Commander Stage, warriors were creating the blueprint for their fighting style. They were essentially creating their Path.

However, their Path was only a concept at that point, and it wasn't completely perfected yet. While the Path dictated what the warrior could do, it didn't dictate how well they could do it.

In a sense, the Path represented a ruleset, and the warriors could create several techniques that followed that ruleset.

But not every single performance was perfect.

Humans made mistakes, and one couldn't always perform perfectly.

That was also why there were so many tries in the Olympics on Earth.

Why would people need to throw a spear so many times?

It was because humans couldn't always be perfect.

And exactly that was the goal inside the True Path Stage.

The warrior in the True Path Stage needed to perfect their Path.

They needed to push their Path to the limit and make perfect use of it.

When they eventually succeeded, they would be ready to reach the Fifth Realm.

Over the past years, Shang had changed more than one attack.

Sometimes, he felt like some of the attacks were superfluous or that there was an opening somewhere that couldn't be closed with an attack that actually flowed into the one he needed in a smooth manner.

By now, Shang's Mana pathways fit his new fighting style even less.

He had simply changed too much stuff.

But overall, Shang was happier with his current way of fighting. He felt like it fit him even more.

Shang quickly met his opponent, a beast at the Late True Path Stage.

The beginning was rather easy for Shang, but as he used up New Moon, things became difficult.

He had pushed the beast back with the overwhelming force of Ice Mana, but the Ice Mana was gone now.

And now, the beast was launching a terrifying offensive at Shang.

For the first time in a long while, Shang actually got injured.

He faced death more than once, and his mind always went to using Dawn.

By using Dawn, he could severely injure the beast or even kill it.

However, Shang always kept himself in check.

He wasn't here to win.

He was here to train!

Shang's performance was horrible for the next couple of seconds, but he eventually got used to the strikes of his opponent.

After a minute, it was like Shang wasn't fighting a Late True Path Stage beast anymore.

Its attacks became obvious to Shang, and Shang knew exactly how he had to move to deal with the attacks before they had even been launched.

It was like the beast was moving according to how Shang wanted it to move.

Time around Shang seemed to slow down.

The beast was still moving at quite a bit of speed, but it wasn't as overwhelming as during the first minute.

For some reason, Shang's attention was drawn to his sword, and he looked at it with interest.

As he swung it, it was like he saw a line.

Or was it a stream?

It was like there was a line traveling further and further through time.

Sometimes, the line was straight.

Sometimes, there was a sine wave.

Sometimes, there was a corner.

It went up and down.

And for some reason, the patterns repeated, and Shang could see the connection they had with his opponent.

Then, Shang willed the line to break out of this pattern.

At that moment, Shang's right eye widened as he felt like he was about to realize something.

'Stop!'

Shang narrowed his right eye and forcefully distracted himself from the realization.

Then, he immediately unleashed Dawn on the beast and killed it.

Lastly, Shang fled from the area where he had just fought and sat down at his usual spot.

'I nearly took the last step,' Shang thought. 'It seems like I am ready to comprehend the very thing that other warriors need to reach the Fifth Realm.'

'However, it is not time yet.'

'I don't know what will happen when I comprehend this concept, but I believe it would be better if my Mana pathways fit into it beforehand.'

'It seems like I have reached the peak of perfection for my Great Sword State.'

'Now, it's time to deal with the Mana pathways.

 

Chapter 539 539 – Pathways

Shang sat down and closed his right eye.

His Spirit Sense was fully focusing on his Mana Pathways.

Over the past years, he had performed his attacks so many times that he perfectly knew where he would move his Mana.

Right now, Shang was checking which Mana pathways he needed and which weren't in use.

Yes, there were several Mana pathways that hadn't been used even once, but that didn't mean that these Mana pathways were useless.

In fact, these Mana pathways would be used in his other three States. Not every state needed every single Mana pathway. Some of them even existed solely for a single attack.

In his Great Sword State, Shang was using around 70% of his Mana pathways.

He could theoretically create more attacks to use all his Mana pathways, but that would be a waste of time. Some Mana pathways would only be used if Shang swung his sword with one arm from his hip, which would be quite difficult to do in his Great Sword State.

After Shang checked all of his Mana pathways, he noted them down on a diagram. Luckily, there were a couple of magical artifacts that made it easy to project a picture onto a piece of paper. With Shang's wealth, these artifacts didn't cost a lot.

In just a couple of hours, Shang had created several intricately detailed diagrams of the Mana pathways inside his body.

Then, he went on to plan.

For now, he wouldn't touch the shared Mana pathways. After all, he couldn't be sure that any of his current changes wouldn't interfere with any attacks from his other States.

Redrawing fitting Mana pathways that were only used for a few attacks wasn't very difficult. Shang essentially only had to create the pathways according to a few guidelines.

But the further Shang progressed, the more difficult it got.

A lot of the pathways had to be used for several different attacks, which all had different conditions.

Even more, Shang noticed that some of the Mana pathways he was working on were also in use in the Colossal Sword State.

Changing his Mana pathways became more and more difficult the more he changed.

One change needed several other changes on several other Mana pathways.

Shang was essentially redesigning an entire network of intricate pathways and connections.

'How am I supposed to give you such a sharp angle when the pathway leading into you requires such an intense speed and density of Mana?! It's like you want me to create a normal roundabout on a highway! There are bound to be crashes!' Shang thought in frustration.

'I could create a sidelining pathway that throttles the speed of the Mana, but that would needlessly lengthen the pathway, making my attack need a bit more time to truly show its effect. I don't really want to throttle my speed even more.'

'Okay, and how can I give you that much speed when the location just before you is a complex intersection between several pathways? I mean, I could change the entrances of these two pathways so that this one leads directly into that one, but then I would need to make some more changes on the other one.'

Then, Shang focused on the next one.

And for several seconds, he only looked at the diagram.

'What?' he thought after some seconds.

Right now, Shang was looking at a complex intersection of pathways. The one coming from the core of his body led to one that needed a lot of speed, but the one Shang was looking at needed just as much speed.

However, Shang couldn't use the same solution he had used before.

There was already a different pathway there that needed just as much speed.

'But I need both of them for this attack,' Shang thought as he scratched the back of his head in frustration. 'It is literally impossible to get enough Mana to perform the attack with the current setup!'

'What does the original look like in that spot?'

Shang looked at another diagram.

After having made so many changes, Shang noticed a couple of interesting things with the original design.

It was very simple.

It was smooth.

It delivered Mana equally to every part, and it allowed him to use every attack.

In a way, it was simple but effective.

​ Shang furrowed his brows as he looked at the intersection he was currently having problems with.

'I mean, it's working, but the intersection can't possibly give enough Mana to make full use of the attack. I can still use it, but there's a lot of wasted potential here.'

At that point, Shang stood up and grabbed Sword.

Then, he performed the attack.

During the attack, he also looked at the intersection inside his body.

It was flooded with Mana and flowed through his pathways as quickly as possible.

But with Shang's new understanding, he could see that filling both of these wide highways of Mana was too much work for the single pathway before them.

The density of Mana lowered a bit, but just an instant later, Shang's muscles along the two pathways were releasing their own Mana, filling the two pathways again.

Because of that, Shang had enough Mana to perfectly use that attack.

After Shang was no longer using any Mana, he saw the muscles absorb Mana again.

'So that's how my body does it,' Shang thought. 'In hypothetical numbers, I have an output of 100 Mana per second, but to perform this attack, I need 150 mana per second for only one second. I can't deliver enough Mana, but the muscles on the way to the location of the attack act as temporary storage. They give 50 extra Mana for this second and take that Mana back from the following second.'

Shang rubbed his chin.

'Does that have a disadvantage?'

'Let's see, when I perform this attack, I take Mana from these muscles. So, if I were to move like this directly after the attack, what would happen?'

Shang performed the attack and directly chained into a different attack.

That was when he noticed that his second attack was very sluggish.

In the past, he would have just assumed that it was the inertia from this previous attack, but Shang had seen the true cause this time.

His muscles didn't have enough Mana to perform the attack with all of their power.

'I would have never thought about using the attacks like this since it just felt impossible and wrong. However, if I can actually fix this mistake, I can combine my attacks even more freely.'

'There's definitely something I can improve.'

And then, Shang looked at the diagram riddled with changes and alterations.

'But how?'

 

Chapter 540 540 – Transformation

Shang was looking at the diagram with a bloodshot eye as he gripped his hair tight with his hands.

He was stressed.

There were so many changes that needed to be made across all the different pathways that it would essentially revert half of the changes that had been made previously.

There were so many issues that needed to be resolved, and Shang hadn't even reached the shared Mana pathways yet.

Things would only get worse from now on.

Now, Shang truly knew how incredible the Mana pathways actually were.

Sure, they weren't perfect, but they were good enough for everything.

By just changing one tiny thing, Shang had made several attacks straight-up impossible to use.

Shang had been looking at the diagram for hours now, trying to find a way to solve the current issue.

However, he was reaching his limit.

He fixed stuff here and there, but there were simply too many changes across the entire thing, and the new pathways felt completely different from the old ones.

It was like the architectural style of these pathways completely differed from the natural one of his original pathways.

After a while, Shang got distracted.

He felt like it was becoming impossible, and his mind was trying to think of a different solution.

Shang looked at the old and new diagrams again and again.

He looked back and forth.

Right now, Shang wasn't exactly thinking about anything in particular. He was just looking at stuff.

Then, Shang looked at the outer pathways, which looked a bit more orderly and straighter than the natural ones.

Shang looked where they led and scratched the top of his head.

After that, he took out a completely new diagram and began to draw the outline of his body.

Then, he put the original and new diagrams on top of each other and marked the spots where all his Mana pathways would lead to.

After several minutes, Shang could see thousands upon thousands of individual small points on the diagram. Luckily, the magical paper could draw new stuff with terrifying accuracy. It was almost like a computer screen.

A normal human would have huge issues with seeing all the individual points, but Shang's eyesight was terrifyingly good.

Then, Shang looked at the new diagram.

Now, there was the outline of his body and just a lot of points.

After that, Shang started to draw lines, connecting all the dots.

All the individual points in one of his fingers went to the middle of the finger and then traveled down to the hand, where all the pathways from the fingers met.

Then, Shang drew a huge pathway going through his arm, which ended in his chest.

He did that for his entire body and looked at it.

And he snorted.

'As if it would be that easy,' Shang thought as he threw the diagram to the side. 'I would essentially need to completely recreate all my Mana pathways. Even more, during the lengthy process, I would be mostly helpless. I would only be able to move at like a fifth of my speed with a fifth of my power without being able to use any Elements effectively.'

'Additionally, I am missing the boost from the advancement. If I change all the Mana pathways, I might lose access to some of them permanently. It takes a lot of Mana to change a Mana pathway, and if I lose access to too many of them, I might never be able to gather enough Mana to establish access again.'

Then, Shang looked at the diagram with all the changes again.

'I mean, I would need to start here, move over to here, do it here…'

After a while, Shang stopped commenting on what he was doing in his mind as he actually started to plan.

Shang's brows furrowed more and more as he continued.

'I could actually do it,' Shang thought. 'I could actually make this work.'

'Even more, the way I have designed all of this allows me to easily add in additional Mana pathways. Assuming my new pathways can't incorporate all the ones for my other States, I can just add new ones. After all, all my current pathways are straight like pipes, and it's not a problem to just add an additional one alongside the currently existing ones.'

Shang scratched his chin as he looked at the diagram.

'However, this is too easy. I refuse to believe that there is no problem with that. By now, I know that the world is very good at creating Mana pathways, and if the solution were so simple, I wouldn't have my current pathways.'

After that, Shang did some math inside his head. Professor Callen had given Shang way more than just his Spell. After all, Shang also had to know how to simulate his Mana's movement before actually making the changes. Without that, Shang might build himself into a corner with no way to get out.

It took Shang several minutes, but he eventually finished his calculations.

And he was not happy.

Sure enough, there was a humongous issue.

'In order to bring maximum speed to every spot in my body, I have to create central pathways that are extremely wide and extremely stable.'

'Yet, these humongous pathways require a lot of Mana to fill, and the Mana I can have inside my body is finite at any given moment.'

'In order to push the pressure to what I need, my muscles would need to let go of about 50% of their Mana. Additionally, the Mana required to actually move my Mana also increases drastically due to the greater volume that's being moved.'

'All in all, I would lose about 50% of my physical power, making my body only half as powerful as a beast on my level.'

'The advantage would be that I could attack far faster and with more flexibility and diversity. But due to my weakened body, the speed of my attacks would remain about the same while their power reduces by quite a bit.'

'Hmmmm,' Shang thought as he tapped his finger on one of the diagrams.

After a while, Shang looked at where he was actually tapping and noticed that he was tapping on the middle of the diagram's chest.

Then, Shang remembered the image Professor Callen had Shown him.

'Beast Core, huh?' Shang thought.

Shang edited the diagram and added a round energy storage.

Then, Shang realized that this was a bad place. If any attack hit his chest, he would be done for.

So, Shang changed the location to his neck. There was no more space inside of his head, but there was a bit of space left in his neck. Additionally, if he got hit there, he would die anyway.

Then, Shang connected all the different Mana pathways to the Mana reservoir inside his neck.

'Hmmm,' Shang thought as he looked at the finished diagram for a while.

After that, Shang performed some more math.

And his findings were very interesting.

'Interesting,' Shang thought. 'With a Beast Core, I can actually reach the same power as I currently have. But in comparison to beasts, I would have already excavated the talent of my individual muscles.'

'But instead of giving me additional power, my muscles are actually creating the pressure and Mana necessary to move the Mana of my Beast Core throughout my body.'

'I would gain the speed and flexibility of the pathways while not losing any power.'

'There's just one issue.'

'It's impossible to create the Beast Core just like that. I am lacking way too much Mana to make something like that. A higher level also won't help me since the Beast Core would also be of higher quality and would also need more Mana.'

'On my own, creating this is impossible. Lastly, no Mage can possibly help me since their Mana is external and can't be properly absorbed in this way.'

'That only leaves one possibility.'

'The Breakthrough.'

'Just like with reaching the True Path Stage, reaching the Fifth Realm should also give me a ton of Mana to work with. Usually, warriors, Mages, and beasts just let the world do whatever it wants during the process, but if I take control of the process, I could shove all the Mana into creating a Beast Core.'

'Like that, I would be able to transcend to the next level.'

Shang smirked.

'And isn't that exactly what the God told me?'

'I perfect all my techniques, something that warriors would need to reach the Fifth Realm.'

'I do that four times.'

'I recreate all my Mana pathways.'

'Then, I fuse all my Paths together and create a Beast Core during the advancement.'

'If that's not a monumental transformation, I don't know what is.'

Shang looked at the new diagram with a smirk.

'Let's get started.'