Ch. 601..610

Chapter 601 Dawn Seedling

Shang and the Sweeper only looked at the Ancestral Mage.

There had been too many plot twists in the past minutes, and they had some issues with actually coming to terms with reality.

The powerful Ancestral Mage that wanted to kill them had now asked them for a job.

"You have a Light Affinity?" the Sweeper asked.

Even though he had long white hair and looked rather heroic, he had still cloaked his fists in Darkness Mana, which meant that his main Affinity was probably Light, but he also had some mastery over Darkness.

The Ancestral Mage nodded. "Correct," he said without any worries.

The Sweeper also nodded. "Hide your aura for a second. We are in a dangerous place, and we shouldn't talk here."

The Ancestral Mage only shrugged before suddenly vanishing.

Even though he hadn't moved, Shang and the Sweeper couldn't find him anymore.

They knew that he was here, but as long as he didn't use any additional Mana, it was impossible to find him.

His ability to stay hidden was shockingly terrifying, even better than the Sweeper's ability.

However, this wasn't actually as surprising as one would think.

First of all, the Ancestral Mage used two Affinities to keep himself hidden instead of one. On top of that, he had been able to join the Twilight Dusk Family, which automatically meant that he was in the top 1% of Ancestral Mages on his level.

And he was a Late Ancestral Mage in addition to that!

He could probably even fight Peak Ancestral Mages!

Someone like that could create a terrifyingly powerful organization, and organizations like the Natural Selection Company or the Temple of Blood would want to make him join them desperately.

But in the Twilight Dusk Family, he had only been an average soldier.

In fact, judging by what the Sweeper and Shang had seen, he hadn't even been that.

He had been a mere servant to some arrogant High Mage.

Such a powerful Mage was only good enough to serve some kid belonging to the Twilight Dusk Family.

The difference in status and power was immense.

Shang and the Sweeper flew towards the west. Luckily, due to the Dawn Seedling, nearly everyone belonging to the Natural Selection Company had retreated from this territory.

This was the Natural Selection Company's most profitable region, but when some snot-nosed brat from the Twilight Dusk Family told them to leave, they would leave.

As the three of them were retreating, Shang thought about his past.

'To think that I have once been part of such a powerful organization,' he thought as the Lightning Manor appeared in his mind.

After seeing the powerful Ancestral Mage, Shang was also reminded of Relon, the Supervisor of Area 23.

If this Ancestral Mage was already so powerful, how strong was Relon, someone that was managing quite a big territory?

Shang could only take a deep breath.

'I've barely reached the upper middle of the Temple of Blood, and I can already see a humongous peak in the distance.'

'In this world, there are between 500 to 1000 Archmages that have an equivalent Battle-Strength to me, and these are probably all part of the nine Empires.'

By now, Shang knew that there were ten Mage Emperors in the world but only nine Empires.

Eight of the ten Mage Emperors had their own Empires, but the last Empire was ruled by two Emperors, making them the strongest singular organization in the world.

'So, if there are 900 Archmages on par with me theoretically, there are about 100 Archmages per organization.'

'100 Archmages with a similarly powerful Battle-Strength to me per organization,' Shang thought.

The thought was humbling.

At that moment, the word Dawn Seedling appeared in Shang's mind again.

The person that had been able to command the Ancestral Mage around like a servant.

'Is this Dawn Seedling someone on my level?'

While Shang was thinking, the Sweeper found a way through the defenses, and they all slipped past them.

After flying for some additional minutes, Shang and the Sweeper stopped.

"We're safe now," the Sweeper said, turning around.

A moment later, the Ancestral Mage reappeared.

"So," the Ancestral Mage said awkwardly.

"Yes?" the Sweeper asked after some seconds.

"About that job," he continued. "What organization do you belong to? You seem pretty strong, and you don't have this leadership aura, which means you're not in a leadership position in your organization. Your job has to be pretty good if you're willing to work for them, right?"

Shang and the Sweeper remained quiet for a bit.

The Ancestral Mage felt a bit awkward since he couldn't see through the expressions of any of the two people in front of him.

One person's face was completely hidden behind a cloak, and the other person didn't have eyes, making his face seem as lifeless as a corpse's.

"The identity of our organization is sensitive," the Sweeper said. "I can't just tell you."

The Ancestral Mage raised an eyebrow. "Okay, then, how good is the job? Does it pay well?" he asked.

The Sweeper looked towards Shang and back at the Ancestral Mage. "The job I'm currently on took about ten days, and I earned around 300 Grade Six Mana Crystals."

Immediately, the Ancestral Mage's eyes widened, and his mouth opened a bit in shock.

"That's a lot," he said after some seconds. "I'm not sure, but I think that might have even been more than what I got in the Twilight Dusk Family. Don't quote me on that, though!"

The Sweeper's aura didn't change. "The payment isn't the reason why everyone wants to join the Empires."

"I mean, yeah, sure," the Ancestral Mage said, "but they should still pay pretty well, right? Speaking of, what actually happened earlier? I quit, right?"

The Sweeper nodded. "You did, and you ranted quite a bit to someone you called Light Bringer. In truth, I'm surprised that we are still alive somehow. She just left after your rant."

The situation had a bittersweet taste to Shang and the Sweeper.

They were quite confident that the Light Bringer left them alive because she probably forgot about their existence. They were simply too unimportant to care about.

On the one hand, they were lucky to be alive, but on the other hand, it also hurt a bit that they had been disregarded and ignored.

"What's a Dawn Seedling?"

The Ancestral Mage and the Sweeper looked over to Shang.

This was the first time he had said anything in quite a while.

"I still remember that since it's public information," the Ancestral Mage said, facing Shang. "It's actually pretty simple."

"Night Soldiers are Ancestral Mages, and they are the common employees of the Twilight Dusk Family."

"Light Bringers are Mage Lords, and they are the manager and leaders of the Night Soldiers. They are also part of the Twilight Dusk Family's main army."

"And Dawn Seedlings are younger Mages that are specifically being raised by the Twilight Dusk Family to become Mage Lords. To become a Dawn Seedling, you need one of two things."

"First, have a Space, Time, or Gravity Affinity."

"Second, be able to win against an average Mage two levels above your own. Of course, I'm talking about the average Mage outside the Empires."

"That's about it," the Ancestral Mage said with a shrug.

Shang nodded. "What about Mages that can jump three levels?"

The Ancestral Mage raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure if that is even possible, and if there are actually Mages that can do that, their existence would probably be kept so secret that I would have no way of knowing if they existed or not."

Shang only nodded again and looked away.

'During the last trial, I was able to beat a powerful Mage two levels above myself, which can be seen as a jump of 2.5 levels.'

'The difference between a jump of two levels and 2.5 levels is vastly greater than a normal person would assume. There might actually be over 100,000 Archmages that can jump two levels, but there might only be 500 that can jump 2.5 levels.'

'I don't think that the Twilight Dusk Family would raise such a powerful person to just be a Mage Lord. I assume that they would try to push these 500 people to become Mage Kings in the future.'

'Obviously, most of them will fail, but those are probably the only ones that have a shot at becoming Mage Kings.'

'So, I think the Dawn Seedlings are not the ones that are on my level.'

'There must be some hidden title for these people.'

 

Chapter 602 Mosuma

After answering Shang's questions, the Sweeper and the Ancestral Mage continued talking.

The Sweeper was going through some important questions while warning the Ancestral Mage about things he would have to go through if he actually decided to join their organization.

The Ancestral Mage just kept nodding and dismissing the messages, saying that all of that was fine.

It seemed like he didn't have any particular aversions to doing things that required a colder mindset.

As long as he was getting paid, he didn't care.

"Alright, I need to contact my superior for anything further," the Sweeper said. "For safety's sake, I will do so outside your Spirit Sense's range."

"Sure," the Ancestral Mage said in boredom.

"Since you have the ability to hide from my senses," the Sweeper continued, "I need my colleague to verify that you stayed on your spot."

She lightly gestured to Shang.

"Yeah, yeah, just go," the Ancestral Mage said, waving the Sweeper's concerns away.

The Sweeper looked at Shang for a bit.

Then, she turned around and flew into the distance.

Now, Shang and the Ancestral Mage were alone.

Silence.

"So, why are you here?" the Ancestral Mage asked.

"Secret," Shang answered.

Silence.

"Why do you not have eyes?"

"Secret."

Silence.

"I see a lot of Darkness and Light Mana coming off of you. Are you more of a light kinda guy or more of a darkness sorta guy?"

"Secret."

Silence.

"Is your dream to commit genocide on all conversations people try to have with you?"

Silence.

The Ancestral Mage furrowed his brows in annoyance as he looked at Shang, who just kept facing a random direction.

"Why are you- wait, I don't need to ask. I already know the answer."

Silence.

"Can you at least tell me your name?"

"Secret."

"Oh, hello, Secret! Nice meeting you! My name's Mosuma!"

Silence.

"What brings you here, Secret?"

Silence.

And that's when the Sweeper returned.

She looked at Shang. "Did he leave while I was away?"

"No," Shang answered.

The Sweeper nodded and looked at the Ancestral Mage. "I've talked with my superior. It's unusual for an Ancestral Mage to ask for a job without knowing the name of our organization. Since you already know two important members of the organization, it is risky to just tell you which organization we belong to."

"Because of that, our identity has to remain a secret for now. At the moment, you do not know enough to make you a danger if you decide to decline the job, which means you can still leave. However, as soon as you know the organization we belong to, you will be forced to accept the position."

"Will you accept or decline?"

The Ancestral Mage furrowed his brows and fell into thought.

This was an unusual conundrum.

"I need some general information to make that decision. Stuff like payment, restrictions, duties, and so on," he said.

The Sweeper nodded and summoned a sheet of paper. "Here is the general information that you are allowed to know. You would be assuming the same job as me."

Mosuma looked at the sheet of paper for a bit.

Silence.

"The pay is really great," he said after a while. "I also don't see any issue with most other things."

"It's just the hidden identity that feels shady to me."

Mosuma continued thinking for a while longer.

"Does your organization have a Mage Lord? You can answer that at least, right?" he asked.

"More than one," the Sweeper answered.

Mosuma hummed for a bit.

Then, he nodded.

"Alright, I accept!" he said with an arrogant smirk. "We will be colleagues in the future!"

"Okay," the Sweeper answered. "Then, follow me. I will bring you to the person that will officially hire you."

After that, the Sweeper continued flying towards the west.

Shang silently followed her.

Mosuma's expression turned to disappointment.

He had just joined their organization, but the two of them only looked at him like emotionless robots and showed no reaction to his enthusiasm.

That felt boring and depressing.

But in the end, he just followed the two of them.

About a day later, the three of them reached the border with the Reality Tear again, but Shang told the Sweeper that he didn't want to go through the Reality Tear again.

So, the three of them had to make a detour that took an entire day.

When Mosuma noticed that they had essentially wasted an entire day, he asked why they were moving in this way.

"Because the only way to get through that border directly is through a Reality Tear," the Sweeper said.

"Oh," Mosuma answered. "Yeah, I get it. I went through one once, and I thought I was going crazy with boredom. Like, if you just had to wait on one spot, it wouldn't be so bad, but you actually need to keep moving. That makes it difficult to just zone out."

Mosuma kept talking about the Reality Tear he had gone through in the past while the Sweeper and Shang just kept ignoring him.

Eventually, the three of them entered the area where Shang's branch was located.

Of course, the area of Shang's territory was the combined area of about 15 gatherer families working together, and it was about 10,000 kilometers wide.

Even if the Sweeper and Mosuma knew that Shang's branch was somewhere here, they wouldn't be able to find it.

After entering the territory of Shang's branch, the Sweeper stopped and turned to Shang. "The mission is over," she said.

Shang nodded. "Thanks," he said.

Then, the Sweeper turned to Mosuma. "You stay here. Someone will come for you shortly."

Mosuma only shrugged.

And the Sweeper just left without saying anything else.

Shang had spent the last ten days or so with the Sweeper, but they had only been staff and customer.

They didn't even know each other's names.

Silence.

"So, Secret," Mosuma said. "What will you be doing now?"

But before Mosuma could finish asking his question, Shang already started flying towards the west.

Mosuma only raised an eyebrow when he saw Shang leaving without a word.

For just a couple of seconds, he waited in silence.

"You're Mosuma?"

At that moment, Mosuma's heart nearly burst out of his chest, and he jumped to the side.

Someone had appeared beside him without him noticing!

Surprisingly, it was a smaller woman with wavy blue hair.

"Eh, yes?" Mosuma answered.

Shang's Keeper, and the Territory Lord, nodded.

"Welcome to the Temple of Blood."

Mosuma blinked a couple of times.

"I should have known," he commented.

 

 

Chapter 603 Back

Shang flew back to his branch and arrived a couple of minutes later. Since he was back within the range of the Keeper's Spirit Sense, he didn't need to avoid all manners of beasts anymore. He could just directly travel to the branch in a nearly straight line.

Eventually, Shang reached the Yellow Sunbreaker. At first glance, it didn't seem any different than usual, but Shang knew that this wasn't true.

The Yellow Sunbreaker was currently in a state of slumber.

Shang had heard the Keeper tell him that she was going to receive Mosuma, which meant that she had to leave the Yellow Sunbreaker for a while. Obviously, she couldn't just leave it awake. Without her there, it could crush the entire branch with its roots.

Some seconds later, Shang landed in front of the entrance root, but he wasn't alone.

"Welcome back," the Keeper told Shang from her spot in front of the root.

The time it took for Shang to get here was enough for her to deal with Mosuma's acceptance ceremony.

Shang only nodded without saying anything.

CRRRRR!

The Keeper's mind lifted the incredibly heavy root, and the two of them entered the branch. Shortly after that, the Yellow Sunbreaker slowly woke up from its slumber.

Inside the branch, Shang walked down the stairs behind the Keeper. The Keeper sat down at her usual spot and resumed managing her territory. Shang couldn't tell what the Keeper was doing all day, but he assumed that she was probably communicating with all the different Keepers of her territory.

"Have you found what you were looking for?" she transmitted to Shang with a neutral voice.

"You already know," Shang answered.

"That's right. I do," she answered.

"Then why ask the question?" Shang asked.

The Keeper remained silent for about two seconds.

"Don't you want to know why I didn't tell you about the Beast Lords' intelligence?" she asked.

"Because I know that you know that I would still have asked to see one," Shang answered.

No one noticed, but the Keeper let out a tiny snort.

Yet, she didn't answer.

"I'm open for missions if you have any," Shang said as he walked over to Training Room One.

The Keeper didn't answer.

"Had enough of your vacation, blind fuck?" Spike Ball asked Shang as he passed by him.

Shang ignored him and just walked over to Training Room One.

But when he wanted to enter, he felt that the Isolation Barrier was already activated, which meant that someone was using it already.

"Don't try to enter my room, blind fuck," Spike Ball shouted with a sneer. "I paid for it, and I'm using it right now."

Obviously, Spike Ball wasn't using it. Instead, he only paid for it to provoke Shang, obviously.

Shang slowly stepped away from Training Room One and walked over to Training Room Two without saying anything.

Then, he entered and closed the door behind him.

Spike Ball only snorted. "Pathetic worm doesn't even dare to complain," he muttered in disgust.

Training Room Two was a bit smaller than Training Room One, but it was still big enough for Shang to train with his sword. He preferred using the other room, but this one was also good enough.

But instead of training, Shang only sat down in the middle of the room and focused on his Path.

'I have been somewhat following the beasts' paths to reach the Fusion Realm, but that won't work anymore.'

'Due to the Star Map, I knew what I needed to get to reach the True Path Stage, and due to the Wind Blade Seeds and so on, I knew what I needed to comprehend to reach the Peak True Path Stage. Then, I focused on comprehending the very thing beasts need to become Ancestral Beasts.'

'But now, I have no idea how to proceed.'

'I can't look at the beasts.'

'I can't look at the Mages.'

'I can't look at the warriors.'

'And on top of that, I need to create something outstanding. My goal can't just be to reach the next level in any shape or form.'

'It must be a truly powerful transformation. I must create something that allows me to reach Godhood in the future.'

'But what?'

'What can I create?'

All of Shang's different powers shot through his mind.

There was so much he could expand upon. It was like there was an infinite number of choices.

But exactly that was the problem. There were so many viable Paths, but they couldn't all support Godhood. Yet, there was no way for Shang to find out which Path would lead to the top and which wouldn't.

There were a few Paths that obviously wouldn't lead to the top.

Just increasing Shang's physical power was a good example.

But the vast majority of Paths could lead anywhere.

One interesting Path was the Path of Mage Warrior.

Shang already knew the very thing that he would need to understand to reach the normal Sixth Realm as a warrior, the World Connection. If he now also managed to comprehend a level three Concept, he could probably combine both things into something incredible. Something like that would be worthy of Godhood.

However, Shang had a warrior body, making this Path impossible for him to tread.

Shang could also comprehend more Paths, add more Imposes, and widen his World Connection by doing that. At some point, the power of his World Connection would reach terrifying levels, and the world around Shang would eventually be able to unleash so much power that Shang wouldn't even need to move to fight.

That was definitely a way forward.

He could also just continue training more and more without thinking about anything in particular.

Just slowly grinding away at every single flaw Shang could find.

At some point, he should find something that would allow him to reach the next Realm.

"I've got a mission for you."

Shang slowly stood up and walked to the entrance of Training Room Two.

The Keeper had just called him.

Shang deactivated the Isolation Barrier and opened the door.

And then, he saw something horrifying.

A frozen corpse.

 

Chapter 604 50 Years

A frozen, bloody human body was lying in the middle of the branch, white mist slowly leaving the corpse's opened mouth.

Shang's Spirit Sense enveloped the corpse and realized…

This wasn't a corpse.

The person was actually still alive.

They were just in a lot of pain and couldn't move due to their body being frozen.

Shang also knew the identity of the "corpse", and he wasn't surprised in the least.

It was Spike Ball.

"That was me. He told me to run back to my mommy."

Shang's head turned to the person that had just spoken.

It was a young man with a bright smile and fiery red hair.

Shang also knew that person.

He was one of the newer Named Agents, only having been part of this branch for about 20 years.

He was an Early Archmage with a Fire Affinity. He enjoyed talking with others and telling stories. In a way, he was quite charismatic and would remind someone of the dead Desert Storm.

However, compared to the dead Desert Storm, this guy actually had a huge issue.

He was a pathological liar.

He lied about nearly everything for no reason whatsoever.

His codename was Fire Pillar, and he specialized in killing large groups.

If Fire Pillar were more powerful, he would have probably received the missions to get rid of the two gatherer families instead of Shang about four years ago.

Shang obviously didn't believe Fire Pillar when he said that he was the one that had frozen Spike Ball.

He already had a pretty good guess based on the fact that Fire Pillar was now here.

Ice Princess.

Ice Princess was probably done with earning money and wanted to focus on her training.

She probably wanted to enter Training Room One, but when she saw Spike Ball reserving it without using it, she got a slight bit irritated.

Killing among colleagues was obviously prohibited, but there were always ways around rules.

Spike Ball wasn't dead right now.

He was just very, very injured and in a lot of pain.

So, Ice Princess didn't break any rules.

Sure, under normal circumstances, the Keeper would have probably intervened since Spike Ball now wasn't in his top condition to accept missions, but she was probably just as annoyed with him.

"Help… me…"

Spike Ball barely managed to contact Shang with his Spirit Sense.

Shang just ignored him and walked over to the Keeper.

"You don't have to worry," Fire Pillar said with a bright smile. "I will release him later!"

Shang also ignored Fire Pillar.

Instead, Shang stopped behind the Keeper and waited.

A moment later, a sheet of paper appeared in front of him, and he scanned it with his Spirit Sense.

Assassinate an Initial Archmage merchant.

Details… details… details… details…

Reward: 150 Grade Five Mana Crystals.

The mission was an average one.

Nothing special.

Shang nodded, pocketed the sheet of paper, and walked up the stairs to the exit.

"Wait for a couple of minutes," the Keeper said. "There's currently an Ancestral Mage traveling through the area."

Shang stopped and waited.

"You can go," the Keeper said about two minutes later.

Shang left and traveled to the target's location.

Within the next five minutes, Shang killed the target.

Some minutes later, he arrived back at the branch and accepted his reward.

This was how most of Shang's jobs went.

He would get his mission, travel to the target, fulfill the mission, and come back.

Normally, such missions would be far more difficult. After all, this was an Archmage. If the Named Agent didn't perfectly plan and execute everything, they might very well die.

Such a mission required a long time of preparation and planning. That definitely wasn't easy.

But that was also why this was such a high-paying job. After all, 150 Grade Five Mana Crystals represented 150 years of an Initial Archmage focusing on nothing but condensing Mana.

150 Grade Five Mana Crystals could pay for about 15 Grade Five Mind Flow Pellets.

But since Shang had such a powerful Battle-Strength and since he had such a wide variety of abilities, such a difficult mission barely took him 15 minutes.

After accepting his payment, Shang checked the entrance to Training Room One.

Sure enough, the Isolation Barrier was active, but he doubted it was Spike Ball.

'Guess I was right, and Ice Princess is now in there. At least she's using it.'

Shang entered Training Room Two and continued thinking.

Some days later, he got the next mission.

After completing the mission, he returned and continued planning.

Eventually, more and more time passed.

Over the years, Shang had created several Paths on which he could advance.

Whenever he found one with some potential, he planned it out but didn't train in it.

The reason for that was that Shang was waiting.

At the moment, he couldn't make an informed decision on which Path he should follow, but that didn't mean that it would always stay like that.

For now, he was preparing himself for the right time.

And eventually, the right time arrived.

Today, Shang told the Keeper that he wouldn't accept any missions for the next two weeks and retreated to one of the training rooms.

He sat down in the middle, and his Spirit Sense seemingly vanished.

Shang had entered his inner world.

50 years had passed.

It was time for the trial.

This was why Shang had been preparing himself.

He knew that the trial would push him towards the right direction.

Shang's head looked towards the stone stele in the middle of his inner world.

The deadline was in a couple of weeks, but Shang's body had already reached its peak by now.

But when Shang looked at the stone stele, his Spirit Sense was actually pulled toward a certain location on the stele.

Near the top of the stele, above the rules of Shang's inner world, was something.

Shang only looked at that thing for a couple of minutes.

He wasn't sure what he was thinking about.

What was Shang looking at?

It was Jerald's hand.

Several decades ago, Shang had nailed it to the stele.

It was supposed to symbolize Shang's Path.

It was supposed to remind him of his choices and his future.

'Never go back.'

'Remember your sacrifices.'

'Look at how far you've come.'

'Always walk forward.'

"We can start with the trial," Shang said after a while.

 

Chapter 605-Top Ten

Shang's Spirit Sense returned, and he slowly sat back up again.

His body wasn't injured in any way, but the same thing couldn't be said for Sword.

Right now, Sword lay beside Shang.

It was only as big as a dagger.

Shang slowly took a deep breath as reality set in.

"I died," he said.

At that moment, the jester jumped down from the Affinity wheel and walked over to Shang while slowly applauding.

"Not bad, not bad," the jester said with a wide grin. "Honestly, when you reached the True Path Stage, I didn't expect you to become so powerful in the Fusion Realm. I expected that you would just comprehend your four Imposes and then breakthrough."

"But no, you actually went a step further."

"And, sure enough, your work wasn't for nothing," the jester said as he stopped in front of Shang.

Shang slowly stood up and fed Sword more ore. By now, Shang's storage of ores was running low.

Even worse, Shang was missing Entropy Ore.

Sword had just consumed its last piece of Entropy Ore, which meant it could only use its ability three more times.

He just hoped that all of this had been worth it.

"14 points in the beast category, but Dusk alone wasn't enough to kill the powerful Peak Archbeast."

"Eleven points in the Mage category, but the powerful Late Archmage managed to outlast you."

"25 points in total. You are nearly invincible in front of every beast in your Realm, and only Peak Archmages and a select few Late Archmages are a danger to you."

"Honestly, in terms of Battle-Strength for Archmages, you are probably in the top 10, which is quite impressive," the jester said with a smirk.

Shang didn't answer, but his head turned to the side.

Top 10 for his Realm.

This was obviously beyond impressive, but when compared to some other numbers, it wasn't as impressive as one might think.

There were ten Archmages that were as powerful as him in the world.

There might also be ten Ancestral Mages that were this powerful.

There were about a hundred Mage Kings in the world.

Yet, the longevity of these Mage Kings was probably ridiculous.

For how long could a Mage King live?

Ten thousand years?

A hundred thousand years?

If the Mage Kings lived for a hundred thousand years, and since there are a hundred of them, it meant that around one new Mage King would be born every thousand years.

This was exactly how long an Archmage could live.

This meant that only one of the top ten could theoretically become a Mage King in the future.

And not a single one of them would become a Mage Emperor.

Yet, Shang's goal was to become a God.

Yes, Shang was unfathomably powerful.

He was so powerful that normal Archmages couldn't even comprehend it.

Even many Ancestral Mages would have a hard time grasping how powerful Shang was for his Realm.

Yet, even that might not be enough to become a Mage King!

All of this hard work and sacrifice just for a shot at maybe becoming a Mage King!

Shang had comprehended World Connection before even reaching the Fusion Realm.

If there were nine other Archmages as powerful as him, it meant that there were nine Archmages that managed to comprehend a level three Concept before becoming Archmages.

The powerful Mages Shang had been fighting back in the True Path Stage had only known one or two level two Concepts. The truly powerful Peak High Mages might have known three.

And those powerful High Mages had been true geniuses!

Yet, there had been at least nine High Mages back then that had comprehended a level three Concept!

And probably only a single one of them actually had a shot at becoming a Mage King!

When Shang heard that he had reached the top ten, he hadn't been happy.

He only felt pressured.

He had already sacrificed so much, and he had already committed his entire life to nothing but his power, but there were still others on his level.

The competition was tough.

"Aren't you a sad lad?" the jester commented with a slight chuckle. "You reached the top 10, but you are even more demotivated than before."

"Do you think you aren't powerful enough because you haven't sacrificed enough?" the jester asked with a smirk.

Shang didn't answer.

"Are you unwilling to accept the obvious answer?" the jester asked.

Shang didn't answer.

"Let me confirm it for you," the jester said as he leaned on his toy hammer. "The biggest reason why you are not number one is not your personality."

"It also isn't the fact that you're not a Mage."

The jester chuckled.

"It's background and money."

Shang didn't answer, and he only seemed to look in a random direction.

"King Contenders," the jester said. "That's the title of the strongest Mage per Realm per Empire, starting at the High Mage Realm."

"Every 1,000 years, the nine Empires hold a tournament. Every Empire sends its strongest Mage Lord. Of course, the Judgment Palace gets to send two since they also have two Emperors."

"The ten strongest Mage Lords of the world fight for the position of Mage King. All ten of them are easily strong enough to become Mage Kings on their own, but due to the lack of Mana in the world, there just isn't enough Mana to support another Mage King."

"If the world had infinite Mana, we would probably have a hundred Mage Emperors and over a thousand Mage Kings. Sadly, there just isn't that much Mana left, which means that becoming a Mage King is only afforded to the most powerful Mage Lord in the world."

The jester chuckled again. "And no one can become a Mage Emperor."

"Right now, you are a King Contender."

At that point, the jester's smirk widened.

"However, you're not the strongest."

"There are at least two Archmages that will 100% beat you in a fight while at the same level as you."

"But how?" the jester said with an imitating voice. "How can they be so strong?"

"Money and status."

"These Mages are being personally taught by Mage Kings."

The jester spun his hammer around his arm as he marched back and forth.

"They are allowed to travel the entire world."

"They are allowed to fight whatever they want."

"They get whatever treasure they want, and they get as much of that treasure as they want."

"Mountains of Grade Seven Mana Crystals get poured into their bodies just to increase the Mana capacity of their minds by a single percent."

"Every time they try to comprehend Concepts, they are surrounded by the densest Mana with the most wondrous demonstrations of the very Concepts they want to comprehend."

"And then," the jester said as he stopped marching.

He grabbed his hammer and pointed it at Shang.

"There's you."

"You have to work for just a couple of Grade Six Mana Crystals."

"You don't have a teacher."

"You are restricted in choosing your location."

"You can't just train whatever you want in the open."

"Hell, you're not even a Mage."

"And you don't even know what you should do to reach the Sixth Realm."

The jester put the hammer on the ground again and leaned on it.

"No matter what you do, your background is infinitely weaker than theirs, as is your wealth."

"When the perfect mindset has to contend with the perfect mindset supported by the ultimate background, the winner is obvious."

Shang didn't say anything.

Several seconds passed.

"Are you done?" Shang asked emotionlessly.

The jester's smirk transformed into a grin.

"Then, show me my rewards," Shang added.

 

 

Chapter 606-Three Rewards

The jester chuckled a bit. "You know, that's what I like about you. There were plenty of ways you could have developed back when I brought you to this world, but I think I like the current iteration of you the most."

"You sacrificed everything else in your life. Only power is left."

"But because of that, you can't possibly sacrifice that as well. You already went all-in on power. So, if you lose now, you lose everything."

"Tell me, if you knew for absolute certain that it would be an absolute impossibility for you to ever reach the Ninth Realm, much less the Tenth Realm, what would you do?"

Shang didn't answer, but he didn't need to.

Both of them knew the answer.

However, Shang's mind wasn't thinking about such hypothetical scenarios.

The path forward might be extremely perilous and difficult, but it wasn't impassable.

As long as there was a chance, Shang would push forward with his entire existence.

"Alright, the rewards then," the jester said after a bit.

Shang didn't answer, but his head finally turned to face the jester.

"To be honest with you," the jester said with his trademarked smirk, "your power reached levels where there's only one reward left that would fit your score. It's basically the ultimate prize."

"However, I think that would be too restrictive for you. Accepting that reward would essentially lock you into one specific Path to Godhood, and I think it's better to give you more options."

"So, I've prepared three different rewards in total, but two of these rewards consist of two separate things, while the last one is effectively the thing I designed as the ultimate prize."

The jester's smirk widened. "And one more thing."

"I saw how hard you are trying to find a way forward, and I have taken a look at some of the potential Paths you have found."

"Many of them don't lead to Godhood, but it's impossible for you to know."

"But it would also be a bit boring to see you choose a Path that makes it impossible to reach Godhood. A game needs genuine danger to be exciting. What fun would this little game be if you never had a chance of actually coming for my head?"

Shang didn't answer.

"So, I've designed the three rewards with one of your theoretical Paths in mind each. You may choose which one you want."

"Let's start with the first one," the jester said as he lifted his right arm.

CRRRR!

At that moment, a pedestal broke out of the ground, and Shang could see two things on it.

He knew what one of the things did, but he wasn't sure what the other thing was for.

"The first object of the first reward," the jester said as he walked forward to lift one of the objects.

The object the jester was lifting was a small wheel with some symbols on it.

It looked exactly like the Affinity wheel of the trial but smaller.

The jester held the wheel up and showed it to Shang.

"Your inner world will now have Mana from the outside world in it, making training in here just as good as training outside your inner world."

"And even more," the jester added with a chuckle. "You get free access to the Affinity wheel."

"That means you can spin it whenever you want, fight whatever you want, and you don't need to be afraid of dying since you will automatically resurrect."

Shang took a deep breath.

He knew exactly why the God was offering this as a reward.

Shang had already been worried about training his Fire and Ice Affinities.

He could train his Light and Darkness Affinities without any issues in the Training Rooms, but he couldn't possibly show the Keeper his Fire and Ice Affinities as well.

Additionally, Shang would be able to always summon perfect training partners.

The God had offered this reward to solve Shang's current problem.

With this, he could train whatever he wanted.

"The second object of the first reward," the jester said as he put the small wheel down and lifted something else.

Shang knew what that was.

It was a black cube.

Shang's grip on Sword tightened.

"A second weapon of your choice," the God said. "It will start at the same level as your current one."

"What does this mean for Sword?" Shang asked, this being the first time he had spoken up in a long while.

The black cube spun on the jester's finger, as he only smirked.

"You will have a second sword, but you will always only have one Sword," he said.

Shang only nodded.

He knew what the God meant.

After seeing the black cube, Shang could think of two of the possible Paths he had theorized.

This reward fit both of these Paths.

CRRRR!

Then, a second pedestal appeared with two objects on it.

Just like before, Shang could see what one of them was.

The jester lifted up one of the two things.

It was a small suit of armor.

"You already know this one," the jester said. "I offered you the same thing last trial."

The jester put the small piece of armor down and lifted up the other object.

It was the skin of a face.

It was like someone had skinned a face and had made a mask out of it.

"The Mask of Way Too Many Faces," the jester said with a chuckle. "You put it on, and your appearance and aura will change."

"Only very powerful Mage Lords can see through the disguise, and no, your superior doesn't belong to the Mage Lords I consider very powerful."

Shang also knew why the God had offered this reward to him.

With this reward, he could leave the Temple of Blood and go wherever he wanted.

He could openly travel the world without fear of being followed or recognized.

Additionally, the suit of armor also fit perfectly to one of the Paths Shang had theorized.

"Now, as for the last reward."

CRRRR!

A third pedestal rose from the ground, and this time, there was only one item on it.

"The ultimate prize," the jester said as he lifted it with just two fingers.

It was a small pill.

"This pill will get rid of your warrior body, and you gain full access to your mind, like any other Mage," the jester said.

Then, he chuckled a bit and looked at Shang.

"And you get to keep your regenerative powers."

"The advantages of both worlds without the disadvantages."

"Isn't that great?"

The jester put the pill down and stepped away from the pedestals.

"So, what will it be?"

 

 

Chapter 607 Switching Path

It took Shang a couple of seconds to decide.

Especially the ultimate reward interested him.

Even if Shang decided on a different Path than being a Magic Warrior, having a far greater Mana storage for his mind would help.

He could use several more Shocks, and he would also be able to use Mana Step several times.

He could still focus on another Path while taking the ultimate reward just to boost his Battle-Strength.

Even more, this increase of Battle-Strength would follow him forever.

Yet, there were two reasons that made him decide not to take the ultimate reward.

First, Shang would need to focus on Magic until it was on the same level as his swordsmanship. While Shang knew that he was very talented when it came to physical fighting, he actually had no idea how good he was at understanding Magic.

All of that essentially boiled down to time.

Shang was already limited on time, and training in Magic on top of everything else would most likely be too much.

And the second reason…

The jester smirked as he read Shang's mind. "Quite greedy, aren't you?"

Shang didn't answer.

The second reason related to what the God had said many years ago.

"If you want to get rid of your warrior's body, you would need the help of a King, and I don't mean the Kings in your small Kingdom."

This was what the God had said.

Yes, Shang's second reason was that he could get rid of his warrior's body on his own in the future.

But he couldn't get any of the other four items on his own in the future.

Now, only two potential rewards were left.

It was clear to him what they symbolized.

"I'll take the sword and the access to the trial," Shang said.

CRRRR!

The other two pedestals vanished into the earth again, leaving the one with the sword and the small wheel.

Shang walked over and took hold of the cube.

At the same time, the small wheel just vanished. It wasn't necessary to use the trial. It was only a symbol for the reward.

Shang focused on the cube and imagined it to take a certain shape.

SHING!

In an instant, the black cube assumed the shape of a Colossal Sword.

As Shang held the Colossal Sword in his hands, he focused on it. "Sword?" he asked.

"Yes," the Colossal Sword answered. "Nothing has changed."

Shang looked at the original Sword, which was currently in its Long Sword State.

"Yes, I am also here," it told Shang.

Shang nodded, and some of his hidden worries disappeared.

Sword now inhabited both swords.

He didn't have to deal with a second intelligent weapon, and the new sword could still help him since it was controlled by Sword.

"Since you inhabit both bodies, it would be fine if I were to only have one of you on my person?" he asked. "Suddenly having two swords would be suspicious."

"It's ok," Sword answered.

Shang nodded again, and a lot of potential ideas came to him.

Obviously, he needed two hands to use a Colossal Sword or a Great Sword. This meant that he could still only use one State at a time.

However, having two swords also solved a huge weakness of Shang's.

In Shang's mind, he imagined himself charging forward with his Colossal Sword State.

A Mage was shooting at him.

Then, Shang switched out his sword and summoned a Long Sword.

With that, he could use Shock several times, arrive in front of the opponent, and then switch to his Colossal Sword again.

One of Shang's biggest weaknesses was that he couldn't "go back" in States during a battle.

But now, he could.

Just this alone was already worth it.

As Shang thought about what other things he could do with a second sword, his mind suddenly went elsewhere.

Shang's focus was pulled to the Colossal Sword.

Then, to the Long Sword.

And back to the Colossal Sword again.

Big, small.

Much, little.

More, less.

Plus, minus.

Addition, subtraction.

Zero.

Entropy.

Shang's grip tightened as he suddenly thought of a new Path, one that felt much more in line with his actual Affinity.

A different way to combine his Affinities.

Shang's original plan when choosing the second sword hinged on combining two of his Affinities two times.

He had already noticed that he was making progress while constantly using Light and Darkness, and he felt like he was on the cusp of understanding something crucial.

Shang didn't just sit around, doing nothing, for the past 50 years.

He had realized that there were probably also Pure Concepts for the Entropy Affinity, and Lucius had probably used those to become the Mage Emperor.

One of these Concepts had to be Twilight, a fusion of Light and Darkness Affinities.

However, while Twilight counted as a Mixed Concept and an Affinity as well, it was probably a Pure Concept for Entropy.

Of course, that also gave Shang enough info to find another potential Pure Concept of Entropy.

Temperature.

Originally, when choosing the second sword, Shang's plan had been to comprehend the Concepts of Twilight and Temperature.

One sword would fuse the aspects of light and darkness, while the other would focus on fire and ice.

Like this, Shang could use all four of his Affinities at once.

He would have solved his biggest problem.

He would finally be able to use everything he had at the same time.

However, after having received his new sword, Shang's mind changed.

And then, he turned to face the jester, who was still standing there, grinning.

"You know," the jester said, knowing fully well what Shang was thinking about. "You already got your questions in the past."

"Buuuuut, since your question is more or less common knowledge for Mages, I'm willing to humor you and give you an answer," he said.

Shang's heartbeat sped up by a bit.

"Yes, it's possible," the jester said. "You can also do it that way, but it would be quite a bit harder."

"But it's still possible."

 

Chapter 608 Concepts

The jester was digging inside one of its ears with its fingers in boredom.

"Technically, there are no levels for Concepts," the jester said.

"Theoretically, you could comprehend a level five Concept while being a Peak True Mage, and it would only be marginally more powerful than the level one Concept."

"The goal is to learn everything about a given thing. The more you know about a thing, the stronger you become."

"Let's take water, for example. The generally accepted level one Concept for a Water Affinity is Drop, as in raindrop. You know how drops form, how they act, and what they do."

"The generally accepted level five Concept for a Water Affinity is Ocean. You effectively know the power of a huge body of water. You know what makes it an ocean and what makes it different from rain, rivers, lakes, and so on."

"However, if you only know what oceans do but don't know how anything else works, it's not really that useful. A real ocean has streams inside it, and you don't know what they do if you didn't comprehend the level four Concept of a Water Affinity, Stream."

"An ocean also produces and receives rain, which means you need the level two Concept, Rain, and to properly use that, you need the level one Concept, drop."

"So, while you could use the more general knowledge of an ocean, you lack all the specifics."

"Think of it as a car but without an engine, tires, seats, and so on. It's the thing that combines basically everything, but it's not really that useful if stuff is missing."

"Theoretically, you can comprehend the Concepts in any order you want, and higher level Concepts don't necessarily need to be that much harder to comprehend."

"Let's take the generally accepted level two Concept Rain and the level one Concept Drop, for example."

"Usually, you comprehend Drop, and then you comprehend Rain. Comprehending Rain is much more difficult than comprehending Drop. You could say the difficulty to comprehend Drop is a one and comprehending Rain is a five."

"However, if you focus on Rain first, it would be easier to comprehend than if you were to comprehend Drop first and Rain second."

"Quite unintuitive, eh?"

Shang didn't react, but he agreed.

That made no sense.

"That's because the combination requirement switches places," the jester explained.

"When you first comprehend Drop and then try to comprehend Rain, you are also comprehending the method to combine the two. By combining them, Drop is increasing the power of Rain, and Rain is increasing the power of Drop."

"So, when comprehending two Pure Concepts of one Affinity, you actually are not learning two things but three things, two Concepts and a way to fuse them."

"If you were to comprehend Rain first, it would have a difficulty of five because you would have to comprehend Rain without knowing what an individual Drop does, making it very difficult. After that, comprehending Drop would have a difficulty of about 3.5 due to also having to comprehend the combination."

"In short, this means you can comprehend a level two Concept before a level one Concept, but it would be needlessly difficult and inefficient."

"But it is possible."

Shang nodded. "So, about my plan…"

"Well," the jester said, "Entropy is a bit special."

"There's no sense in me having to keep its first four Concepts secret since you already guessed them. If I were to put a level to them, I would say Temperature is the easiest, followed by Twilight, followed by Addition, followed by Subtraction."

"But in comparison to water, for example, these four Concepts don't lead into one another."

"For water, Drop leads into Rain, leads into River and Lake, and those two lead into Ocean. For water, the first two are basically mandatory to comprehend first, but you could decide if you want to comprehend River or Lake next. Rain leads into both of them, and they don't particularly need each other."

"Understanding River is a bit more difficult than understanding Lake, which is why River is generally accepted as the level four Concept while Lake is the level three Concept, but you could also comprehend River first and Lake second."

"That is the case for your first four Concepts."

"All of your first four Concepts are separate, but they all lead into the fifth one together."

"Naturally, as soon as you know one, comprehending the others will become harder."

"Let me put it into numbers. Comprehending Temperature first would be a one, Twilight would be a two, Addition would be a three, and Subtraction would be a four. If you were to comprehend them in order, it would be 1, 5, 15, 50. If you were to comprehend them in the order you are planning on, it would be 3, 7, 12, 45."

"Luckily, your mind is already on the level of a High Mage, while everyone else has to comprehend level one Concepts while being on the level of a True Mage. Comprehending Addition first would be a bit easier than a True Mage comprehending a level one Concept, but comprehending Subtraction second would be more difficult than learning a Pure level two Concept. It would be about as difficult as comprehending a Mixed level two Concept."

"In short, you have to achieve a level in Magic that would make you above average for a Peak High Mage."

"Luckily, you have about 640 years of longevity left, which is much more than any High Mage has to comprehend the same thing."

Then, the jester grinned. "But that isn't even everything, is it?"

"You also have to comprehend two more Imposes for the two new States you want to create, and those Imposes have to be so powerful that they encompass two of the Imposes that you already created."

"And then, when everything is finished, you even have to combine everything and transform your World Connection, which will be very difficult."

"The Path you have planned is very difficult, but I have to say, it's a very strong one."

"That should answer your question, right?" the jester asked.

Of course, the jester didn't need to wait for an answer.

"Good, then, good luck!"

And the jester vanished.

Shang didn't move for a while as his mind thought about his path to the Sixth Realm.

Finally, it was clear.

 

 

Chapter 609 The Plan

After the jester left, Shang only remained standing, thinking about his future path.

There was a lot to do.

First, he needed to comprehend the Concept of Addition.

Then, he needed to comprehend the Concept of Subtraction.

After that, he would need to create two incredibly powerful and strong Imposes.

And lastly, he would need to integrate everything.

It was a lot to do, but Shang had known from the very beginning that this wouldn't be easy.

'Luckily, I don't need to do these things one at a time. They will not strengthen my body or help in any way during the small advancements. This is more of a do-everything-at-once thing.'

'These are the four components I need, and after gaining them, I can attempt a breakthrough.'

'But first, I should advance to the Early Fusion Realm to strengthen my mind. The stronger my mind, the easier it will be to comprehend the two Concepts I need.'

'I still have several days left before I should return to the real world. I think I should use these days to become familiar with my second sword.'

'First, become familiar with my second sword. Second, reach the Early Fusion Realm. Third, try to comprehend the Concept of Addition while absorbing Abominations during missions.'

Shang nodded once and took hold of both of his swords.

A second later, the Long Sword vanished.

Shang had put it into his Space Ring. His Space Ring was easier to access than his inner world, allowing for faster swapping of weapons.

SHING! SHING!

Shang swapped out his swords and moved Shock several times before swapping back to his Colossal Sword.

It felt unnatural.

Additionally, the Mana Shang left behind after using a technique was interfering with the follow-up technique.

The Darkness Mana for Shang's Shock made it difficult to properly create Brilliance, for example.

Using Ghost Step instead of Shock made it a bit easier, but Shang still felt awkward.

All of his techniques had been created to be used separately.

'That's a problem,' Shang thought. 'In the future, I will be using only two States instead of four, and I will even use them at the same time.'

'My techniques need to flow better into each other, even if that might reduce their power by a bit.'

Suddenly, Shang shook his head. 'That shouldn't be my concern now. That's for when I create my two new Imposes.'

'For now, I should just get familiar with fighting with two swords, even if it feels awkward.'

After practicing for a couple of hours, Shang mostly got the hang of it.

Then, he began to summon the wheel.

Shang willed the beast wheel to appear, and it appeared.

He willed for his opponents to be of a certain level of power and spun it.

Sadly, he couldn't just choose who or what he wanted to fight.

He could only choose his opponent's power.

Shang's opponent soon appeared, and he attacked it.

After the fight, Shang directly summoned his next opponent.

And his next one.

And so on.

While summoning his opponents, he was very careful not to summon opponents that were too powerful.

Shang wasn't young and inexperienced anymore.

He knew exactly what kind of danger this wheel could pose to him.

Using the wheel in the wrong way could hurt Shang.

It could get rid of his fear.

Fear of death.

Fear of losing.

At the moment, dying was still terrifying and morbid to Shang, and if there hadn't been an incentive for him to earn more points, he would never have decided to fight a powerful Peak Archbeast or a powerful Late Archmage.

These intense emotions and the fear of death were the very things necessary to unearth someone's potential.

On Earth, there were stories of mothers being able to lift cars to save their children.

While the example might be a bit extreme, it showed an inevitable fact.

Under fear of death or losing a loved one, humans could perform feats that they would never be able to perform otherwise.

The same was true for Shang.

The monumental risk of losing absolutely everything could increase someone's power by a lot.

Yet, if Shang kept on fighting powerful beasts in his inner world and dying, the feeling of death would dull.

At some point, Shang would grow so used to dying that his body wouldn't even send fear to his mind when he was actually fighting with his life on the line.

But this fear was necessary to perform at his best.

Because of that, Shang wouldn't summon any truly dangerous opponents with the wheel.

Every death would weaken his fear.

Fear was a powerful motivator, and Shang had to save it for the times he really needed it.

Additionally, Shang didn't want to use any more of Sword's Entropy. He was already out of Entropy Ore, and Sword only had a limited number of uses left.

So, in the end, Shang decided to fight against powerful Mid Archbeasts.

They were strong enough that Shang could injure them without using Sword's Entropy but still quite problematic to win against without it.

In the worst-case scenario, Shang would need to use a bit of Sword's Entropy.

For several days, Shang continued fighting different beasts, and he didn't need to use Sword's Entropy even once.

Eventually, Shang was satisfied with his progress and stopped.

It still felt a bit awkward to switch out weapons between different techniques, but he could now do it without any problems.

Shang wanted to adapt his techniques to make it more fluent more than anything, but that wasn't so easy.

Every single technique of Shang's had been perfected, and he had even created his Mana pathways to support these movements.

If Shang wanted to change his techniques, he would need to also change his Mana pathways.

For now, that was too much work.

Instead of cramming two houses together and combining them, Shang decided that it would be easier just to build a third one between them.

This would be where his new Impose would reside.

But, for now, Shang needed to work on comprehending Addition.

Shang put his Colossal Sword into his Space Ring and left his inner world.

 

Chapter 610 Easier Than Expected

After leaving his inner world, Shang walked over to the entrance of his training room.

He exited and walked over to the Keeper.

At the moment, Trapper and Ice Princess were sitting in the middle of the branch.

After around 50 years, the branch had gone through one shift each.

Usually, Trapper and House Wife would be accepting and completing missions right now, but there was a problem.

House Wife was dead.

During one of her missions to spy on someone, she was found by the target.

While House Wife was amazing at staying hidden and fleeing, she was only average in a fight, and her target had actually been a level above her.

She didn't make it back.

But Trapper was still alive, and he had even advanced a level.

He was now at the Late Archmage Realm, and he was one of two.

The other one was Ice Princess, who also had advanced.

The old Late Archmage had advanced to the Peak Archmage Realm and had switched branches since there wasn't a lot to do for a Peak Archmage in this branch.

This meant that Trapper and Ice Princess were now the two most powerful Named Agents in the branch.

As Shang walked past them, no one spoke a word.

Usually, Trapper was a very chatty and boastful person, but in front of Ice Princess, he stayed silent.

Ice Princess was famous for not talking, never being able to take a joke, and directly attacking if she didn't like something about someone.

Trapper had learned that it was better for him to shut up and not look at her when she was near him.

However, that didn't quench his "thirst".

In fact, Ice Princess was Trapper's biggest target.

He wanted her.

The more powerful a woman was, the more he desired to "conquer" them.

But Ice Princess was powerful, very dangerous, and it was against the rules to do anything to a colleague.

Of course, Ice Princess knew Trapper, and she knew exactly what he wanted.

However, in her mind, desiring her was only natural. She was beautiful, powerful, intelligent, and courageous.

Others were allowed to desire her, but they were not allowed to show her disrespect.

Trapper and Ice Princess had a unique dynamic.

It was almost like both of them were ignoring each other but also challenging each other at the same time.

The atmosphere between them was very tense and not the romantic kind of tense.

It was like Trapper was about to do something horrible, and Ice Princess was about to slit his throat.

When Shang walked past them, Trapper didn't say anything.

To Trapper, White Ghost was basically just Ice Princess but with a penis.

To Ice Princess, White Ghost was someone that knew his place. White Ghost didn't disturb her with needless words, and he always kept to himself.

"I want to exchange my Mana Crystals," Shang said to the Keeper.

"What do you want?" she asked in a neutral tone, not looking at him.

"Grade Five Mind Flow Pellets, the permission to train outside, and information on the location of Ancestral Beasts," Shang said.

When the Keeper heard that, she actually turned her head and looked at Shang with her ocean-blue eyes from the side.

"You are interested in training Magic?" she transmitted so that the others wouldn't hear her words.

"Correct," Shang transmitted.

The only reason why Shang would want to train outside was to analyze how the Mana of the world worked. He could train his body and techniques in the training rooms without issues, and it wouldn't make much sense for him to train outside.

This meant that he was probably interested in comprehending Concepts.

"What do you have in mind?" she asked, turning around again.

"I want to view Light from a new angle," Shang said. "I want to feel the light that fire produces."

The Keeper moved her nails across her chin in thought.

Fire did produce light, but it was a different kind of light. Mages wouldn't usually look at fire when they were trying to comprehend a Light Concept.

However, that was mostly for the earlier Concepts.

As an experienced Mage Lord, the Keeper knew a lot of very advanced Concepts, and she knew that the Pure level four Concept of Light was Dawn, which was related to the sun, which was obviously related to fire.

There was definitely a connection there.

Additionally, White Ghost wasn't a Mage but a warrior.

On top of that, he was already using an unorthodox path to comprehend light, which was his voluntary blindness.

If this were a normal Mage, the Keeper would become suspicious.

Maybe they wanted to meet someone?

Maybe they wanted to flee?

However, White Ghost's unusual methods of training and his obviously very powerful Battle-Strength spoke for him.

White Ghost was smart enough to know that he couldn't flee from the Temple of Blood without going through the proper channels.

Lastly, his request was far easier to fulfill than White Ghost had probably anticipated.

"That is not a problem," the Keeper answered. "There's a beast very familiar with fire and light."

"The Yellow Sunbreaker."

Shang's body didn't react, but he was actually quite surprised deep inside.

He was shocked that he had missed that obvious connection.

The Yellow Sunbreaker was essentially a huge sunflower.

Its entire existence basically revolved around the sun, and Shang had felt quite a bit of Fire Mana come from it from time to time.

"The Yellow Sunbreaker is hunting by releasing its Mana and provoking other beasts into attacking it, but I'm canceling out most of its Fire Mana to keep other Ancestral Beasts from coming close and attacking it," the Keeper said. "If the Yellow Sunbreaker dies, we will need to move locations."

"However, I can move the area where I cancel out its Mana to further away. I'll leave the closest kilometer filled with its Mana. That won't increase the danger at all while giving you a good training ground."

"It's no problem. You don't even have to pay anything for that."

"So, how many Grade Five Mind Flow Pellets do you want?"