Ch. 691..700

Chapter 691 - Opinions

Mistra continued summoning one warrior after the other, and eventually, she reached the Mid Impose Stage warriors.

Those were the ones that taught nearly everyone else. In total, there were seven, but only three of them had apparently taken up the mantle of teacher.

When she asked the Mid Impose Stage warriors questions, Mistra became a bit surprised.

Their answers were different.

They were far more detailed.

The other warriors had explained what they were doing and why they were doing it, but they didn't explain why the stuff they were doing actually worked.

Yet, these Mid Impose Stage warriors were also explaining why the things they were doing actually produced results.

This time, Mistra took longer to ask the Impose Stage warriors about their thoughts, and she also started to jot down a lot of new things in her booklet.

"And where did you learn all of these things?" she asked near the end.

"Master taught me," the warrior explained, gesturing to Shang.

"Oh?" Mistra muttered. This had been the first time anyone had directly been in contact with this mysterious white warrior. Everyone else had only talked about him in a very distant way like they had never actually met.

"I've noticed that you and two other warriors were referred to as teacher by many warriors. How come your disciples are calling you teacher, but you call your teacher master?" Mistra asked.

"There are many teachers but only one Master," the warrior said. "We chose not to use the title master out of our respect for our Master."

"We are teachers, not masters," he said.

"Mhm," Mistra uttered. "And your master is not a teacher?"

Surprisingly, the warrior didn't answer for two seconds.

"No," he said.

"What's the difference?" Mistra asked.

The warrior remained silent for a bit.

Then, he looked over at Shang for a while and looked back.

"Because we care about our students," he said.

The reactions of the remaining warriors were very mixed.

Some of them frowned at the warrior, while others looked uncomfortably to the side, while others seemed to silently agree.

Of course, Mistra noticed all of these reactions, which piqued her interest.

"Why are you saying something like that?" Mistra asked.

The man took a deep breath and sighed. "I believe in being honest. Yes, Master has done incredible things for us, and he taught us things we could have never comprehended on our own. Even after all these years, I feel like my teaching ability is still far below his."

"I do respect him deeply for that, but from a more emotional standpoint, I wish that I wasn't just some number to him."

"I'm not sure what he got out of it, but I know that he only taught us because of some monetary gain. I don't know who offered him the reward, but I know that's the only reason why he even taught us."

"He doesn't care about our power. He doesn't care about our happiness. He doesn't care about our Battle-Strength."

"He just wanted as many Impose Stage warriors as possible, and he didn't care who advanced."

Silence.

The reactions of the present warriors were mixed again.

"Very interesting," Mistra said. "So, to summarize, you've had a very competent and knowledgeable teacher, but he has been very cold and indifferent to you."

"Correct," the warrior said.

Mistra jotted down a couple of things and sent the warrior on his way.

When she talked to the next warrior, Shang came up again.

Mistra asked about Shang again, and the warrior basically said the same thing as the previous one.

This time, the reactions were neutral or negative. The remaining four Mid Impose Stage warriors didn't have as many problems with Shang as the first two.

Mistra called the next one.

"Please, don't believe everything the previous two have said," the warrior said immediately before Mistra could ask her questions.

"Let me get through the questions first," Mistra said with a slight chuckle. "You will get your chance."

"Okay," the warrior said.

Later, the topic of Shang came up, and the warrior had something to say about it.

"Being a teacher or a master is not about building a relationship. We have parents, friends, and family to build relationships. Having a master or a teacher means learning something. It is a transaction."

"You teach me, and I will repay you in the future. That's the relationship between teacher and student. Anyone that believes that a master or a teacher has to coddle you like a child is naïve."

"Master has done just that. He taught us, and he taught us very well. That is what I wanted to say," the warrior said.

"Interesting," Mistra answered. "The first two have quite a lot of students under them, just like you. You three seem to be the most popular teachers amongst the Mid Impose Stage warriors. That's correct?"

The warrior nodded.

"Why is your ideology so different from theirs?" Mistra asked.

"They've always been like this," the warrior answered. "Initially, they tried to gain Master's favoritism, but as soon as they were under him for a while, they only complained. They cried all the time that they wanted more free time and that Master was supposed to help us achieve our goals by becoming stronger."

"Master quickly told them that he wasn't forcing them to stay and that they could leave whenever they wanted."

"But they didn't."

"In my opinion, they simply were lazy and are harboring resentment since Master didn't allow them to. They don't seem thankful at all to him, and I despise them for it."

Mistra nodded a couple of times. "Why have you become a teacher?"

"I've once lived in mediocrity, thinking that there was no way forward. I was a Commander Stage warrior in a different city, and I felt like I had reached the peak of my power."

"Eventually, Master saved me by bringing me to his town, and when I reached the True Path Stage, he took me under his wing."

"I never wanted to feel this hopelessness in my life again, and that's why I want to teach people. I don't want them to die an early death."

"Many warriors have talent far greater than what they have realized. They just need a teacher to help them unlock their talent."

Mistra nodded. "Earlier, you said being a teacher and a student is transactional, but now, you're talking about an altruistic motive. How come?"

"Well, I also work on myself, and if a student reaches the Impose Stage, I want them to repay me with 200 Grade Five Mana Crystals."

Mistra chuckled a bit. "Understood."

Then, she called in the next warrior.

His answer regarding his relationship with Shang was rather neutral.

"I was the first warrior beside Master that reached the Impose Stage. He asked me to take over his job of teaching for a while, and I did. I repaid my debt, and we have no relationship anymore. That's it. I'm not really a teacher, which was why I tried to find a way to further my power by accepting a job in some organization. Of course, since I don't have the SKP anymore, I don't know what happened there."

Mistra nodded and called the next warrior.

The next warrior was very respectful of Shang. He was the one that gave them the opportunity to become as powerful as they now were, and he would be eternally grateful for that.

Mistra called in the second-to-last Mid Impose Stage warrior, and his relationship with Shang was… confusing? It was hard to find the right word.

"I don't know what to think of him," he said. "He taught me a lot, but his methods also kept me from my wife, and she died when I wasn't even there. Up until the very end, I felt estranged from my own family."

"I feel regret whenever I look at some of my distant children, but I can't deny that Master's methods are very effective."

"He has given me what I wanted, power."

"It just came at a price I wasn't ready to pay."

"But I don't know if I can fault him for that. I could have also just left. No one was forcing me to stay."

"In the end, I don't know."

Mistra nodded and sent the warrior away.

He only had two friends follow him with their families.

He wasn't bringing any family himself.

Then, it was time for the last Mid Impose Stage warrior.

It was the woman with silver hair, the one that had taken part in the grand tournament a bit more than 20 years ago.

She was very respectful, and she spoke of Shang with a lot of respect.

When she left, she didn't bring any friends or family with her but compared to the last warrior, she didn't seem as sad and lonely.

Now, only Shang and Mistra were left.

 

 

Chapter 692 - Sensitive

Mistra gestured for Shang to come over, and Shang wordlessly walked up to her.

All the warriors with their friends and families were gone, making the previously crowded area seem quite desolate.

"Name?"

"Shang Sword," Shang said.

"You're still using that last name?" Mistra asked with a raised eyebrow.

Obviously, Mistra knew a lot more about Shang than about all the other warriors.

"I didn't have a last name previously. Might as well use it," Shang said evenly.

"Why did you kill one of the Assistant Supervisors from Area 23?" Mistra asked neutrally.

"Personal reasons," Shang answered.

"Those being?" she asked.

"They're not of your concern."

Mistra raised an eyebrow at Shang's very rude tone. "They are of my concern. I need to verify where your loyalties lie."

Shang snorted. "What is loyalty worth when you are one of the nine strongest powers in the world? Even if I wanted to rebel, I would never reach the Eighth Realm without the help of an Empire. So, what's the point?"

Mistra had expected Shang to be a bit different from the other warriors, but she hadn't expected him to be this cold to her.

Wasn't he in the least intimidated by her? If she wanted, she could turn Shang into dust with just her Spirit Sense.

"You've come up with the Impose Stage, a theoretical way to the Sixth Realm and even one to the Seventh Realm, correct?" she asked.

Shang nodded wordlessly.

"Then, what makes you think that you can't create one for the Eight Realm?"

"Creating the Path is not the issue," Shang said.

"Then, what is? Why do you need an Empire?" she asked.

Shang wasn't quite sure why Mistra was asking these questions. "Because I need the required Mana to reach the Eighth Realm."

"Why don't you just absorb the Mana of the world like with any other breakthrough?" Mistra asked.

Shang remained silent for two seconds. "Because there isn't enough Mana."

This time, it was Mistra that snorted. "That's an interesting reason," she said. "You think there's not enough Mana in the world? Have you seen how big it is? How can there not be enough Mana?"

Shang's Spirit Sense inspected Mistra very closely.

She didn't seem to be lying.

"I see," Shang said. "I'm not in your department, then."

Mistra furrowed her brows. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm not in your department," Shang said.

"Says who?" she asked.

"Says whoever you are supposed to deliver me to."

Mistra seemed to be confused and frustrated, but the confusion didn't exactly lie with Shang.

By what Shang could see, he had probably hit the nail on the head.

She was most likely supposed to deliver Shang to someone else while all the other warriors would probably be under her.

"What makes you think that I have to deliver you to someone else?" Mistra asked.

"I can't speak more on this topic," Shang said. "I don't want to ruin my chances with the Lightning Manor."

"What's that supposed to mean? I am the one that is evaluating your chances with the Lightning Manor. How can not answering me ruin your chances?" she asked.

Shang didn't move.

Silence.

Ten seconds of silence.

"Well?" Mistra asked. "What's your answer?"

"I can't speak more about that topic," Shang said.

"You have to answer my questions!" Mistra said with a strict voice.

"I will answer your questions, but I won't speak more of these sensitive topics," Shang said.

"What? How does that even make sense?!"

Mistra kept asking very similar questions again and again, but Shang only kept quiet, not answering any of her questions.

After two minutes of that, Mistra gritted her teeth and actually used her Spirit Sense to put Shang under pressure.

Shang didn't move at all.

His Spirit Sense didn't even shake in the slightest.

Sure, his Spirit Sense was essentially pressed into the ground by Mistra, but it felt just as calm and neutral as before, just more squished.

As more time passed, Mistra started to get creeped out.

She had put so much pressure on Shang, someone two entire Realms below her, but he hadn't reacted in any way whatsoever.

Additionally, Shang had this extremely desolate and white aura around him. Looking at him was almost like looking at an endless salt desert.

It was almost like he wasn't human.

Mistra had never felt such a strange aura before, and together with Shang's lack of eyes, she felt quite creeped out.

In the end, she gave up trying to get any important answers out of him. Even when she had straight-up threatened him, he didn't move at all.

"You're at the Peak Impose Stage, right?" she asked after giving up on getting answers about the previous topic.

"I'm in the Peak Fifth Realm, but I'm not at the Impose Stage," Shang said.

Mistra furrowed her brows again.

"What does that mean?" she asked.

"Can't talk about it," Shang answered.

"What's the problem this time?! Why can't you talk about it?!" she asked.

"Sensitive information," Shang answered.

Mistra tried to get more information out of Shang, but he just wouldn't elaborate.

"Okay, then what about the Impose Stage? You came up with it, right?" she asked.

Shang nodded.

"How did you come up with it?"

Shang neutrally explained to her about the time he had found out about the Wind Blade Seeds. Then, he explained how he had come up with the concept of an Impose after analyzing the Wind Blade Seeds and his Mana Pathways.

"Thank you for answering," Mistra said. "What about your Mana Pathways? I can see that you have far more Mana Pathways than everyone else, and you even managed to create a Beast Core. How did you accomplish that?"

"That is sensitive information," Shang answered.

Mistra grew annoyed. "I am responsible for gathering knowledge about warriors and distributing several techniques. This is very well within my scope."

"I understand," Shang said. "However, the specific way in which I managed to create a Beast Core is related to a sensitive topic. I will tell the person I will be under all about it, and if it is truly within your scope, they will inform you."

By now, Mistra had learned that she wouldn't get anything further out of Shang regarding this topic.

"Why did you buy Icy Bastion, and why did you decide to teach your students?" she asked.

"The Temple of Blood was paying me for every strong warrior I managed to produce. That's the entire reason. They gave me Icy Bastion so that I could openly raise warriors," Shang explained.

"Alright," Mistra said. "Then, please perform your techniques."

"Sensitive topic," Shang answered.

Mistra frowned in annoyance. "I can see your Mana Pathways and your Beast Core. I can already tell basically everything about your techniques. There's nothing sensitive about it."

"Then you don't need to look at them," Shang answered.

Mistra took a deep breath and sighed. "Alright. Then, what about the Sixth Realm? You can tell me about that, right?"

"I call it the World Connection Stage," Shang said.

After that, Shang started to explain how the World Connection worked and how one could create it.

Mistra's booklet jotted down an insane amount of information as Shang kept explaining.

In comparison to the time she had asked about the Impose Stage, she was asking many more questions about the World Connection Stage.

The way the World Connection Stage worked was far more complicated and advanced, and she wanted to learn everything about it.

Shang answered her questions regarding World Connection for nearly a full hour.

Then, he demonstrated the ability.

Eventually, Mistra was done talking about the World Connection Stage, and she asked about the theoretical Path to the Seventh Realm.

"Sensitive topic," Shang said. "I will inform the relevant person, and they will inform you."

Mistra really didn't like that Shang put a stop to the flow of knowledge coming from his mouth, but there was nothing she could do about it.

"You're lucky I'm not allowed to kill you," Mistra grumbled.

Shang didn't react.

"Get on the Transportation Plate," she ordered in an annoyed voice.

Shang wordlessly left Icy Bastion and walked over to the Transportation Plate.

Funnily enough, the very first circle on the Transportation Plate was still free. It seemed like everyone had wordlessly agreed that Shang would be the one to get that circle.

Shang didn't mind, walked over, and waited in the middle of the circle.

After a bit, Mistra stepped onto the Transportation Plate.

WHOOOOM!

The huge plate began to hover with everyone on it, and a couple of seconds later, it shot into the distance.

This marked the end of Shang's time in the Twilight Dusk Family's territory.

From now on, he was a member of the Lightning Manor.

 

Chapter 693 - New Home

The warriors and their families flew toward the west on the Transportation Plate.

A couple of hours later, everyone left the Twilight Dusk Family's Empire and entered the Lightning Manor's Empire. Most of the people here hadn't traveled at such incredible speeds before. After all, there were around one and a half million kilometers between Icy Bastion and the Lightning Manor's Empire.

The Transportation Plate changed directions as soon as everyone entered the Lightning Manor's Empire and flew towards the northwest.

As Shang felt the world rapidly pass below him, a certain feeling appeared inside him.

When he had left the Lightning Manor's Empire, he had been a criminal. Shang had been a helpless True Path Stage warrior in a world filled with powerful Mages.

Only when he had met the Temple of Blood did Shang actually get some semblance of security again.

Then, he stayed in the Temple of Blood for around 500 years, over two-thirds of his entire life.

And now, he had returned to the Lightning Manor's territory, and this time, he wasn't a criminal.

Instead, he had essentially become a valued employee of the Lightning Manor.

Back then, Shang had been a plus one for an Assistant Supervisor for a Development Area.

And now?

Now, Shang was about to join the most secret and probably most important part of the Lightning Manor.

Of course, while that was what Shang was expecting, he couldn't fully trust that result.

After all, the fact that he was a warrior might become an issue.

Would the Lightning Manor be willing to support him? Of course.

But would they be willing to support him to the extent that they would give him an actual opportunity to fight in the grand tournament for the spot of a Mage King?

That definitely wasn't certain.

After another hour, the Transportation Plate began to slow down and eventually landed.

Shang had been here before, and he recognized the surroundings.

Right now, everyone stood in front of a town, and a very special one at that.

Compared to all the towns Shang normally visited, this one was run by warriors.

The walls of the town weren't as huge as Icy Bastion's, and there also were only three Archmages in total in it. Even more, these Archmages were all at the Initial and Early Archmage Realm.

The Magic Circles protecting the town were weak and unimpressive compared to Icy Bastion's.

All in all, this town appeared way too weak to survive in the wilderness. After all, every couple of months, an Ancestral Beast would probably appear near it. What then?

Well, that was why the town was special.

It was the biggest settlement in a wilderness curated by the Lightning Manor.

The surrounding 50,000 kilometers had been isolated by the Lightning Manor. They had contracted a lot of Ancestral Mages to keep the borders at the 50,000-kilometer mark isolated.

The rule was that only beasts at the level of the strongest warrior in the territory would be allowed to enter and live there.

Stronger beasts would either be intimidated into running away or directly killed.

This created a very fitting world for the warriors. They were still being put under pressure, but they had an actual chance at fighting back.

Of course, the Lightning Manor also sometimes put criminal Mages into the territory and promised them a lesser sentence when they managed to kill warriors.

With all of these things combined, the Lightning Manor had created a small little world for the warriors where they were in danger but not so much that they would need to fear their extinction.

Naturally, as not to break the balance, very powerful Mages also weren't allowed to enter. If a Mage wanted to enter this little world, they would need to gain permission from the Lightning Manor.

The three Archmages that lived in the town were here just to run the Magic Circles and to craft equipment.

Yes, it turned out that Mages were more fitting for crafting equipment than blacksmiths or warriors.

At least for now.

There definitely was a way to forge even better equipment, but no truly impressive smith or similar had appeared yet.

Back when Shang had been here, the town had been quite different.

Instead of being filled with warriors, the town had been filled with a lot of Mages that studied different Development Areas and gathered their findings. There had also been a couple of Summoners, Spiriters, and warriors, but they hadn't been in the majority.

50,000 kilometers to the west of this little town was a humongous lake called the Lake of Birth.

The Lake of Birth was the place that housed Development Areas 21 to 40.

Development Areas 21 to 40 were for natural development to see what people would come up with, and all of these Development Areas had been created by the Lightning Manor.

These Areas were all on top of plateaus jutting out from the Lake of Birth. Of course, the plateaus weren't natural. They had simply been created by a couple of Earth and Metal Mage Lords.

The Lake of Birth also had thriving wildlife in its waters, but the beasts from the lake were not allowed to attack any humans, and that rule was enforced by the strongest resident of the Lake of Birth.

A resident Beast Lord living at the bottom of the lake.

The presence of this Beast Lord kept wild beasts that didn't belong to the Lake of Birth away from the Development Areas, and it also was the very thing that allowed the Zone Beasts to enter the Development Areas.

One could say it was the gatekeeper.

However, even though it was the gatekeeper, it actually didn't manage the beasts of the individual Areas.

That was up to the Supervisors.

The gatekeeper only allowed beasts to enter or exit the Areas, nothing else.

Back when Shang had jumped down from Area 23, he had arrived on top of the lake, and since he had jumped down from the southern end of Area 23, he had also traveled to the south.

Near the shore, he had found a couple of Mages, and they had told him the way to the biggest town.

"Alright, we're here," Mistra said to everyone as the Transportation Plate touched the ground.

SHING!

The Transportation Plate vanished from below everyone's feet.

"Welcome to your new home!"

 

Chapter 694 - First Genius

The people looked at their new home.

It was strange.

From now on, they would live in a completely different place, and even more, they were living amongst a lot of warriors.

Additionally, these warriors used very different methods to achieve their power, and they probably also had their very own culture.

In a way, the warriors from Icy Bastion had lived more in the Mages' society. After all, Icy Bastion fully ran on the same rules as nearly every other town or city ran on, and all of those were run by Mages.

But here?

There probably wouldn't be a lot of Mages.

There wouldn't be a lot of Mage merchants.

There wouldn't be any strong beasts.

It was strange.

In a way, everyone felt like they had arrived in a place that was not as advanced as their previous home. Everything seemed a bit more primitive.

However, it also had a certain purity and homeliness to it.

Yes, the surroundings were curated by the Lightning Manor, but the town itself was being run and expanded by warriors.

In here, the warriors were the ones in charge, not the Mages. At least, as long as one ignored that one was inside a Mage-controlled little world.

The Impose Stage warriors could already feel everyone in the small town with their Spirit Sense, and the Diamond Body Stage warriors felt their arrival as well.

Obviously, everyone had been informed about this day.

The strongest warriors of the town were looking at the arriving people with furrowed brows.

They weren't extremely happy about their arrival.

Sure, the Impose Stage had proven to be extremely powerful, but these people were also a threat to their culture.

Would they change everything in the town?

Even more, there weren't many people here that could resist these Impose Stage warriors.

Sure, there were far more Diamond Body Stage warriors than Impose Stage warriors present, but that didn't matter.

The strongest Diamond Body Stage warrior in the town was at the Mid Diamond Body Stage.

Everyone stronger than this individual had already left the town to join the real outside world. They had traveled to Star City to join the Warrior's Guild there under Elver.

When the warriors saw Lei and the silver-haired woman present, they knew that they were helpless in front of the new warriors.

The Impose Stage warriors would have more power and sway in this little world.

For a while, the new warriors just looked at the old ones in the town.

"What are your orders, Master?" the silver-haired woman asked Shang.

As the strongest warrior, Shang obviously would be the one in control.

"I don't have any orders," Shang said neutrally. "I will most likely not stay here."

This took most warriors by surprise.

He wouldn't stay here?

Why?!

The silver-haired woman looked over at Mistra, who sighed.

"Yes, he won't be part of all of this," Mistra explained. "He is going to work somewhere else, but if he has relevant knowledge for advancing the overall power of warriors, he will tell us, and we will forward this information to all of you."

The reactions to this news were mixed.

Eventually, the five Impose Stage warriors that had bowed to Shang earlier in Icy Bastion stepped in front of him again and bowed once more.

It was a last bow of respect.

They knew that they would most likely not see their Master again, or if they did, it would be far in the future.

Shang didn't particularly care.

"Before you do anything," Mistra said, "I need to inform all of you about the rules."

The warriors nodded.

Then, Mistra turned to Shang. "Someone is waiting for you just 500 kilometers to the north. Please go to meet them."

Shang didn't say anything and took to the skies.

Then, he shot towards the north.

The Impose Stage warriors watched as Shang left.

Their Master had left them.

From now on, they had to depend on themselves.

Of course, things weren't as drastic or dramatic as the warriors made them out to be. After all, Shang's knowledge would still affect every warrior living here.

Mistra turned to everyone present and began to introduce them to how things worked around here while Shang simply continued flying towards the north.

Back in Area 23, he had started amongst warriors.

Then, he had been fighting against Mages with the warriors.

Then, after leaving Area 23, Shang was surrounded by nothing but Mages.

When he got Icy Bastion, Shang was surrounded by Mages while having his own town of warriors below him.

And now, Shang would be surrounded by nothing but Mages again.

Wherever Shang would end up surely wouldn't even have a single warrior.

Shang guessed that he would end up in a place with the strongest and most talented Mages in the entire world.

Sure, warriors could close the gap between them and Mages, but how many warriors could actually reach the heights of Battle-Strength that these elite few Mages could achieve?

The silver-haired woman was the closest, but at most, she might be able to jump one level against an Archmage.

Sure, that was impressive, but that was only barely on the level of maybe being accepted into the Lightning Manor in the Sixth Realm.

She wasn't on the level of the Mages that would be crafted into powerful Mage Lords, and the place where Shang would go was even an additional level above that.

Maybe in a couple of centuries, the warriors might produce one individual that could join the Mages that would one day become Mage Lords, but that would still be an entire level below Shang.

In terms of Battle-Strength, Shang was an enigma for warriors.

He was unnatural.

No warrior was supposed to become this powerful this quickly.

Eventually, Shang found someone near the edge of his Spirit Sense but acted like he didn't see them.

After advancing for another 50 kilometers, he actually looked at them with his Spirit Sense.

When Shang saw them, he was immediately convinced of something.

One fact immediately became clear to him.

Except for the Starlight Queen, who had been too powerful for Shang to evaluate, Shang had never seen a true genius in his entire life.

Until now.

 

Chapter 695- Positions

The person that Shang was supposed to meet was standing in the sky. That was something Shang could do, but it wasn't something that just any Ancestral Mage could do.

Naturally, the person Shang was about to meet was a Peak Mage Lord.

He looked like a tall and handsome young man, but the clothes he was wearing were a bit different from what most other Mage Lords would wear.

He wore simple silver trousers and a silver shirt.

He had long silver hair, and there was something very relaxed and casual about him.

It was like he wasn't part of a super powerful Empire but was just walking around in a city in his leisure time.

However, when Shang felt his Aura, he immediately noticed something.

It was so grand!

Shang wasn't quite sure how to put it, but he felt like the person in front of him was unique and special.

In a way, it was like he had fused with the world around him.

It was like the world was his stage.

Everything in the world only existed to support him and lift him up.

It was a sort of mastery over power itself.

There was a lot of "character" in his Aura, which made it very easy to talk a lot about him since there was a lot to describe.

Shang had never felt such an Aura before.

It seemed like in front of this person, everyone else just looked grey and uniform.

Shang had expected that he would meet extremely outstanding Mages before coming here, but the sheer level of this guy's Aura still surprised him since it was so much higher than everyone else Shang had come into contact with.

Well, except for the Starlight Queen, but Shang had only seen her for like a minute or so.

Just as Shang's Spirit Sense locked onto the Mage Lord, the Mage Lord's Spirit Sense looked back.

"Have you seen guys like us before?" the Mage Lord asked with a smile.

"No," Shang answered as he flew closer to the Mage Lord.

"Oh? Your reaction was quite subdued," the Mage Lord said with a bit of surprise. "I assumed you met someone like us before."

"I didn't," Shang answered.

Silence.

As the seconds of silence passed, the Mage Lord raised his eyebrow.

"You're the silent type?" he asked.

"I only talk when necessary," Shang answered.

The Mage Lord nodded. "Sure thing. There are a lot of people like you in my unit. You'll feel right at home," he said casually.

Usually, Shang would have asked the Mage Lord why he had accepted Shang this quickly, but after feeling the Mage Lord's Aura, Shang knew that such a question would be unnecessary.

If the Mage Lord had such an intense Aura, Shang probably also had one like that.

Additionally, the Mage Lord was probably responsible for many extremely talented Mages, which meant that he knew exactly how the Auras of these people felt like.

This meant that the Mage Lord could make an approximation of Shang's Battle-Strength based on his Aura.

Naturally, a unit or classroom filled with the greatest geniuses in the world also needed teachers that were geniuses. Because of that, it was very likely for this Mage Lord to have once been part of the unit he was now leading.

"What's the hierarchy of your unit?" Shang asked.

The man just chuckled. "We can talk on the way," the man said as he summoned a small plate of glass. "Hop on!"

Shang slowly landed on the plate of glass, and the two of them shot into the distance at ridiculous speeds.

By now, Shang was very good at estimating speeds, and the speed at which they were currently going was even shocking him.

At this speed, they would travel across a million kilometers in barely 20 minutes, which was insane!

The power of space was warping even Shang's Spirit Sense.

However, he still managed to see the Mage Lord just a couple of meters beside him…

Or, more specifically, the lightning bolt he had turned into.

At this moment, the Mage Lord had completely vanished, replaced by a big bolt of lightning, nearly three meters wide and 20 meters long.

"Is that an Empire Spell?" Shang asked.

"Yep," the young man's voice appeared in Shang's mind.

An Empire Spell was, as the name suggested, a Spell exclusive to one of the Empires. People that didn't directly work for the Empire wouldn't get any opportunity to learn this Spell, no matter how much money they paid.

"How come the researcher from earlier didn't use it?" Shang asked.

"Not everyone gets access to this one," the man said. "Force and Reconnaissance get it free of charge. Logistics has to pay for it. Research, Diplomacy, and Administration don't get access to it."

"I presume these are the different departments of the Lightning Manor?" Shang asked.

"Well," the Mage Lord said, "there's one more, but I can't tell you about that yet. We gotta get you initiated first."

Shang nodded. "What about the hierarchy of your department?"

"That again? Why do you care about the hierarchy so much?"

"It's important," Shang said.

The Mage Lord waited for elaboration, but Shang stayed silent.

The Mage Lord scratched his cheek in thought, which seemed quite strange, considering he was a lightning bolt right now.

"I can give you a rough description of every level's power. Would that be enough?"

"That would be enough," Shang said.

"Good," the Mage Lord added.

"At the bottom, we have the Sparks. They do not belong to any typical department of the Empire and are present in all of them. They are the Ancestral Mages we hired for miscellaneous things. You can view them as assistants, but don't randomly order them around like servants. They are people like everyone else, and they just want to make a living."

"Also, if you give excessive orders, they can report you to their superior, who will then question your social skills. That might sound harmless to you, but it's actually quite bad."

"We are an Empire. We are a group. Sure, we might not be family, but we are still one thing, and we need to act as one."

"I don't expect you to treat the Sparks like friends. I just expect you to treat them as you would treat any employee. Just normal and professional, you know?"

Shang just nodded.

"Good," the Mage Lord added. "Next, we have the Boltlings."

"The Boltlings are the talented Mages that haven't reached the Mage Lord Realm yet. They are quite talented, and they are being nurtured to one day become Mage Lords."

"Will I become a Boltling?" Shang asked.

"No," the Mage Lord said.

"The next level consists of two positions that have the same level of authority. They can give orders to people below them, but they can't give orders to each other."

"These two are the Bolts and the people of your group. I can't tell you the title yet."

"The Bolts are the normal Mage Lords. Every Bolt is responsible for an entire unit of Sparks. You can view them as the managers of the Lightning Manor."

"The people of your group have a special status. I will talk more about that later."

"The next level is the Thunders. A Thunder is a very powerful Mage Lord that is responsible for several Bolts. There are ten Thunders per department, and these ten Thunders basically run one of the Lightning Manor's seven departments."

"These ten Thunders are subject to one of our seven Mage Kings. The Mage Kings don't have any special titles. Just the fact that they are Mage Kings is already special enough."

"Officially, the seven Mage Kings have the same level of authority, but unofficially, the Mage King responsible for the Administration Department is in charge since he is the only one that is allowed to contact the Ancestor, the Lightning Emperor, and basically all of the Ancestor's orders come through his mouth."

"And that's about it," the Mage Lord said. "Did that answer your question?"

Shang nodded. "That's enough."

"Now, let me ask a question," the Mage Lord said. "Why did you ask about the hierarchy before asking about basically anything else? Like your new home, your new job, how powerful everyone else is, and so on?"

"Because I don't want some information that I have to fall into the wrong hands," Shang said.

If the Mage Lord had eyebrows right now, he would raise one of them. "Could you elaborate?"

"I don't want the information I have to get into the hands of someone working for another Empire," Shang said. "I want this information to only reach the ears of the Lightning Manor."

"Quite paranoid," the Mage Lord said.

Shang didn't answer.

"You know, a lot of new guys believe they have some huge secret that nobody has to know, but the truth is that the Lightning Manor is an Empire. As long as you don't have some secret treasure stored away that allows you to become a Mage King, the Lightning Manor doesn't really care," the Mage Lord said.

Shang remained silent for a second.

"What about the reason why there are so few Mage Kings?" Shang asked neutrally.

"What? The Mana Advancing Ritual?" the Mage Lord repeated with some amusement. "Sure, not everyone out there knows about it, but basically everyone inside the Lightning Manor knows. It's not really a secret."

"Is that what you tell the people?" Shang asked.

"Yeah, what else? It's the truth," the man said.

Shang remained silent for a while.

"What position are you?" Shang asked.

"My name is Lucin Sparkwraith, and I'm a Thunder."

 

 

Chapter 696-Secrets

It wasn't completely as Shang expected, but it had been one of the options.

A Thunder.

Someone that controlled 10% of one Department.

Someone that directly worked beneath a Mage King.

Shang knew that he couldn't possibly ask to meet a Mage King, which meant that a Thunder was his next best option.

"Is that enough for you?" Lucin asked with a slight chuckle.

Shang remained silent for a while.

Based on Lucin's Aura, Shang believed that Lucin truly was a Thunder.

Shang had seen a couple of people working for an Empire before, and none of them had even come close to the grandness of Lucin's Aura.

A Thunder was probably the very person that people on Shang's level were raised to be since there could only be one true King Contender.

"You are planning on accepting me into the Lightning Manor, correct?" Shang asked.

"Of course," Lucin said with a chuckle.

"Then, there's no reason to kill me, correct?" Shang asked.

"As long as you don't actively go against the Lightning Manor, no," Lucin confirmed. "You're quite paranoid. You must really think that your secret is extremely important," he added with some humor.

Shang took a deep breath.

It was difficult to make Shang nervous, but not impossible.

At the moment, Shang was readying himself to do something he hated.

He was about to put his trust in someone more powerful than him.

Shang wanted to get the best kind of nurturing possible from the Lightning Manor, and for that, he needed to unveil a lot of his secrets, especially the true extent of his power.

If he kept all of that secret, Shang would most likely get fewer resources than everyone else, just based on the fact that he was a warrior and not a Mage.

From what Shang had guessed, the Lightning Manor was probably only putting Shang into this Department for show.

He was more of an oddity to them.

They probably didn't expect Shang to ever reach the power of a Thunder in the future.

They would give him more resources than a Boltling, which was why they were putting Shang into Lucin's Unit, but they probably wouldn't grant him the full benefits that someone from Lucin's Unit would receive.

That was why Shang was essentially forced to hand his life over again.

"The Abominations have consumed so much Mana that only a limited number of Mage Kings can exist at a time," Shang said.

"Oh? Interesting theory. How did you come up with that one?" Lucin asked nonchalantly.

"Mage Kings live for 100,000 years, and there are about a hundred of them. Every thousand years, a tournament is being held amongst all the Empires to decide on who gets to become the next Mage King."

"The people taking part in this tournament are called King Contenders," Shang said.

Silence.

For the first time, Lucin didn't immediately answer.

"Who told you?" Lucin asked. His voice still sounded polite, but there was also something serious and sinister inside it.

"The same person that gave me the Star Map," Shang said.

Lucin remained silent for a while.

"Who else knows?" he asked.

"I told no one," Shang said.

"No one?" Lucin repeated.

"Yes."

"No one stronger than you?"

"No one."

"No one weaker than you?"

"No one."

"Did you tell anyone that is now dead?"

"I told no one."

Silence.

More silence.

"Do you understand now?" Shang asked. "That's why I was so careful."

Silence.

"It seems like we have to hold an internal investigation," Lucin said with a sigh. "Stuff like that isn't allowed to get out."

"I don't think it was anyone from the Lightning Manor," Shang said.

"Are you certain?" Lucin asked.

"He didn't seem like someone that would fit the Lightning Manor," Shang answered.

Silence.

"Alright," Lucin said. "I'm going to inform my superior. Such a leak isn't something minor. You were smart not to tell anyone."

"However," Lucin added, and Shang felt Lucin's Spirit Sense intensify. It was like Lucin was paying far more attention to Shang than before. "Such a secret doesn't feel like something you would just tell someone without reason."

"Sure, you know about this special thing, but that special thing won't increase your power or sway within the Lightning Manor. There is no gain with a lot of risk."

"So, might there be another secret that you want to tell me?" Lucin asked.

"Correct," Shang added. "I told you this secret so that you take me seriously. Additionally, the following things I say will put me under a lot of scrutiny, and if I kept something like this secret, it would appear suspicious."

"I've decided to go all-in with the Lightning Manor."

Silence.

"Okay," Lucin said after a while, "after knowing about something as sensitive as the King Contenders, you are basically forced to ride or die if you get my meaning."

"So, telling us more about yourself won't change your fate for the worse."

Shang nodded.

Then, he took a deep breath.

"How much do you know about the True Path Stage and Impose Stage?" he asked.

"I've received Mistra's report via voice transmission, and I read through it. So, yes, I know about them. She was also quite angry about your reluctance to tell her more, but in hindsight, that was the smart choice," Lucin said. "She asked me about what you said about the world, but she didn't take you very seriously. I just told her the same lie I told you earlier, and she believed it."

Shang nodded again. "A strong Path is the equivalent of a level one Concept. A True Path Stage warrior with a solid Path can fight a High Mage with a level one Concept. Do you agree?"

"Sounds about right," Lucin said. "Mistra said something very similar."

"Before I reached the True Path Stage, I comprehended four very powerful Paths," Shang said.

"Yep," Lucin added. "That's why you're in my unit. The requirement to get into my unit is to have a fourfold Spirit Sense. I think you can guess what that means."

Shang nodded. "When I was inside the True Path Stage, I was searching for a way to advance. The concept of a Fifth Stage of warriors didn't exist yet, and I had to come up with a way to get there."

"I found out about Imposes when I ate something that improved my perception for one of my four Paths. I theorized that I needed two things to create an Impose. My Mana needs to flow perfectly, and my technique has to be perfect."

"I've heard," Lucin said.

"But my problem was that I had four different Paths and that my fighting style was evolving. This meant that I needed to change my Mana Pathways."

"Huh, that was probably quite difficult since you had four different Paths," Lucin added.

Shang nodded. "I found a way. I simply created more Mana Pathways. I created separate Mana Pathways for nearly every attack. Near the end, it increased the number of my Mana Pathways by a magnitude."

"Is that where your Beast Core comes in?" Lucin asked.

"Correct," Shang said. "Due to the additional volume my Mana Pathways can hold, there wasn't enough pressure, which was why I needed a Beast Core. But there was a problem."

"Your Mana Pathways were too weak," Lucin said.

"Yes," Shang said, "but I found a way to deal with this."

"I used the small breakthroughs."

Silence.

"I would comprehend one Impose per small breakthrough, and I used the momentum of these Imposes to add more Mana into the walls of my Mana Pathways."

"That's a problem," Lucin said with a more serious voice.

Shang didn't say anything.

"You need momentum to get through the barrier between Realms. By using your Imposes on each minor breakthrough, you are using that momentum."

"Without comprehending something else at the Peak True Path Stage, you can't advance," Lucin said.

Shang remained silent for a while.

"I didn't know that."

"Wait, what?" Lucin suddenly asked. "How didn't you know?"

"I never planned on breaking through with just that," Shang said.

"I presume you also know about the World Connection?"

Silence.

"If a Path is a level one Concept, an Impose is a level two Concept. That would also make World Connection a level three Concept," Shang said.

"When I was around 310 years old, I finally managed to comprehend World Connection, and I broke through by using this."

"Right now, my Spirit Sense is 250 kilometers big."

Silence.

 

 

Chapter 697 - Difficult Decision

After some seconds, Lucin actually halted.

The huge lightning bolt vanished, revealing Lucin's body again.

At the moment, Lucin was looking at Shang with narrowed eyes, and his Aura felt very intense.

"I need to verify this," Lucin said with a serious tone.

Shang only nodded once.

A moment later, several pieces of metal appeared around Shang.

There were thousands of them, and they were scattered across Shang's entire Spirit Sense.

"Push every piece to the ground that you can see," Lucin ordered.

Shang did just that.

His Spirit Sense focused on all the pieces of metal he could see, and he pushed them toward the ground.

In a radius of 250 kilometers around Shang, all the levitating pieces of metal started to fall to the ground.

Lucin's Aura shook.

He was a Thunder, the second highest class of Mage Lords in existence, just one spot behind the true King Contenders.

Fooling him was incredibly difficult.

And that was exactly why he was so shocked.

Shang's powers seemed to be genuine, and he couldn't see any falsehood.

That meant that he either wasn't lying or getting help from a Mage King from another Empire.

Both things would be extremely shocking.

"How many people know of this?" Lucin asked.

"The Temple of Blood thinks that I have a Spirit Sense with a size of 150 or 200 kilometers. I didn't tell them the truth since I didn't want to die."

"Having another powerful Mage Lord joining one of your enemies might be annoying, but having a Mage King joining one of your enemies is devastating," Shang explained. "If my Spirit Sense is only 200 kilometers big, the Empires would want to recruit me. If it is 250 kilometers big, they might decide to kill me."

Lucin furrowed his brows and scratched his chin as he evaluated Shang's words.

"Why are you telling me something like this? Do you not fear that the Lightning Manor might get rid of you?" Lucin asked.

"There is always a chance," Shang answered. "However, I have a foot in the door with the Lightning Manor."

"Nobody else knows about all of this."

"The Lightning Manor has already paid a lot of money for me."

"I still have the way to reach the Seventh Realm for warriors in my mind."

"I am already in your territory."

"And I was honest."

"If I had to tell someone, I would choose this moment."

Lucin nodded slowly. He could see where Shang was coming from.

But it was still very difficult to believe all of this.

He was a warrior!

The warriors had just started appearing on the Lightning Manor's radar maybe 500 years ago, and now, they had already produced a genuine King Contender.

One had to know that Lucin had worked for the Lightning Manor for well over 10,000 years.

500 years was nothing compared to that.

"And why are you taking this risk of telling us?" Lucin asked. "We would have never found out if you didn't tell us since we would have never even expected something like this to be possible. After all, warriors are still new."

"Because of my goal," Shang said.

"Which is?"

"Becoming the strongest," Shang said.

"Becoming the strongest?" Lucin asked.

"Correct," Shang said.

Lucin looked at Shang for a while without saying anything.

Lucin wouldn't take anyone seriously if they said something like that. After all, people that said that didn't know the weight of what they were saying.

However, Shang apparently had the power of a King Contender.

He was already amongst the absolute strongest of his Realm.

When he said that, it wasn't completely unrealistic.

Lucin remained silent for several seconds.

It was obvious that he was evaluating something.

Having a potential King Contender join the Lightning Manor would have been an amazing incident.

There was one tournament every 1,000 years, and there were not always Mage Lords present with a fivefold Spirit Sense.

So, someone with a fivefold Spirit Sense would almost certainly reach the Mage King Realm in the future, assuming that their Battle-Strength didn't regress.

But this was a warrior.

It was one thing to have warriors of the Seventh Realm, but something completely different when they were in the Eighth Realm.

Someone at the Eighth Realm was just one step away from the Emperors.

Assuming Shang actually managed to win the entire tournament, would the Empires allow a Warrior King to be born?

As a Thunder, Lucin had a huge amount of responsibility. A Thunder had, on average, 100 Mage Lords under them, who would have even more Ancestral Mages under them.

Yet, the more Lucin thought about it, the more he felt like this entire thing was too big for him.

It was his responsibility to manage the training of all these extremely talented people, but when it came to Shang, he had no idea what he should decide on.

Nurture him?

And what if Shang won the tournament? Then, the Empires would either need to crown a Warrior King or kill the victor of their tournament.

Kill him?

Then, another Empire might receive another Mage King, putting more pressure on them. Even more, the Lightning Manor's philosophy wasn't shady. Their philosophy was cooperation, justice, and power. The word power was third, not first.

Killing a powerful Impose Stage warrior just because of their talent would severely conflict with the Lightning Manor's philosophy.

Accept Shang but not give him enough resources to win the tournament in the future?

That would be a huge waste, and they would also ruin their cooperation with him. Sure, he couldn't reach the Eighth Realm without them, but who knew? Maybe he could damage the Lightning Manor in another way? Such geniuses always had special ways of dealing with bad situations.

After a while of evaluating all his options, Lucin nodded.

He transformed back into a lightning bolt, and the two of them flew into the distance.

However, Shang noticed that their trajectory had changed.

Earlier, they had been flying straight toward the north.

Now, they were flying towards the northwest.

"It's funny," Lucin said. "Earlier, I was making fun of your paranoia regarding your secret."

"But now, because of your secret, I have to consult my superior."

"Your fate will be up to her."

 

Chapter 698 - Lightning Manor

Shang had already expected something like this.

This was essentially the best-case scenario for him.

Lucin could have just killed him.

Lucin could have also just said that they would support him, but that would be worse than him asking his superior.

How was it worse?

Because the actual rise of a Warrior King would definitely need the approval of at least several Mage Kings, if not one of the Mage Emperors.

Lucin would have obviously known that.

So, the only reason why he wouldn't have asked his superior would be that he was certain that Shang would never become so powerful.

Which would be a bad thing for Shang.

Luckily, he decided to ask his superior.

This meant that Shang's chances were genuine.

The two of them continued traveling for nearly an hour, which was quite surprising to Shang.

By now, they had probably traveled across over half of the Lightning Manor's territories.

They had probably traveled for over four million kilometers in total, which was insane.

The further north they got, the colder everything became.

The general climate had always been the same to Shang, just temperate, but that wasn't because all of Aterium was like that.

It was just that Shang had barely moved enough to notice a change in the climate. He had always stayed in the southern parts of the northern third of the world.

Now, they were entering the northern parts of the northern third of the world.

The short instances Shang managed to glimpse at his surroundings showed him a completely different world from what he was used to.

Everything was extremely cold. There was ice and snow wherever he looked, and the number of Ice Affinity beasts also shot up.

However, that was only on the ground.

The sky had darkened considerably, and it only became darker the further north they traveled.

The sky was completely covered by black clouds, which were constantly crackling with explosions of lightning.

While there were plenty of Ice Affinity beasts on the ground, there were even more Lightning Affinity beasts in the skies.

Even more, the Lightning Affinity beasts felt much more dangerous and powerful to Shang than the Ice Affinity beasts.

It was almost like the Ice Affinity beasts were the prey of the Lightning Affinity beasts in the sky.

After a while, the two of them began to fly higher and higher.

They broke through the gigantic clouds, after which Shang's Spirit Sense didn't work correctly anymore.

The power of all the lightning in the clouds had reached monumental levels.

Shang guessed that a stray bolt could probably turn an Ancestral Beast into ashes.

"Only Mage Lords and people escorted by them can pass through the Lightning Sea," Lucin told Shang. "Everyone else turns to dust."

The Lightning Sea was thousands of kilometers thick, and the two of them were still ascending.

Shang had never been so high up before.

"It is said that the Lightning Sea exists because of the Ancestor," Lucin said.

Shang was inclined to believe Lucin.

The winds close to the Storm Eagle had been powerful enough to severely injure Commander Stage beasts and maybe even kill them. Only True Path Stage beasts had been able to come close.

The levels of power here would be similar, just scaled up massively.

Eventually, the two of them completely broke past the impossibly thick layer of clouds.

Shang's Spirit Sense began to work again, and he could finally see the world again.

The sky above Shang was cloudless and black.

At least, he assumed it was black.

Sadly, Shang couldn't perceive the stars with his Spirit Sense. So, he didn't know if there were any.

Below Shang, there was just an infinite cacophony of nothing but destruction.

The power of the lightning was absurd.

And then, there was one other thing.

A humongous purple castle was sitting on top of the destructive Lightning Sea.

Surprisingly, Shang couldn't feel any living being in the castle.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Lucin asked.

Shang could only nod.

"We use Magic Circles to isolate the Spirit Sense of everyone. It's hard to work when everyone is looking at everyone else all the time. Because of that, walls and doors block Spirit Senses in the castle," Lucin explained.

"Is this the Lightning Manor?" Shang asked.

"Correct," Lucin said. "The Lightning Manor is the name of the Empire, but it also refers to this castle right here."

"This is the Lightning Manor, the place where the Ancestor and the seven Mage Kings reside. Naturally, there are also quite some Mage Lords. Most of the Thunders run their Departments from here, and there are also a couple of Bolts that do the busywork of the Thunders."

"Additionally, since almost all of the Force Department and most of the Reconnaissance Department don't have much to do, they also stay here most of the time."

While Lucin explained everything, the two of them touched down at the grand entrance of the Lightning Manor.

"Only the Kings are allowed to fly in here, so we have to walk," Lucin said as he stepped forward.

Funnily enough, even though Lucin said walk, he was actually moving at nearly a kilometer per second. Every step he was taking just seemed to shrink the space between him and his destination.

Naturally, Shang didn't have any problems keeping up. He might not be nearly as powerful as Lucin, but his body was still extremely powerful.

The two of them stepped past the huge gate and entered.

There were several huge purple flags hanging on the walls, and the interior of the castle looked expensive but simple. Instead of filling every free space with decorations, the Lightning Manor preferred a minimalistic approach.

When Shang stepped past the gates, his Spirit Sense expanded forward, filling the entire network of hallways like water.

Nearly all the doors leading into rooms were closed, which blocked Shang's Spirit Sense.

As soon as Shang's Spirit Sense filled the hallway, he felt nearly 20 extremely powerful Spirit Senses look at him.

These were the Spirit Senses of some random people that were just walking through the hallway.

Yet, every random person in here was a powerful Mage Lord, at least.

Shang was very good at estimating someone's power by looking at them with his Spirit Sense, but there wasn't a single person in here whose power he could estimate.

They all felt as powerful as the Temple of Blood's Territory Lord to Shang, if not more powerful.

Naturally, the Mage Lords were also interested in Shang.

Why was someone with the mind of a Peak High Mage here?

It was exceedingly unusual to have anyone weaker than a Mage Lord here.

But the Mage Lords didn't bother Shang. They just sent him a couple of curious glances.

Nevertheless, getting inspected by around 20 Spirit Senses with such power was still quite intimidating.

"I'm working under Queen Primordium," Lucin said. "She's responsible for the Reinforcement Department. My Contender Department is part of the Reinforcement Department, which means I also fall under her supervision."

Shang wasn't surprised that Lucin was suddenly telling him the things he wasn't allowed to learn earlier.

Shang was already inside the Lightning Manor itself.

He would either join or die.

There was no more reason to keep these things secret.

"Queen Primordium is amongst the twenty most powerful Mage Kings in the world, and she might even reach the top ten. So, you should know that she is very outstanding, even amongst the already outstanding Mage Kings," Lucin said.

"What about the Starlight Queen?" Shang asked.

"The Starlight Queen has once stated that she is the fifth most powerful Mage King in the Lightning Manor. So, if we expand this to every Empire, she would probably be in the fifties," Lucin explained.

"Is Queen Primordium the strongest Mage King of the Lightning Manor?" Shang asked.

"No," Lucin answered. "The Custodian, the Mage King of the Administration Department, is the strongest. He's not the strongest Mage King in the world, but he's very close. I'm not entirely sure, but he should be somewhere within the top five."

"Who's the strongest Mage King in the world?" Shang asked.

Shang usually didn't talk much, but he couldn't help himself right now.

He wanted to know who the strongest people in the world were, aside from the Mage Emperors.

Lucin sighed.

"You know, if the Custodian had been born earlier or later, he might have been the most powerful Mage King. Sadly, there is a Mage King currently alive whose power is not normal, even for Mage Kings."

"In fact, he is so powerful that the Emperors had even stated that he might have been able to fight the Mage God back when he had still been a Mage King, but the Emperors are divided in that opinion."

"His title is King Sanctified Death, and there might be a chance that the Emperors will allow him to become an Emperor."

 

 

Chapter 699 - Queen Primordium

King Sanctified Death.

Shang remembered that the God had once said that there was one Mage King that actually had a foundation that supported Godhood.

Shang was quite certain that the God had referred to King Sanctified Death.

Shang also knew what it meant when Lucin had said that the Emperors were debating about letting King Sanctified Death become an Emperor.

The number of Mage Kings already needed to be kept limited, and that was also true for Mage Emperors.

The world had ten Mage Emperors, and the world probably couldn't support an eleventh Mage Emperor.

So, when they were talking about letting King Sanctified Death become an Emperor…

They were considering killing off one of the current Emperors. After all, as far as Shang knew, Mage Emperors could live forever. They wouldn't just randomly die.

"Let's continue," Lucin said, motioning for Shang to follow him.

Lucin continued down the hallway with Shang.

They walked through a couple of different hallways, and they eventually reached a place where no one else was walking around.

The hallways didn't seem any different from all the other ones, but for some reason, Shang felt like they were different.

"This is where the Mage Kings live," Lucin explained. "There is no particular rule that forbids going to a Mage King's room and knocking on their door, but people don't need a rule for that. Common sense is already enough."

Shang knew what Lucin meant. In some huge companies with thousands of employees, there also weren't rules against knocking at the door to the CEO's office, but people still avoided doing that for obvious reasons.

The same thing was true here.

This hallway had far fewer doors than all the other ones, which meant that the rooms behind the doors were much larger than any room anywhere else.

As Shang walked through the hallway, he felt some strange feelings of grandeur.

Behind each of these doors was a Mage King, one of the 100 strongest beings in the world.

He could knock on any of the doors, and he would come face to face with one of the strongest beings in the world.

It was a surreal feeling.

After walking for a bit, the two of them stopped in front of a seemingly random door.

"This is Queen Primordium's door. Don't ever come here on your own, understood?" Lucin ordered with a serious voice.

Shang wordlessly nodded.

"Good," Lucin said.

Then, Lucin spoke some kind of complex Spell and lightly touched the door.

"Now, we have to wait," Lucin said. "The Mage Kings are very busy, and interrupting them can cost us a lot of money. Because of that, we use this Spell to very subtly make it known that we are here. It might take several weeks for her to open-"

Creeaak!

Shang heard the door in front of him open.

As soon as the door opened, Shang's Spirit Sense flooded into the room, but it didn't get very far.

It was like the world ended just a couple of centimeters behind the door.

It was like there simply was no more space, gravity, or time behind the door.

It was like the room behind the door just didn't exist.

And Shang also didn't see anyone open the door. The door had seemingly opened on its own.

"My Queen," Lucin spoke politely as he performed a quick but respectful bow.

"What do you have to report?"

Shang heard an emotionless, beautiful, but also strict voice coming from the door.

The speaker wasn't aggressive or annoyed in any way. Her tone had a distinct feeling of routine to it.

Sadly, Shang's Spirit Sense couldn't see Queen Primordium.

She was probably visible to normal eyes, but Shang didn't have those.

"My Queen, this is Shang Sword, the warrior that is about to join the Contender Department," Lucin said, gesturing at Shang.

Shang didn't feel anything change.

"Yes?" Queen Primordium asked, obviously expecting more than that.

"He has a fivefold Spirit Sense," Lucin said.

"Really now?" Queen Primordium asked with a slight bit of surprise.

Shang didn't feel anything change in the surroundings, but he could guess that Queen Primordium was probably looking at him right now.

"You are Shang Sword, correct?"

"Yes," Shang answered.

"You have a fivefold Spirit Sense?"

"I am at the Peak Fifth Realm, and my Spirit Sense has a radius of 250 kilometers. That should be a fivefold Spirit Sense," Shang answered.

Three seconds of silence passed.

"Who would have expected that the next True Contender would be a non-Mage," Queen Primordium mused. "How did you achieve such a level?"

Shang answered Queen Primordium's question and explained to her how he had comprehended World Connection at the True Path Stage.

"How peculiar," Queen Primordium commented after Shang was done. "Your words resonate with the world, which means that you speak the truth. Without the ability to feel the world's resonance, I might not have believed you."

Queen Primordium's words gave Shang a valuable piece of information.

He had expected that someone as powerful as a Mage King probably knew of several ways to find out if someone was lying or not, but Shang had never known how they would find out the truth.

"Tell me," Queen Primordium added, "Who has been your backer? Who has given you resources?"

Shang told her about his position as a plus one for an Assistant Supervisor in Area 23 and how he had been able to essentially plunder Area 23.

Then, Shang told her that he had to leave Area 23 because of a fallout with the Assistant Supervisor he was working with and that he had killed him.

Obviously, neither Lucin nor Queen Primordium cared.

Shang could kill 50 Assistant Supervisors, and the Lightning Manor would only tell him in an annoyed tone to avoid doing that again.

After Shang told Queen Primordium about what he had used to comprehend World Connection, she hummed for a bit.

"That is very little," she commented. "Explain to me in detail how you trained after comprehending your four Imposes and before you comprehended World Connection."

Shang did just that.

He never took even a single break.

He always gave his all.

He fought many powerful beasts.

He risked his life several times.

Queen Primordium asked for an even more detailed account, and Shang went into even more detail.

By the end, Shang had been talking for over two hours, just explaining how he trained.

Shang couldn't see Queen Primordium's reaction, but he could see Lucin's reaction.

Lucin's jaw was strained in discomfort, and his lips were pressed together.

When one heard someone say that they never took a break, one wouldn't be surprised.

A lot of people said that.

However, this was the first time when someone was being actually literal in the meaning.

Shang hadn't taken any time to rest.

No time for friends.

No time for himself.

No time for family.

No time for hobbies.

Even a machine or a Magic Circle would break down or cut out from time to time, but that wasn't true for Shang.

He literally never took a single break.

Lucin couldn't be sure what he should think about that.

Shang was extremely powerful, but he had also sacrificed more than literally everyone else.

That was when Lucin realized what kind of person Shang was.

He was a person of extremes.

With him, it was always either 0 or 100.

There was nothing between those two numbers.

"I understand," Queen Primordium said. "I have an unrelated question."

"Why do you not regrow your eyes?"

 

 

Chapter 700 - Soul

Lucin also looked at Shang after Queen Primordium asked that question.

He was also interested in the answer, but he wanted to wait with the question until they were more familiar with each other.

"I can't," Shang answered.

"Curious," Queen Primordium added, "why not?"

"The power of the Abominations took it from me," Shang said.

Shang tried his best not to let it show, but he was extremely nervous right now.

This was the most dangerous moment.

"I've heard of that," Queen Primordium said. "Don't resist. I need to confirm something."

Then, Shang felt a smooth finger touch the side of his head.

Shang did his absolute best not to act suspicious, and he didn't resist.

He trusted in the Lightning Manor's philosophy that the mind of every individual was a sacred place that wasn't allowed to be looked into or manipulated.

As long as she didn't read his mind, everything should be fine.

Lucius, the Mage Emperor, had told Shang that his Spell, Humanity, couldn't even be seen by an Emperor.

After some seconds, the finger retreated from Shang's head.

"Indeed, your soul has been altered in more ways than one," she said.

"Could you please explain?" Shang asked. "I would also like to know more about this."

At this moment, Shang felt a mountain of relief.

"There are two things wrong with your soul, and one of them is more troublesome to solve than the other," she said.

'Two things?' Shang thought in confusion.

Sure, he had two eyes, but that would only be counted as one thing.

"When the Abominations blow up, they are using a very peculiar ability. They are using their own essence to fuse with the Mana in the world. The two forces cancel each other out and transform into pure destruction. This is how the Abominations are able to threaten beings several levels above them."

"If you come into contact with the explosion, you will be blown apart. However, if you come into contact with the essence of the Abominations, you will not be blown up but used as fuel."

"In some cases, that can be worse than being blown up."

"How so?" Shang asked.

"Injuring someone's soul is difficult since it resides in a different space than the one everyone resides in. Don't try to fully grasp this concept just yet. It is very complicated, even for someone like me."

Shang wordlessly nodded.

"For now, just imagine that your soul exists in a parallel reality that overlaps our own. Imagine your soul as a cloud and your body as an anchor."

"If the anchor gets damaged, the cloud can repair it."

"If the anchor gets completely destroyed, the cloud will float away and disperse. That is death."

"However, nothing can touch the cloud. It is virtually invulnerable."

"When an Abomination explodes, it also just destroys the anchor."

"However, if an Abomination wants to explode, it pulls in all kinds of Mana around it, including Space, Time, Gravity, and the very Concepts that dictate life itself, Life Mana."

"Your soul is made of Life Mana, and Life Mana can't be touched easily."

"But Life Mana is also Mana."

"When an Abomination extends its essence to fuse with Mana, it does so on a fundamental level, which includes all forms of Mana, including Life Mana."

"Life Mana dictates the very concept of existence. If you lose Life Mana, your concept of existence gets altered."

"In your case, the part of your soul that represents your eyes no longer exists. In a sense, this couldn't even be called an injury since there is nothing to heal."

"You are you. You are complete. Having eyes would be just as abnormal for you as for another human to have wings growing out of their back."

"Do you understand?" Queen Primordium asked.

Shang nodded. "Thank you."

"As for your other problem," Queen Primordium continued. "The part of your soul that is responsible for the priority connection between your soul-center and your soul-core has been altered, but compared to your eyes, this problem can be fixed."

"I don't understand," Shang said.

"It means that it is very difficult for your body to transfer Mana to your mind to strengthen it," Queen Primordium explained.

Shang became nervous again, but this time for different reasons.

"You can get rid of my warrior's body?" Shang asked.

"Not me personally, no," she said. "To fix this change, you need someone that knows the level two Concept of Life, Change. I only know the level one Concept."

"The Custodian might be able to help you," she said.

Shang took a deep breath. "How would that alter my body?"

"I am uncertain," Queen Primordium said. "You would need to speak to the Custodian."

"Is there a way for me to meet him?" Shang asked.

"You will meet him in a couple of seconds," Queen Primordium said.

Shang became surprised, and Lucin also looked at Queen Primordium in shock.

"I have verified that you truly have a fivefold Spirit Sense, but your identity as a warrior is troublesome," she explained. "It is within my authority to support you until you become powerful enough to join the tournament. I could do that without any issues."

"However, if you actually manage to win, my authority won't be enough to secure the spot of King. That is up to the Emperors."

"My duty is to strengthen the younger generation and give them the best chance at winning the grand tournament, but it is also my duty to make sure that the resources we give to the new generation actually find use and don't get wasted."

"Investing resources befit of a King Contender into someone that can't become a King, no matter how powerful they become, would be a waste of these resources."

"That's why we have to resolve this issue first, and I can't solve it."

"Lucin, you remain here. I am going to take him to the Custodian."

"Yes, my Queen," Lucin said with a respectful tone.

"Follow me," Queen Primordium told Shang.

Shang felt the wall of nothing walk out of the door that represented the edge of the world and move towards the left.

Shang simply followed the wall of nothingness as they left Lucin behind.

They didn't say anything on their way and arrived in front of a smaller door beside a big gate.

Queen Primordium politely knocked on the door, and a couple of seconds later, the doors opened.

This time, Shang could see who he was talking to.

He looked like an adult man with grey hair, and he wore a very clean suit, surprisingly.

He almost looked like a butler to Shang.

"Nice to see you, Vana," Wester, the Custodian, spoke politely.

Naturally, Wester also threw an interested glance at Shang.