Ch. 701..710

Chapter 701 - Rambling

"It's nice to see you as well, Wester," Queen Primordium answered.

"I presume you're here because of our young friend here?" Wester asked. "I think I already know why you're here."

"How will we proceed?" Queen Primordium asked.

Wester turned to Shang and looked at him while he scratched his chin in thought. "You have a fivefold Spirit Sense, right?"

Shang nodded.

"You're not a Mage, right?" Wester asked.

Shang nodded again.

Wester absentmindedly nodded a couple of times as he fell into thought.

"Difficult," Wester said. "We don't really think about the supremacy of Mages in our everyday life. Everyone that we know is already a Mage."

"Only when there is actual contrast can we take note of the difference."

"I'm no different," Wester added. "I haven't even entertained the possibility that a warrior might become powerful enough to rival King Contenders. That possibility just seems so far in the future."

Wester remained silent for a couple of seconds.

Queen Primordium and Shang didn't say anything.

"Past, present, and future," Wester said. "In the past, Mages were antagonistic to warriors. In the present, Mages are interested in raising warriors."

"The future is still uncertain."

"Will the past be repeated, or will there be cooperation?"

Wester stayed silent for a while again.

"The past dictates the future, but the past isn't always correct. Regret is a word, and if the past were always correct, regret wouldn't exist."

"We are people of the present, not of the past."

"These decisions can only be made by the people of the past," Wester said.

"Then, this means…" Queen Primordium slowly said.

Wester nodded. "I must ask the Ancestor."

A bit of Shang's nervousness returned.

The Lightning Emperor.

Lucius had said that not even an Emperor could see through Humanity, but there were many things an Emperor could do. Maybe there were other ways to find out about Shang's Affinity.

"You two wait here," Wester said before leaving his room and walking over to the bigger door beside his own.

Right now, Shang wasn't sure if he wanted to meet the Lightning Emperor or not.

The closer he got to him, the more dangerous it would be, but Shang also didn't want to be left in the dark.

Shang wanted to ask the Custodian about his warrior's body, but he decided that this was a topic better left for later.

For now, it was important to see whether Shang would survive or not.

Sure enough, the unveiling of Shang's true power had created monumental waves, and the news would even reach the Lightning Emperor, one of the ten strongest beings in the world.

Meanwhile, Wester was walking through the long corridor and stopped in front of a simple door.

As always, he politely knocked and entered a moment later.

"Hello, Wester," an old man sitting behind a desk said in a friendly voice. At the moment, the Lightning Emperor was reading through a book while correcting some things.

"Good evening, sir," Wester said as he entered the office.

"Did we find them?" the Lightning Emperor asked.

"Sadly, no, sir," Wester answered.

The Lightning Emperor released a long sigh. "And here I was hoping that I would finally have something positive to report to the others."

"Ever since the Fifth Realm Abominations started appearing, the others have been complaining more and more. You know, in the beginning, they actually didn't care as much. Sure, they were complaining a bit, but that was more for show."

"But as soon as their towns and cities start to disappear, they suddenly complain. You know, I've tried to get their help for a long time, but they always said that they were too busy."

"And now, suddenly, everyone is offering their help to find the Child of Calamity. Honestly, if they had offered their help earlier, we might have found the Child of Calamity by now."

"But now…" the Lightning Emperor said before he released another sigh. "Let's face it. Several centuries have passed, and the Child of Calamity must have found out about their status. Even more, they probably even found a way to hide."

Wester remained silent. The Lightning Emperor wasn't a fan of having a big social circle, and Wester was basically the only being below the Mage Emperor Realm that he talked to.

Of course, that also meant that the Lightning Emperor didn't have many people to vent his frustrations to.

Wester was used to listening to the Lightning Emperor's complaining.

"You know," the Lightning Emperor continued, "we could have probably found them in the first couple of years, but since we only have access to a couple of Mage Lords to scour the entire world, we couldn't have searched as effectively as was necessary."

"If the others had just agreed to search through their own territories, things wouldn't be like this."

"Now, everyone's willing to help. It took how many million deaths?"

"Around 80, sir," Wester said.

"Huh?" the Lightning Emperor uttered in confusion.

"80 million deaths, sir," Wester said. "At least, those are the number of deaths in our territory."

The Lightning Emperor blinked a couple of times in surprise. "Only?"

Wester nodded. "Kiran reacted very efficiently and effectively to the changing parameters."

"Well, that's good to hear," the Lightning Emperor said with positive surprise. "Adam and Kali recently told me how many they lost. They lost over 700 million. I anticipated that we would be at something like 300 million."

"80 million, huh. Seems like Kiran has done excellent work," the Lightning Emperor praised.

"Anyway, we should really get onto finding the Child of Calamity. I think the next course of action would be to make every Archmage outside our forces undertake a bloodline test. Give them a Grade Five Mana Crystal for their troubles," the Lightning Emperor nodded.

"Yes, sir," Wester said.

Silence.

After around ten seconds, the Lightning Emperor looked away from his book and looked at Wester with furrowed brows.

Having Wester standing there in silence and looking at him made the Lightning Emperor feel uncomfortable.

"Do you need anything else, Wester?" he asked carefully.

"Sir, I'm not here because of the Child of Calamity," Wester said.

The Lightning Emperor blinked a couple of times in surprise. "But then why-"

Silence.

"Oh, I did it again, didn't I?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," Wester answered.

The Lightning Emperor sighed. "I told you that you could just interrupt and tell me when I do that."

"I know, sir," Wester said, "but I do enjoy listening to your complaints."

The Lightning Emperor laughed a bit in discomfort. "Alright, as long as you know."

"Anyway, what brings you here then, Wester?"

 

 

Chapter 702 - Calamity

"Sir, do you remember the negotiations regarding the warriors?" Wester asked.

"The ones that are happening right now?" the Lightning Emperor asked.

"They ended a couple of years ago," Wester corrected.

"Huh, already? That's fast."

"Sir, we negotiated for 20 years," Wester commented.

"Oh, that much? I guess time flies when you're having fun," the Lightning Emperor added.

"The negotiations have been finished, and we have received the warriors today. There was also the warrior amongst them that effectively created all the other warriors in the Twilight Dusk Family's territories."

"Wait, you're not telling me that he died, right?" the Lightning Emperor asked.

"No, sir, he didn't die," Wester answered without any annoyance audible in his voice. "In fact, he is standing near the throne room right now."

The Lightning Emperor blinked a couple of times in surprise. Then, he looked at the throne room and directly at Shang.

Shang didn't feel any of this.

"Oh, wow," the Lightning Emperor said in surprise. "Yes, I can see why you're here now."

"Goodness, that's faster than I expected. Did I accidentally get distracted for 10,000 years again?"

"No, sir, you didn't," Wester calmly answered.

"I wonder how he managed to get a fivefold Spirit Sense without another Empire helping them. That seems almost impossible. Say, Wester, did we have a hand in that?" the Lightning Emperor said.

"He was already like that when he got here, sir," Wester answered. "I can ask him about how he managed to do that."

"No," the Lightning Emperor said with a voice that hid a bit of excitement. "I hadn't had the chance to use this Spell in a long time. Let me have some fun."

"Of course, sir," Wester answered.

Then, the Lightning Emperor closed his eyes, and his mouth very slowly recited complex words.

Nothing seemed to change, but Wester could tell that reality around them was warping.

Small and slow waves extended from the Lightning Emperor's library and extended toward Shang.

Shang didn't notice any of this.

The waves slowly seemed to surround Shang, and a moment later, they traveled back to the Lightning Emperor.

But this time, the waves had different forms and different colors than before.

The majority of waves were either black or white, but there were also very few blue and red waves.

After some seconds, all the waves vanished, and the Lightning Emperor opened his eyes.

Then, the Lightning Emperor frowned.

He put his book away and put his hand on his chin with a troubled expression.

Wester's expression didn't change, but deep inside, he was quite surprised.

There were very few things that could motivate the Lightning Emperor to actually take things seriously. Most of the time, he was very lazy and joked around.

It was rare to see him this serious.

The Lightning Emperor remained silent for several seconds.

"Difficult," he said.

"What do you mean, sir?" Wester asked.

"His personality is nearly unique," the Lightning Emperor said. "He is almost as apathetic as a cold piece of steel, but he is also the most motivated person I have ever seen."

This surprised Wester quite a bit. The Lightning Emperor was over 300,000 years old, and he had seen a lot of people.

Yet, this warrior in the throne room was the most motivated person the Lightning Emperor had ever seen?

"Does that include the Mage God?" Wester asked.

"Naturally," the Lightning Emperor nodded. "Lucius might have been very hardworking, but he also enjoyed talking to his companions."

"This warrior, on the other hand, has zero interest in anything else. Power is the only thing that interests him in any way."

"For what?" Wester asked.

"For power," the Lightning Emperor answered. "Power for power's sake, an empty goal. He is living for walking the path."

"Someone like that does not know loyalty, humanity, happiness, or empathy. If he gets a chance to increase his power in exchange for betraying everyone he considers connected to him, he will do so."

"Assuming he wins the grand tournament and becomes the first Warrior King in 300,000 years, he won't just stop."

"He will continue refining his power, and he will do everything in his power to become a Warrior Emperor."

"If necessary, he will sacrifice the entire world and kill every living being."

The Lightning Emperor took a deep breath. "If he survives, he will one day bring a calamity unto Aterium. In a way, you could also give him the title of Child of Calamity, but for a different reason."

"If we nurture him, he will end up endangering the entire world."

Silence.

"That sounds familiar," Wester said.

The Lightning Emperor nodded with a frown. "Yes, he's almost just like that kid."

"That explains how he became so strong without backing," Wester said.

Silence.

"How will we proceed?" Wester asked after some seconds.

"Under normal circumstances, I would order his execution immediately," the Lightning Emperor said. "Helping him is akin to inviting an Abomination into our home."

"But there are three things that make me hesitate."

"First, I said that he is nearly as cold as a piece of metal, the important word being almost."

"Buried very deep inside is someone crying in pain, loneliness, and regret. Deep inside, he knows that what he is doing is not good for him or others."

"However, that part of him has been suppressed to such an intense degree that it is almost impossible to even touch that suppressed core."

"But there is a chance. If a miracle occurs, he could change into effectively another person."

"He is like this because a mountain of pain is suppressing him. He can't escape or face it, which is why he can only ignore it."

"If we can somehow make him face the mountain, he might change into someone else."

"Someone that values friendship, loyalty, and honesty."

"In that sense, he is different from that kid. That kid can't have these feelings, while this warrior can have them but refuses to have them."

"The second reason for my hesitation is also precisely that kid," the Lightning Emperor added. "The others are still talking about that kid, and if things keep proceeding like this, he will become an Emperor eventually."

"He will most likely become the strongest Emperor, and the entire world will be under his rule."

"I fear that no one can fight him. Us Emperors are old, and we rose at a time when all the spots for Emperors were essentially up for grabs. None of us are on his level because we are not willing to sacrifice everything for power."

"But this warrior might be."

"Of course, this is just a tiny hope."

Silence.

"And the last part?" Wester asked.

The Lightning Emperor looked at Shang.

"He reminds me of Lucius."

 

Chapter 703 - Destiny

Wester raised an eyebrow when he heard that.

"The Mage God?" he asked with uncertainty.

The Lightning Emperor nodded. "In a way, he feels like an alternate version of Lucius. Lucius was a kind person that hid a dark core of desire and hunger. Nearly all the time, he was a pleasant fellow that elicited goodwill from everyone."

"Yet, on some very rare occasions, he also lost his cool, and when that happened, he very often forgot what was right or wrong."

"Naturally, after he calmed down, he became ashamed and tried to rectify his deeds as much as possible. He genuinely regretted some of his actions."

"But this warrior is the opposite," the Lightning Emperor said as he rubbed his small beard.

"He seems like someone that exclusively does selfish things and never does anything else."

"Yet, who knows? Maybe, from time to time, he also does something good without realizing it. It might be on accident, but in a certain sense, there are no real accidents."

"If you make a decision, something inside you wants to make that decision. You might believe that you have done something you didn't want on accident, but in the end, you wouldn't have chosen what you have if there weren't a small part of you that wanted to make that choice."

The Lightning Emperor remained silent for a couple of seconds.

"What are your orders, sir?" Wester asked.

The Lightning Emperor remained silent.

Then, some seconds later, he sighed. "I don't know."

"You know, when I'm uncertain about someone, I tend to look into their eyes, but…"

Wester didn't answer.

"Speaking of, why doesn't he have eyes?" the Lightning Emperor asked.

"I didn't ask," Wester said.

"Well, it doesn't matter anyway," the Lightning Emperor said. "Some people have very weird ways when it concerns training. For example, Mirana refused to come out during the day, and she also refused to look outside during the day. She wanted to keep her senses for Darkness Mana as sharp as possible."

"Even more, Adam consumed parts of his own body to analyze the feeling of his own body to comprehend the Life Concepts."

"And Kali even willingly entered a coma for over 5,000 years when she became a Mage Lord to feel the effects of brushing past death."

"I wouldn't be surprised if that warrior decided to cut out his eyes for some arbitrary reason."

"Actually, did you know that-"

"Sir," Wester interjected. "You're getting sidetracked."

The Lightning Emperor blinked a couple of times in surprise. "Oh, yeah, right."

Then, he frowned again and scratched his chin in thought.

"What to do… what to do…"

After some seconds, the Lightning Emperor leaned back in his chair with an uncertain expression.

"What would the other Emperors do?" Wester suddenly asked.

"The others?" the Lightning Emperor repeated as he hummed a bit.

Then, a complex expression appeared on his face.

"Well, you heard why they are considering making that madman an Emperor," the Lightning Emperor said.

Wester nodded. "Power, authority, destiny, and truth, right?" Wester asked.

The Lightning Emperor nodded. "I think it would be similar in this case. Of course, that's only assuming that this warrior was a Mage. As you know, the others aren't the biggest fans of physis, especially Mirana."

"If he were a Mage, they would probably invest in him for the same reason they want to make that kid an Emperor."

"Power is destiny, and everyone should get a chance at fulfilling their destiny."

"If we don't allow that kid to become an Emperor, he might even try to kill one, and then what? Are we supposed to gang up on someone because they are trying to kill the very people that try to keep them weak?"

"Humans seek power, and denying someone their search for power is akin to muddling in the destiny of Aterium."

"Everyone deserves a shot at realizing their destiny."

Then, the Lightning Emperor sighed.

"But then, why did we destroy all the other paths back then?"

"Based on that logic, shouldn't we also give the Abominations a chance at life?"

The Lightning Emperor sighed again. "Even more, another reason why they are willing to entertain the possibility of that kid becoming an Emperor is the Abominations."

"We are not powerful enough to stop them, which is why we need someone more powerful."

"But then what? The first thing someone like that madman would do would be to kill every other Emperor to join Lucius in Godhood."

"And this warrior isn't any better. He would do the same thing."

"Is this our destiny? Is our destiny to die to these crazy madmen?" the Lightning Emperor asked.

"I refuse to believe that," he added.

"Lucius has become our God, and if Lucius wants something to happen, it will happen. If this madman is supposed to reach power, there is nothing we can do to stop him."

"But what if he isn't supposed to reach power?"

"What if he has been sent as an adversary, someone that is supposed to unite everyone against them and wake us up from our complacency?"

The Lightning Emperor remained silent again.

And then, he groaned in exasperation.

"Man, this is just too much," he shouted with annoyance. "You know, I've followed Lucius ever since we were Apprentices. He was outstanding even back then, and I was just a bit more talented than others. I simply kept following him around everywhere, and whenever I feared that we would die, Lucius saved us."

"I was never the one that decided what we would do. I was just there to help my friend achieve his goal. I was always just acting as support."

"I never wanted to rule an Empire or something like that."

The Lightning Emperor sighed again.

"I just want to go on adventures with Lucius again."

Silence.

Then, the Lightning Emperor suddenly grabbed one of the books, put his legs on the table, leaned back, and put the book on his face.

"I'm taking a nap! I don't want to deal with this right now!"

Silence.

Wester just looked at the Lightning Emperor evenly.

"Ask me again in a thousand years," the Lightning Emperor said, shooing Wester away with his right hand.

Wester blinked once emotionlessly.

"And what should I do with him until then?" Wester asked professionally.

"I dunno," the Lightning Emperor said with a shrug. "Just treat him like a King Contender until then. Who knows, maybe he will kill himself with his training before then?"

Wester wanted to do nothing but groan or sigh, but he would never breach etiquette like that.

If the other Kings knew how their Emperor came to some decisions…

"I will do as ordered, sir," Wester said with a polite bow.

Then, he slowly exited the room.

 

Chapter 704 - Solution

Shang and Queen Primordium had been waiting in front of the gigantic gate for several minutes by now.

It seemed like the decision wasn't an easy one to make.

The Lightning Emperor was probably checking every possibility thoroughly to make the best decision possible.

And, finally, the door opened.

Wester walked out of the gate and calmly closed it behind him.

Then, he walked up to Shang and Queen Primordium.

Shang's insides were tensing up.

The moment of truth had arrived.

Wester looked at Shang and smiled politely. "Welcome to the Lightning Manor," he said in a friendly tone.

Shang released a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

Wester nodded and then turned to Queen Primordium. "The Ancestor has decided that he will be treated as a Cloud."

"Thank you, Wester," Queen Primordium said. Shang still couldn't see what Queen Primordium was doing or what she looked like.

"Excuse me," Shang suddenly said.

"Yes?" Wester asked as he looked at Shang.

"The part of my soul that is responsible for the priority connection between my soul center and my soul core has been altered," Shang said, repeating Queen Primordium's words. "Queen Primordium has told me that I need someone with the level two Concept of Life to deal with that issue."

Wester raised an eyebrow. "Oh? If I remember correctly, that's what you warriors call a warrior body, right?"

Shang nodded.

"That sounds like something useful to a warrior, right?"

"Yes," Shang answered, "but I'm not a warrior."

"You're not a warrior?" Wester asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, the Impose stage that other warriors have is not an accurate name for my Realm. I have four Paths, four Imposes, and I comprehended World Connection before I reached the Fifth Realm. That is how I created my fivefold Spirit Sense," Shang explained.

"Oh, interesting," Wester mused. "You know, many years ago, there were other Paths as well, but due to something that happened, these other Paths don't really exist anymore."

Shang didn't let it show, but hearing Wester's words gave Shang a peculiar feeling.

The Custodian was the first person, aside from the God and the people involved with the God, that had acknowledged that there had been other Paths in the past.

Everyone else had believed that the Mages had always been superior and that the Mage God had just been an especially strong Mage.

The fact that there had been warriors in the past had only been uttered by the God, but today, Shang had received external verification.

"I know a bit regarding the old Paths," Wester said in a friendly tone, "and from what I've read, you are essentially using two different Paths. If I'm not mistaken, the thing that you call Impose was called Weapon Intent back then, and it was used by Fighters."

"Meanwhile, the thing that you call World Connection was something that was used by World Manipulators, people that fight by controlling the world around them."

"From what I've seen, you started out with a Weapon Master Path by creating so many Paths, went to the Fighter Path by creating so many Imposes, and lastly, arrived at the World Manipulator Path by comprehending what you call World Connection."

Wester scratched his chin. "Sure enough, calling you a warrior would be a bit strange. You've created your very own Path."

Shang grew a bit anxious and excited.

There was someone standing in front of him that knew how the ancient warriors fought and trained!

Maybe…

"I know what you're thinking about," Wester said, "but I don't think it would be a good idea to tell you how people from back then trained."

Shang took a deep breath.

He wasn't sure if he was relieved or frustrated.

"The past should stay in the past," Wester said. "You've done well enough creating your own Path, and I think you should continue."

"Do you already have a plan for reaching the Sixth Realm?" he asked.

Shang nodded. "Void Casting, but for my body."

"How very peculiar," Wester said. "You've now jumped into the Berserker Path."

When Shang heard Wester's words, some uncertainties in his mind vanished.

Shang had been quite certain that what he had been trying to create would work, but he couldn't be completely sure. After all, no one had ever done that, at least as far as he knew.

But now, the Custodian had talked about the very thing Shang was trying to create.

And it was something that Berserkers had used in the past.

"From what I've read, Berserkers used this ability to overfill their bodies with Mana, vastly increasing their power and regenerative abilities for a short time. Naturally, there are more uses. For example, as you know, us Mages use Void Casting for our Spells, and there's also a form of Void Casting that World Manipulators have used in the past."

"Depending on how you use it and what form you create, the effects will be different."

"But I think we strayed too far from the topic," Wester said. "This was about your warrior body."

Shang nodded.

"Let me just take a look at your soul."

Wester extended one of his fingers and touched Shang's forehead.

Two seconds later, he pulled his hand away.

"I see," Wester said. "So, that's why you don't have any eyes."

Shang just wordlessly nodded.

"As for your problem, yes, I can solve it."

Shang took a deep breath.

His warrior body…

The fact that his mind was always an entire level lower than his body…

This problem could be solved by the person standing in front of him!

"What would be the effects?" Shang asked.

"Well…" Wester said as he trailed off.

He didn't immediately answer, and he only looked at Shang.

His conversation with the Lightning Emperor went through his mind.

This warrior would not be thankful.

This warrior might be the end of the Lightning Manor in the future.

But then, on the other hand, the Emperors were saying that everyone deserved a chance at realizing their destiny.

The choice was difficult.

And finally, the Lightning Emperor's orders shot through Wester's head.

Just treat him like a King Contender.

In the end, Wester decided to do just that.

"There are two ways to solve this issue," Wester said.

"The normal way would be to return your soul to how it was supposed to be. You will be able to train your mind just like any other Mage."

"But the drawback is that your ability to convert Mana into life energy would be slowed by a factor of ten."

Would Shang accept that?

He wasn't sure.

"And the other way?" Shang asked.

"The other way won't weaken your regenerative abilities, but you can't actively train your mind. Your mind will continue to grow on its own, but that is dependent on time, not effort. As long as you live for long enough, your mind will catch up to your body."

"However, there is another drawback."

"You will be in strong perpetual pain."

 

Chapter 705 705 – Anxiety

Shang didn't react in any special way to Wester's words.

"I would prefer the second way," Shang said.

Silence.

Shang couldn't see it, but Queen Primordium was looking at him with furrowed brows.

When the Custodian talked about severe pain, he was probably talking about some very serious pain, and to top it all off, Shang would have this pain for the rest of his life.

Yet, Shang didn't even ask the Custodian about the pain.

This didn't make Shang appear like someone that could resist a lot of pain but like someone that was hopelessly overestimating themselves.

However, Shang had a fivefold Spirit Sense. So, maybe he actually knew what he was talking about.

"You don't care about the pain?" Wester asked with a smile.

"It doesn't matter," Shang answered.

Silence.

The two Mage Kings waited for Shang to elaborate, but Shang had already said everything he wanted to say.

"Alright," Wester said. "Let me explain what is happening in your body right now and how we will change things."

"Your soul is connected to your body via a tether. You could look at it like a thread connecting the two things."

"The part on your body that connects to the tether is called the soul core."

"The tether is made up of multiple connections."

"The part of your soul that connects to the tether is called the soul center."

"The closest thing to the soul is the mind since your soul core is in your brain. Because of that, your mind will become more powerful as your soul grows more powerful and vice versa."

"The primary connection is the biggest connection within the tether that connects your body to your soul. This is the connection responsible for transferring your power back and forth."

"With a damaged primary connection, it is nearly impossible to strengthen your soul since there is simply no connection, which also means that it is nearly impossible to strengthen your mind."

"To strengthen your mind, you need to absorb Mana with your mind and push that Mana into your soul, which will then grow more powerful, which, in turn, will also increase the power of your mind."

"And since there is no primary connection, this process doesn't happen."

"In your case, your soul only becomes stronger by gaining Mana via the much smaller connections, which means that you have to be many times more powerful to strengthen your mind just by a little bit."

"However, the tradeoff is that the Mana in your body is always in an over-full state since it can't escape into your mind and soul as easily. That makes your Mana very volatile and prone to sudden transformations."

"That is how you can transform your Mana into life energy in the blink of an eye."

"The normal way to solve this issue would be to repair the primary connection. Your Mana would find a way to escape into your soul, which would strengthen your mind."

"In turn, your body wouldn't be over-filled with Mana, making it more time-consuming to transform your Mana into life energy. You could imagine it as a kingdom waging war against one or two enemies."

"If they only have one enemy, they will put all their forces near the frontlines, ready to react in an instant, but if they are threatened by two kingdoms on two opposite borders, it takes a long while for the forces to react since they would be stationed in the middle of the kingdom."

Shang listened intently.

"Now, the way that I am proposing to solve your issue would be to re-establish the primary connection, but on a different spot."

"If you think back to the kingdom analogy I used, what I would be doing would be to take one of the two enemies and place them behind the other enemy. Your forces would now only need to stand on one border."

"In biological terms, I'm going to connect the tether to your center of life energy."

"However, the soul isn't meant to grow by absorbing life energy. Theoretically, it's possible, but it takes more effort. Additionally, the soul doesn't stop pulling Mana, which means that it will keep absorbing your life energy at a high rate."

"The lower your life energy, the more life energy your body produces out of instinct. Your survival instincts kick in, you become awake, you become attentive, and your emotions go haywire. In that state, you will produce more life energy."

"But outside an actively dangerous situation, this state only happens when your life energy is at about 70% of its maximum."

"This means that your soul will keep absorbing your life energy until it reaches 70%, at which point you will experience said symptoms perpetually for the remainder of your life."

"It will be impossible for you to calm down."

"Your mind will always go wild, and you will feel like you're in the middle of a battle every second of your life."

"Additionally, the loss of great amounts of life energy feels like you are about to die."

"Forever."

Silence.

"Are you sure you want that?" Wester asked.

"How does it compare to being in an Isolation Chamber?" Shang asked.

Wester raised an eyebrow in surprise. "The loss of life energy is anxiety-inducing, but it can't compare to being locked in an environment without Mana."

Shang nodded. "Then, I'm fine with it."

"Are you sure?" Wester asked. "This will stay with you for the rest of your life."

"I'm sure," Shang said.

Wester rubbed his chin as he looked at Shang.

He wanted to ask why Shang was so sure, but he remembered what the Lightning Emperor had said.

This person would sacrifice everything for his power.

Even himself, his happiness, his loved ones, his health…

"Alright," Wester said. "Then, as a new member of the Lightning Manor, look at this as my welcome present to you."

"I hope that you will become the pride of the Lightning Manor."

"I will," Shang answered. "Thank you."

Wester nodded.

And then, he put his finger on Shang's forehead.

 

Chapter 706 706 – Warrior Body

Shang felt his mind swim, and a second later, he felt like something extremely important to him was being torn away.

It was like someone had shoved their hands into his chest to tear out his heart!

However, Shang didn't move, and he didn't say anything.

He only gritted his teeth.

Queen Primordium was looking at Shang with surprise, while Wester had a small gleam of recognition in his eyes.

Sure enough, the Lightning Emperor had been correct.

Wester was essentially inflicting the greatest pain anyone could feel by tearing apart Shang's soul and establishing new connections.

Yet, Shang was just gritting his teeth.

This was an unreal amount of willpower and resistance to pain.

After a couple of seconds, Shang got used to the pain, and he simply stood there motionlessly.

Queen Primordium got surprised even more, and even Wester was surprised this time.

An equivalent picture from Earth would be someone looking evenly at someone that was currently slowly cutting through the first person's torso with a searing knife.

Shang wasn't showing any reactions anymore.

A couple of seconds later, Shang felt something he had never felt before.

It was extremely difficult to describe this feeling.

The closest thing Shang could say would be that he felt like the world had become more real.

It was like someone that had seen the world through the haze of tiredness was suddenly injected with adrenaline. They were more alert, took in all their surroundings in great detail, and wanted to do something.

This was the effect of anchoring Shang's soul.

Earlier, Shang's soul had only been anchored by the smaller connections of the tether, and now, the primary connection was re-established.

"And done," Wester said with a friendly smile as he pulled his finger back. "Your soul will now absorb life energy, and your Mana will transform into life energy."

Shang nodded. "Thank you," he said.

For now, Shang wasn't feeling very different.

He felt a small feeling of fatigue in his body, but he wouldn't notice it if he didn't specifically search for it.

"As things look now," Wester said, "your mind will now start to strengthen. Near the beginning, it will be quite fast since your body is so much more powerful than your mind, but it will slow down very quickly."

"I estimate that your mind will reach the Initial Archmage Realm within five years, the Early Archmage Realm within 15 years, the Mid Archmage Realm within 45 years, the Late Archmage Realm within 135 years, and the Peak Archmage Realm within a bit more than 400 years."

"Naturally, if your body increases by a level, your mind will also grow faster."

Shang nodded. "What happens if I remain at the peak of a Realm for a long while and my mind keeps strengthening?"

"While the mind can advance individual levels without problems, it needs a concerted effort to push through a major breakthrough. When your mind reaches the peak of a Realm, it won't advance unless you want it to."

"Assuming you wouldn't want your mind to reach the Initial Archmage Realm, you would just need to do nothing. At that point, your soul will feel like it has been filled to the brim, and it will no longer absorb as much life energy since it isn't growing anymore."

Shang nodded.

It was difficult for him to come to terms with his new reality.

Ever since he had arrived in this world, his mind had always been so much weaker than his body.

Practicing Magic had been an impossibility, and worst of all, nobody knew why Shang couldn't exactly practice Magic.

What had been wrong?

What had been the thing that made it impossible for him to practice Magic?

Today, Shang had learned all of that, and even more, he had gained the ability to practice Magic.

Naturally, Shang wouldn't practice Magic.

Shang was already running out of longevity by only training in his physical Path. He didn't have any time to waste on learning Magic as well.

However, having a powerful mind was still extremely useful for many different things.

First of all, comprehending Concepts would be easier for Shang, which resolved one of his major problems.

Shang knew that there were four Concepts of Entropy that needed to be fused into a fifth one.

Shang had comprehended two of those with the mind of a Peak High Mage.

The next time Shang would need to comprehend these Concepts again would be when he was at the Peak Sixth Realm.

Normally, Shang's mind would be at the Peak Fifth Realm, which would allow him to comprehend a level three Concept.

But now, Shang's mind would be at the Peak Sixth Realm, which would allow him to comprehend a level four Concept.

This meant that Shang would be able to combine his two weapons into one weapon.

He would have everything connected.

Fire went via Addition to Light, which went via Twilight to Darkness, which went via Subtraction to Ice, which went via Temperature to Fire.

It would be a circle, and this circle would allow Shang to fuse his Addum and Subsis into one single weapon.

Of course, that would be in the far future.

"Then, everything is fine, correct?" Wester asked with a smile.

"Thank you very much, Wester," Queen Primordium said.

"Thank you, Custodian," Shang said respectfully.

Right now, Shang was genuinely thankful.

The Custodian had helped Shang in coming closer to his goal.

Wester nodded. "Then, I wish you two a good day."

"And, Shang, welcome to the Lightning Manor!"

Shang performed a short and polite bow. "Thank you, Custodian."

After that, the Custodian walked back to his room and entered.

"We'll go back to Lucin," Queen Primordium said as she turned around.

Shang nodded and followed after her.

A lot of things happened today.

Shang had joined the Lightning Manor.

Shang had met a Mage Lord.

Shang had met a Thunder.

Shang had met two Mage Kings.

The Lightning Emperor had decided on Shang's fate.

And, most importantly of all, Shang's warrior body had vanished.

What a day.

 

Chapter 707 707 – Leaving The Lightning Manor

Queen Primordium and Shang walked back to Lucin, who had been waiting anxiously for the result.

"He is to be treated as a King Contender," Queen Primordium told Lucin.

Lucin smiled and nodded. "Understood, my Queen."

"Shang," Queen Primordium said. "Lucin will explain everything to you. As a new member of the Contender Department, your official position is named Cloud."

"As a Cloud, you have authority over Sparks and Boltlings. Your authority is equal to Bolts, and you must obey the orders of Thunders."

Shang nodded. "Understood."

"Lucin will explain everything in detail to you later. I hope you won't run out of longevity before you comprehend Void Casting."

When Lucin heard that, he looked with shock at Shang.

Lucin hadn't known what Shang's next plans would be, and when he heard that Shang wanted to comprehend Void Casting next, he knew how insanely difficult it would prove to be.

Under any other circumstance, Lucin would advise Shang not to practice Void Casting since it would be far too difficult for him to comprehend.

However, Shang wasn't a normal member of the Contender Department, but someone with a fivefold Spirit Sense.

The difference in talent and effort required to get a fivefold Spirit Sense was far higher than getting a fourfold Spirit Sense.

Lucin himself "only" had a fourfold Spirit Sense. This meant that he knew a lot about becoming more powerful, but there was still a difference between someone on his level and someone on Shang's level.

After many years of raising King Contenders, Lucin knew that the best way for someone with a fivefold Spirit Sense to grow stronger was to let them do whatever they wanted and support them in their decisions.

Trying to constrict them with conventional methods would only ruin their talent.

"I won't fail," Shang said evenly.

After everything that had happened today, Shang had grown even more confident in his ability to comprehend his own form of Void Casting.

While a mind wasn't that important for becoming stronger as a warrior, it still allowed someone to comprehend things faster. This meant that Shang's mind growing more powerful would also speed up his training.

At the moment, Shang's biggest problem was his longevity.

Shang was already around 720 years old, and he only had around 280 years left.

While Shang could still retain a youthful appearance for now, that would stop when he reached the age of about 900. At that point, his body would slowly grow weaker, and his mind would start to become more lethargic.

"Then, I wish you good luck," Queen Primordium said.

Lucin and Shang bowed politely, and Queen Primordium went back into her room.

After Queen Primordium left, Lucin released a sigh of relief. "I'm glad that everything worked out."

"Are you?" Shang asked.

"I am," Lucin answered. "One of my favorite things is to watch one of my students reach incredible levels of power. I have already come to terms with my fate. In a bit more than 10,000 years, I will die of natural causes."

"The only thing I can take solace in is that my legacy will live on with my students."

Lucin started to smirk. "Did you know that the Starlight Queen was once one of my students?"

"No," Shang answered emotionlessly.

Lucin chuckled a bit. "She became a Mage King a bit more than 7,000 years ago. About 12,000 years ago, I was just a Bolt that was supposed to help the Clouds with their training, and the Starlight Queen was assigned to me when she was just an Archmage."

"She also had a fivefold Spirit Sense back then, and I taught her until she was just a bit less powerful than me."

Lucin chuckled some more. "And then, she shot past me and overtook me in power. I barely had her as my student for 3,500 years."

"Is she the newest Mage King in the Lightning Manor?" Shang asked.

Lucin nodded. "Correct. She still has over 80,000 years in front of her. Her life as a Mage King has just begun, essentially."

"Give her some time, and she will enter the top ten."

"Oh, sorry, I got sidetracked," Lucin said with a loud laugh. "I think we should actually get moving and get you acquainted with your new home."

Shang wordlessly nodded.

Lucin and Shang turned around and walked towards the exit of the Lightning Manor.

The Lightning Manor building only housed the most powerful members of the Lightning Manor Empire.

Shang had only been taken here due to special circumstances, and he knew that he wouldn't see the Lightning Manor again for a long time.

After the two of them walked out, Shang jumped back on the small Transportation Plate Lucin had summoned, and the two of them flew away from the Lightning Manor again.

As they shot through the Lightning Sea, Shang thought about how his life was about to change.

Two Mage Kings and one Mage Emperor had taken note of Shang, and they had not realized that he was the Child of Calamity.

This meant that Shang's identity was not in danger of being revealed.

Even more, he had received the full support of the Lightning Manor after unveiling his true power.

Today, Shang had become a true chosen of a true Empire.

Shang's way forward was supposed to be brightly lit with achievements and progress.

However, for some reason…

Shang felt like things wouldn't go as smoothly.

Something was telling him that something wasn't as it should be.

Shang focused on Lucin, who had transformed into a lightning bolt.

Right now, Shang couldn't see Lucin's expression, and that worried him.

Was Lucin truly who he made himself out to be?

All of this went way too smoothly.

Things couldn't possibly be this easy, right?

Shang's hands began to shake a bit.

He could feel that something horrible was about to happen.

"So," Lucin said after a while of silence.

"What kind of Affinity do you have?"

Shang couldn't be sure, but just for a moment, he thought that Lucin's voice sounded crafty and sinister.

 

Chapter 708 708 – Danger

Shang's heart began to race when he heard that question.

What was up with that question?!

Why would Lucin suddenly ask about his Affinity right after they talked to Queen Primordium and the Custodian?!

Something strange had to be going on!

Shang felt a pressure build up in his chest, and he felt like the Lightning Manor was no longer safe for him.

What kind of game were they playing?!

"Why are you suddenly asking that question?" Shang asked with a cold voice.

"I heard two conflicting statements. The Supervisor of Area 23 says you have a Temperature Affinity, but I've also heard you have a Twilight Affinity. So, which is it?"

Shang felt like the surroundings were pressing down on him.

This was bad!

Did Lucin know that Shang was the Child of Calamity?!

Why else would he ask that question?!

"I have a Twilight Affinity," Shang answered. "Darkness and Light Affinities were special in Area 23, and I didn't want to be killed by the powerful Mages. Because of that, I used Fire and Ice as a mask. Fire is bright, and Ice absorbs the warmth like Darkness."

"Oh? Interesting," Lucin said with an amused voice.

Shang focused on the lightning bolt that was Lucin beside him.

Something was definitely wrong!

Lucin was talking like he was taking joy in knowing about something that he shouldn't.

"Why did you ask?" Shang asked coldly.

Lucin remained silent for about a second.

"I mean, I need to know what kind of Affinity you have. I will need to approve a mountain of resources for you, and it's also my job to make sure that these resources are actually useful for you. You will gain a lot of resources, but you can't just waste resources because of that, get it?"

Shang wasn't sure if that was a lie or not.

It sounded believable, but Lucin's entire demeanor was too strange.

Shang didn't say anything for a while.

He knew that Lucin was too powerful.

In fact, it didn't matter if Shang suspected something or not.

Even if Shang used Entropy, he wouldn't get through Lucin's Mana Shield with that.

In front of someone as powerful as Lucin, Shang was helpless.

Because of that, Shang was doomed to wait in nervousness.

"So, how are you planning on comprehending Void Casting?" Lucin asked after a while.

Shang focused on Lucin with suspicion.

Why would he suddenly ask such a question?

Was he planning something?

Was he planning on leaving Shang to die in his own Isolation Chamber?

"Why do you care?" Shang asked with a cold voice.

BANG!

Suddenly, the two of them stopped moving, and Lucin transformed back into his human form.

He was looking at Shang with furrowed brows. "Okay, what is going on?" he asked with annoyance.

"Isn't that what I should be asking you?" Shang answered with a cold voice.

"Shang, why are you suddenly acting like this?" Lucin asked with annoyance. "We had no issues in communicating when we were traveling to the Lightning Manor, but as soon as we got back, you were suddenly uncooperative, disrespectful, and aggressive."

"Is this because you feel you're better than me now?" Lucin asked. "Are you one of these types of geniuses, the ones that believe that everyone else is beneath them? I hope not. I can't tell you how many of those I have seen die to their own blind pride."

Shang snorted in disgust. "Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about."

"What?" Lucin asked in annoyance. "I genuinely have no idea what you mean."

"You're playing with me," Shang said. "I can feel when I'm in danger, and when I'm beside you, I feel like I will die to you any second."

"You're planning something, but instead of just killing me, you are playing with me because of some sick sense of entertainment," Shang said coldly.

Lucin was taken aback.

Lucin hadn't been this shocked and surprised in centuries.

After several seconds, he could only say one sentence. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

Shang didn't answer and only focused on Lucin.

He could feel that Lucin was just waiting for a good opportunity to kill him.

"Why would I kill you?" Lucin asked as he ruffled his own hair in exasperation. "You heard Queen Primordium's orders. If I were to kill you, I would most likely be killed in return. That would be akin to betraying the Lightning Manor."

"Even more, if we wanted to kill you, why wouldn't we have done it in the Lightning Manor? Do you think we have time for something as stupid as playing around with someone's emotions like that?"

"Honestly, I have no idea what you are talking about. Is this how you are normally? When you told me about your true power, you didn't seem this suspicious and nervous, but as soon as you are actually safe, you start going crazy with suspicion, paranoia, and anxiety!"

"This makes no sense!"

Shang listened to Lucin intently.

Shang could feel the falsehood of Lucin's words, but the words he was speaking were very logical.

On the surface, his words would seem perfectly logical and irrefutable.

But Shang could feel that Lucin was lying.

Lucin looked at Shang with surprise and shock. Lucin was extremely powerful and experienced, which allowed him to see how Shang was feeling.

"Shang, what happened?" Lucin asked. "What happened when you were with Queen Primordium on your own?"

"I didn't know you for long, but I can tell that you have somehow changed in the last hour."

"Something must have happened," Lucin said.

Shang was focusing on Lucin, but his mind went through everything that had happened automatically.

The warrior body.

Shang stopped focusing on Lucin.

Instead, he focused on his own body.

His life energy was low.

He was extremely nervous.

He felt like he was in danger of dying.

And after looking inside for a while, Shang could also tell that he was feeling pain.

'Is this it?' Shang thought. 'Is this the effect of the Custodian's operation?'

Shang focused on Lucin again, who only looked at Shang with confusion.

Shang suppressed his nervousness and thought about everything logically.

Lucin was right.

There was no reason for him to do all of this.

Yet, even though Shang knew that, his sense of danger was still screaming at him.

He was about to die!

Something was about to attack him!

He had to run!

He had to fight!

And that's when it fully sunk in.

There was no danger.

This was simply the effect of the Custodian's operation.

And Shang realized that this would be his new normal.

This was how life would be for him from now on.

 

 

Chapter 709 709 – Assassination

After realizing what the actual problem was, Shang told Lucin about the changes to his warrior's body that the Custodian had performed.

When Shang was done speaking, Lucin looked at him with a worried expression. "How do you feel?" he asked.

"Like someone is planning on killing me," Shang said.

"I can assure you that nobody within the Lightning Manor is planning on killing you yet," Lucin said.

"Yet?" Shang repeated.

"Well, you are essentially a competitor to the other Clouds since we can only send one King Contender into the Grand Tournament. It is obviously forbidden to kill your colleagues in the Lightning Manor, but that doesn't stop some of them. From time to time, I still have to execute one of the Clouds for failing or succeeding in a plot to assassinate another Cloud," Lucin explained.

"Right now, they barely know anything about you, but when they learn more about your true powers, some of them might plot to kill you."

Shang didn't like hearing that for multiple reasons.

'Great! I will also become the victim of actual assassinations, and with my newfound paranoia, it will become very difficult to discern who is actually out to get me. The friendliest and most normal people might appear like scheming enemies in my mind, and I might think that the actual scheming enemies are just nice people since I would think that I was just being paranoid.'

'I guess the best way is to treat everyone like they plan on killing me. Like that, I can't be unprepared.'

This was one reason why Shang didn't like what Lucin had said, but there was another.

"And I am not allowed to stop these assassination attempts from occurring?" Shang asked.

"What do you mean with stop?" Lucin asked with a raised brow.

"Kill the person that wants to kill me before they actually go through with the attempt," Shang said.

Lucin sighed. "Shang, you can't do that. In the Lightning Manor, we say that people are innocent until proven guilty. Even if one of the Clouds meets you alone, far away from anyone, while being followed by a masked individual more powerful than them, you can't just assume that they are there to assassinate you."

"Sure, it might look like they are planning on doing it, but they could also just be there for a different reason. What if the masked individual was just one of the Bolts that's following the Cloud that doesn't like to be seen by others? We have people like that."

"You can't just kill people because they look suspicious. Sure, if people actually say that they will kill you, that's something different. At that point, you would have cause and an obvious show of malicious intent towards you, but even then, you can't just kill them."

"Clouds are very valuable to the Lightning Manor, and we can't just let you guys kill each other wrongfully since every Cloud's expenses can only be counted in Grade Seven Mana Crystals. Ignoring the fact that you would have killed someone of your own organization, you would still have cost the Lightning Manor several Grade Seven Mana Crystals."

Obviously, Shang wasn't the biggest fan of what he had just heard. "You do realize that if someone is willing to go through with an actual attempt, they would have realized the actual danger of failing, which means they would only go through with it if they were 100% certain of success."

"This means that an actual attempt will never just be an attempt but a success," Shang explained.

"That's not true," Lucin said with quite some confidence. "You can ask a Bolt to act as your bodyguard, but they would request a part of the resources you want. Killing a Cloud is already difficult, but killing a Bolt is even more difficult since nearly all of them are Peak Mage Lords."

"A battle between Peak Mage Lords would immediately attract the attention of some Thunders and maybe even a Mage King, and there is nearly no way to kill a Peak Mage Lord in an instant. You would need a Thunder for that, and nothing a Cloud can offer a Thunder would be worth the risk."

Shang still wasn't a fan of this policy. "So, to summarize, I am not allowed to kill anyone from the Lightning Manor, but if I want to be safe from the people of the Lightning Manor, I need to spend a ridiculous number of resources for a bodyguard."

"Is that right?"

Lucin sighed. "I know that the system isn't perfect since it favors a malicious actor in a certain sense, but we can't have it any other way if we actually want to believe in the good of people."

"Sure, we could send a Bolt to supervise all of you all the time, but that would also make a lot of you uncomfortable since you have secret methods of training that you don't like to be exposed."

"Additionally, every Bolt is very talented, and they have become the strongest Mages out of billions of other Mages. We can't just force someone like that to work as a bodyguard for thousands of years. Imagine, after everything you have achieved, you have to work for some High Mage and watch them train. That would be horrible."

"We also can't just look into everyone's mind to see if they want to kill someone else. Ignoring the ethical problems with that, if we were to put this into action, you would have to be part of that. Would you want your mind read?"

Shang didn't answer.

"I thought so," Lucin said. "This is why you have to accept the current rules, Shang."

Shang still wasn't a fan. "Okay, then, why not allow us to kill each other?"

"Oh, no, no, no, no! You misunderstood," Lucin said quickly. "Although, I didn't explain anything about your new position yet, which makes it understandable that you would misunderstand."

"Shang, it's not that you are not allowed to kill each other. It's that you are not allowed to do it sneakily and with the help of others."

"You are allowed to kill each other, but that must be done openly and with my permission."

"The Lightning Manor allows you to kill each other, but it must know why you are killing each other, and you must ask for its permission."

 

 

Chapter 710 710 – 100 Venomous Insects

Now, things were different.

Shang had thought that killing each other was completely forbidden, but apparently, it wasn't.

"And how does something like that go down?" Shang asked.

"Well," Lucin said before transforming into a Lightning Bolt again. "Let's continue on our way. I'll explain while we're traveling."

Shang didn't answer, and the two of them continued shooting into the distance.

"So, basically, in order to become as powerful as a Cloud, you need a lot of danger and actual fighting. Forever staying inside your little cave and meditating forever won't get you this kind of Battle-Strength. If it did, we would have a thousand times more Clouds than currently."

"In order to be outstanding, you must live an outstanding life. You must achieve things that others are too scared to do or can't do, no matter how much they try. One big component of that is actual fights to the death."

"We know that, and that's why we have created a perfect environment for just that. You ever heard about this weird story about that guy that wanted to make the most venomous insect?" Lucin asked.

"No," Shang answered.

"So, there was this guy, and he wanted to make the most venomous insect. One day, he had this genius idea of putting a hundred of the most venomous insects he could find into a pot and making them kill each other until only one was left, believing that the strongest insect would embody the power of all the insects it had killed, making it the most venomous."

"Of course, biology doesn't work like that, and he failed miserably. However, his experiment demonstrated a very real concept."

"A peerless genius isn't necessarily very powerful. The word peerless means that the peerless in question simply doesn't have any peers."

"A peerless genius in a village might as well be trash when there are a hundred better geniuses in the nearest town. Yet, how did these better geniuses become better? It was because, in order to become peerless, they needed to fight through many more peers than the peerless genius of the village."

"Let's imagine we have 100 peerless geniuses from 100 villages. If we lock them all into an arena and only allow one of them to leave, what will happen? They will start fighting."

"Maybe half of them die, and the other half have gained valuable knowledge regarding fighting life and death battles, making them stronger for the next fight."

"Then, another half die, and the remaining 25 might have comprehended something that made them superior to their opponents."

"Then, even more died, but the ones that remained would have grown once again during their fight."

"In the end, we only have one guy left, but that one guy has learned so much that the past him couldn't be compared to the current him."

"We used 100 peerless geniuses to create one true peerless genius."

"That's how the Contender Department works."

"At the moment, there are a bit more than 110 Archmage Clouds in the Contender Department. Obviously, they can't all become King Contenders. In fact, chances are high that not even one of them will become a King Contender since we burn through them so quickly."

"Even more, imagine all of them reaching the Mage Lord Realm. With their talent, they would reach the power of Thunders eventually, and what then? We only have space for about 70 Thunders, and we got 110 potential Thunders in one generation of Archmages, which spans about a thousand years while Thunders live for over 20,000 years."

"Additionally, the quality of these Thunders would almost certainly be lower than our current Thunders since, in order for all of these Clouds to survive, we would have needed to coddle them in safety."

"So, in order to maximize the benefit, the Lightning Manor takes this venomous insect approach, but instead of simply ordering you all to kill each other, we are letting you have the choice."

"As an Archmage Cloud, you get your one Grade Seven Mana Crystal per century, but if you want more, you gotta join very dangerous missions, tournaments, tests, and similar. Additionally, if two Clouds agree on a life and death duel, the winner gets to keep all the belongings of the loser."

"Funnily enough, we don't need to force you into dangerous situations. Since you are all geniuses, you are all used to risking your lives for amazing rewards."

"What we don't want is someone that kills another Cloud with borrowed strength. One-time Spells from a Mage Lord, an Ancestral Mage assassin, a powerful Ancestral Beast, and so on. If a Cloud is going to die, it will be in one of the tests or while fighting fairly against another Cloud."

After listening to all of this, Shang interjected with a question. "And you still get assassinations with all of that?"

"Sadly, yes," Lucin said with a sigh. "Imagine you have some kind of unresolvable enmity with another Cloud. You want to kill them no matter what, but whenever you challenge them to a duel, they decline. Whenever you join one of the big trials to kill them, they withdraw."

"You have this unresolvable hatred, but there's no way to kill that person officially. That's when you think about assassination."

"Additionally, while everyone here can be considered a peerless genius amongst billions upon billions of people, there are still differences. You have a fivefold Spirit Sense. The others don't."

"How are they going to win against you in a fair duel?"

"They are certain that they would become powerful enough if they just had some more resources, and they are certain that they would win the grand tournament. Yet, there is only a single spot for the tournament."

"So, they try to assassinate you," Lucin explained.

"And what about me?" Shang asked.

"In what way?" Lucin asked.

"Will I become the target of an assassination?"

"In the beginning, no," Lucin said. "Everyone will probably think that you are extremely weak and not worthy of being a Cloud. You will probably very quickly get challenged to a duel."

"How you deal with that will be up to you."

"Will you accept the duel, unveil your true power, and become a target?"

"Will you decline and act like a pushover?"

"It all depends on your actions."