Ch. 721..730
Chapter 721 721 – Eternity In An Instant
Most of the Clouds living in the Hibye were standing or floating near the central arena.
They all wanted to see this warrior getting stomped out like a bug.
Eventually, it was time for the duel.
Everyone waited with interested expressions as Lucin entered the arena.
"Today, we will be holding one to three duels, depending on the outcome," Lucin said. "Our first and maybe only duel will be between Cloud Erel and Cloud Shang."
"Shang, huh?" some of the onlookers muttered under their breath.
So, that was the name of the warrior.
Of course, no one had ever heard of Shang.
"Combatants, enter the arena," Lucin commanded.
A second later, Erel entered. He wore white and grey robes, his eyes and hair sharing a similar color scheme.
In any other place, Erel's appearance would make him look like a once-in-a-century genius, and everyone would be able to tell that he was outstanding.
But here, he was just like anyone else.
Everyone was outstanding.
Erel stepped into the several-kilometer-wide arena and waited on one end. Duels would start with both combatants on opposite sides of the arena.
And then, it was Shang's time to enter the arena.
Everyone looked over at Shang with interest.
Shang was still using his Shroud to keep himself invisible from Spirit Senses due to habit, but Shroud didn't work on even a single one of the Clouds. Even several of the High Mage Clouds could see through it.
Shang's Shroud had been incredibly effective in the outside world, but here, it was useless.
The perception of all of these Clouds was just too insane.
However, the Clouds were still intrigued by Shang.
First of all, he didn't have eyes, which was very unusual. Sure, there had been one guy that had also spent some time without eyes, but that had been only temporary to comprehend a Concept. If that person had entered battle, he would have regrown his eyes immediately.
But this warrior was entering a battle without eyes.
Why?
What was the point?
There was literally no reason to do that.
Was he so arrogant that he believed he didn't need his eyes to win?
But his lack of eyes was not the only thing that intrigued everyone.
The other thing was his Aura.
Sure, everyone had very unique, colorful, and bright Auras here, but this warrior's Aura was bright in a very unusual way.
There were plenty of outstanding Auras that cast a certain light on some people.
Some people had this charismatic and confident Aura that made them seem like born leaders.
Some people had this innate feeling of control around them, almost like they knew what everyone around them would do before even they knew what they would do.
Some people had this dark and domineering Aura that made them seem like an ancient evil that had been asleep for thousands of years just to return and wreak havoc on the world.
Some people had this heroic Aura of an extremely powerful hero chosen by the Mage God himself.
There were so many Auras, and all of them were outstanding and unique.
But Shang's Aura was different.
The intensity of Shang's Aura was just as strong as everyone else's, but in contrast, it was like Shang's Aura was empty.
Shang's Aura was a very intense emptiness.
His Aura almost made it seem like the world around him was losing color and becoming grey.
It was like he was a corrupting influence on his surroundings.
All of this was just a mental image created by closely examining Shang's Aura. Obviously, his Aura didn't change the world around him or anything like that.
It was simply how his Aura portrayed him to be.
All in all, the Clouds felt like Shang's Aura wasn't human.
There was no charisma, hate, anger, friendliness, respect, disrespect, happiness, sadness, love, or anything human in his Aura.
There was just nothing.
It was like Shang had no capacity to feel emotions or make any coherent thoughts.
It was like he was just following his instincts like a mortal worm in the ground.
He didn't know what he was doing or why he was doing it.
He was just doing it.
Aimless, thoughtless, brainless, goalless, emotionless.
This was how Shang appeared to everyone around him.
The Mages weren't quite certain what they should think of him, but most of them still ended up looking down on him.
How did such a simple and aimless idiot enter the Hibye?
What happened to the Lightning Manor?
This used to be a good place for only the strongest of Mages.
Lucin looked at Shang and Erel. "Are both of you ready?"
SHING!
Erel summoned his Focus, which was taller than him and extremely ostentatious.
This Focus was probably incredibly expensive and powerful!
"Ready," Erel said emotionlessly.
SHING! SHING!
Then, two things appeared in Shang's hands.
In Shang's right hand was a huge and curved sword, his Addum.
In Shang's left hand was a long and thin metal bar, his Subsis.
The Mages looked with interest at Shang's weapons.
They could feel that Shang's weapons were harder and more durable than Early Ancestral Beasts.
For the first time, the Mages were impressed by a warrior, but not due to his power.
It was just very strange and unreal to see someone on their level lift something that insanely heavy.
They couldn't even attempt to lift something like that with their mind or body. It was just too brutally heavy.
But here, a warrior stood calmly in the middle of the arena while carrying two of these things.
Powerful or not, Shang's physical strength was very impressive to the Mages.
"Ready," Shang said.
Lucin nodded. "Then, Three…"
Erel's Focus began to spin rapidly.
"Two…"
Shang didn't move.
"One…"
Erel's Focus sped up even more and began to shine in a bright light.
At the same time, Erel's left hand moved through the air in front of him.
The world in front of him seemed to change.
Waves spread out from him.
The wind slowed down and stopped at several places as time seemed to stop.
The snowflakes started to hover in the air without moving.
The world was stopping.
An irresistible feeling of age and destiny seemed to fill the arena.
It was like the end of times had approached.
Existence was about to cease to matter.
Eternity in an instant.
And as Erel's Focus began to brighten, it seemed like the true end had approached.
An eternity in light.
Everything is everywhere at the same time.
Perception stopped being relevant as there was no change to perceive.
Everything was everywhere.
"Go!"
An impossibly bright light encompassed the arena.
All sight was taken from the onlookers along with their Spirit Sense.
Everything was filled out with light, and their Spirit Senses stopped expanding.
They were blind.
It was impossible to perceive one's surroundings.
And then, all the Light was pulled into one tiny spot, so fast that only the Ancestral Mages could perceive it while it was happening.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The barrier around the arena shook with incredible force.
Lucin took a deep breath in shock.
The Clouds were confused.
The warrior stood where Erel had once stood, covered in blood.
But where was Erel?
Was this one of Erel's Spells?
Was he using Light to become invisible?
"Winner: Cloud Shang," Lucin said with a quiet voice.
Chapter 722 722 – Complete
Silence.
The onlookers still couldn't comprehend what they had just heard.
Did Lucin just declare the warrior the winner?
But how?!
Just like any other Mage, Erel had had his Mana Shield active.
It was impossible to break through a Mana Shield that quickly!
The blood covering Shang slowly started to turn into black dust before it completely vanished.
It wasn't his own blood.
Lucin had to take another deep breath as he thought back to what he had seen just now.
As a Thunder, Lucin was powerful enough to easily perceive everything that had happened in slow motion.
He knew exactly what had happened, and the sheer potential that Shang had just shown deeply shocked him.
The fact that Shang had won so fast was mostly due to a devastating error made by Erel.
Erel had used his first two casts to create two Domains. One Domain would slow down the time of everything in the arena, while the other Spell would distort everyone's senses.
This would make his opponent slower while also blinding them.
If Erel had managed to hide within his Domain, this would have become a difficult battle for Shang.
But exactly that was the problem.
Erel had been greedy.
He had set up both Domains without readying a Mana Step.
If he had managed to get everything ready, he would have been terrifyingly powerful.
But he didn't.
In terms of mortal fighting, this would be like Erel readying a flying back kick while Shang elbowed the back of Erel's head before he could finish it.
Was Erel powerful enough to put up an actual fight against Shang?
Of course!
But he had made one fatal mistake.
He had taken Shang lightly.
Due to being underestimated, Shang had essentially received one free shot.
And that was everything he needed.
So, what had happened exactly?
As soon as Lucin had given the start signal, Erel's two Domains were stretching across the arena.
Meanwhile, Shang's stance had lowered.
Then, his body was surrounded by fire and ice, the temperature of his body fluctuating crazily.
At the same time, the atmosphere around him solidified, and Shang's feet pressed against the solid atmosphere.
Simultaneously, Shang's body withered as a streak of darkness appeared in front of him.
And then, everything started.
Shang jumped forward.
The fire and ice around him exploded out.
The streak of darkness transported Shang forward at the speed of a Mana Step.
Everything around Shang exploded, and Space seemed to tear as Shang passed through it.
The black streak had essentially moved Shang's starting point to the middle of the arena, which meant that Shang had essentially started to explode forward while being halfway to his target already.
And as Shang exploded forward with incomparable speeds, he lifted his Subsis.
The Light Mana around the Subsis started to stop and become passive.
This was the power of the Concept of Subtraction.
It destroyed the will on the Light Mana around it, transforming it into something neutral.
Of course, Shang's body also became weaker the more Light Mana he turned neutral.
After traveling for over a kilometer, Shang's Subsis had destroyed enough of the Light Mana's will to ruin the Domain.
From a Domain that had been controlled by Erel, it had transformed into a dense and neutral mass of Light Mana.
And when that happened, Shang's Subsis did something else.
Ever since Shang had taken part in the God's trial for the Fusion Realm, Shang had already planned out how his two swords would work.
From the very beginning, Shang had created the Addum for the purpose of fighting with two swords.
The Addum wasn't supposed to be used on its own.
It needed the second sword to show its true power.
And today, the true power of the Path Shang had created was unleashed.
After destroying all the will, Shang's Subsis used the Concept of Subtraction to absorb all the Light Mana in the surroundings.
The Domain Erel had created had been absorbed by Shang's Subsis.
And then, all the power flowed into Shang's body.
Shang's Mana Pathways expanded crazily, and they nearly broke under immense stress.
There had been so much Mana shoved into Shang's body that it was ridiculous!
All the foreign Mana flowed through Shang's body, and as it did so, Shang's Concept of Addition transformed its properties.
From extreme brightness, it was transformed into extreme mass.
Shang was already swinging his Addum forward, and during that powerful swing, Shang used his Concept of Addition to push all the extreme mass Light Mana into his Addum.
Shang also pushed all of his own Mana into it to strengthen it even further.
Due to the overwhelming speed of Shang's body, the Addum's swing had already been filled with extreme power, but with the addition of so much Light Mana that increased its weight severalfold, the swing had reached a level of power that couldn't be compared to anything in the Fifth Realm.
Shang's Addum had hit Erel's Mana Shield.
Erel's Mana Shield broke like a thin pane of glass.
The Addum cut through Erel's body like it was air.
Shang's body continued speeding forward.
Shang's body hit Erel's body.
Shang was thousands of times heavier and harder than Erel.
It was like a human from Earth being hit by a train going several times the speed of sound.
Erel essentially stopped existing, only leaving behind some gore and blood.
The explosive sound everyone had heard had been the power and momentum of Shang's Addum traveling forward and hitting the edge of the arena.
It was like half of the arena had crashed into itself.
Shang's fighting style for the Fusion Realm had finally been completed.
The Concept of Subtraction would destroy the enemy's Spell, turning it into a neutral resource that could be used by anyone.
Then, Shang would use that resource by absorbing it with the Concept of Subtraction via the Subsis.
Shang had designed his Subsis to siphon power out of the world and his opponent.
Even though Shang hadn't even nearly completed comprehending Void Casting, he could still use a bit of it already.
By temporarily absorbing all the power gathered by his Subsis, Shang could transform the properties of the absorbed Mana. He could transform it into something that could increase the power of his own attack.
And then, that absorbed power was added to the Addum with the Concept of Addition to unleash a terrifyingly powerful attack that vastly outclassed what Shang could unleash with his own power.
The Subsis was extremely fast, agile, and could steal power.
The Addum was slow, heavy, and could unleash terrifying power.
All of this gave Shang enough power to destroy his opponent in one strike.
Chapter 723 723 – Critical Information
The people in the arena couldn't believe what had happened.
Only after a couple of seconds did it register that Lucin had declared Shang as the victor.
He had won?!
He had killed Erel?!
"What happened?!" one of the Archmages shouted.
"Yeah, what happened?!" another one echoed.
"He shot forward, destroyed the Light Mana Domain, absorbed the Light Mana, and killed his opponent with one strike," an Ancestral Mage Cloud said.
While the High mage and Archmage Clouds couldn't see what had happened, the same thing wasn't true for the Ancestral Mage Clouds.
They were extremely talented and also an entire Realm above Shang. They had still been able to perceive most of the things that had happened inside the arena.
The weaker Clouds looked at the Ancestral Mage Cloud with shock.
How?!
"How did he destroy the light Mana Domain?" one of them asked.
"Not sure," the same Ancestral Mage answered.
"It was the Concept of Subtraction," a different Ancestral Mage said.
"Concept of Subtraction? I've not heard of that Concept," one of the Archmages said.
"It's an unusual one. It works on the basis of absorbing energy in all forms. It's made of Ice and Darkness Affinities and is a Complex Concept. It can absorb energy or weaken it. In this case, he used the Concept of Subtraction to get rid of the will on the Domain by using up his own Mana," the Ancestral Mage explained.
Shang wasn't surprised to hear that someone knew the Concept of Subtraction. The Concept of Subtraction might be a complete unknown outside, but here, there were only insanely talented people.
However, there was one thing that told Shang a lot, and he even grew a slight bit excited when he heard it.
The Ancestral Mage had called the Concept of Subtraction a Complex Concept.
That wasn't true.
Entropy was one Affinity, and the Concept of Subtraction was part of the Entropy Affinity and nothing else.
This meant that the Concept of Subtraction was a Pure Concept, not a Complex Concept.
And since the Ancestral Mage had called the Concept of Subtraction a Complex Concept, it meant that nobody knew about the Entropy Affinity.
Now, one had to differentiate between two things.
The people knew about the Child of Calamity but the people didn't know about the specifics of the Child of Calamity's Affinity.
This was extremely important to know!
'It's understandable,' Shang thought. 'Maybe not even the Emperors know how the Child of Calamity works exactly.'
'Lucius was the Child of Calamity, but he kept everything about his Affinity a secret. After that, the Emperors immediately found each Child of Calamity and stopped them from becoming more powerful.'
'This meant that every single Child of Calamity in history, except for Lucius, never even reached the Adept Realm.'
'Because of that, they couldn't be sure what powers the Entropy Affinity has. In their minds, the Child of Calamity is similar to an Abomination, but the Abominations only show their powers in their pure forms, which is Entropy itself. They are not showing fire, light, ice, or darkness.'
'Sure, they might know that the Child of Calamity's Affinity is made of these four Affinities, but that doesn't tell them which Concepts would be considered Pure for that Affinity. After all, they had never seen anyone comprehend them.'
This was important!
'That means that I don't even need to keep the Concepts I plan to comprehend a secret. To them, comprehending Temperature and Twilight after comprehending Addition and Subtraction would seem normal, although maybe a bit inefficient.'
'How interesting. This also means that someone else can comprehend the Pure Concepts of the Entropy Affinity. Sure, it would be very difficult to comprehend since they don't share the Affinity, but it is possible.'
'Although, according to the God, the first four Concepts all lead into one single level five Concept, which is something that only Peak Mage Lords can comprehend, and these Peak Mage Lords are probably busy with comprehending something else.'
'Additionally, they wouldn't even know that it is possible to combine these four Concepts into a level five Concept.'
'That means everyone knows all the components needed to understand the Entropy Affinity, but none of them realize that they are the components.'
Today, Shang learned something very important.
The Child of Calamity was known, but the Child of Calamity's Path and its goal were a secret.
The Ancestral Mage explained in more detail how Shang had won the battle, and when everyone finally understood what had happened, they realized that a big component of Shang's victory was luck.
Which was true.
If Erel had only released one Domain and readied a defensive Spell, he would have vanished from Shang's Spirit Sense, completely obscuring him.
Shang had only managed to hit Erel since he had remembered where Erel had been when the Domain had appeared.
In fact, for once, Shang believed that he had been lucky.
Someone that could obscure Shang's senses would be one of the hardest opponents for him to defeat. After all, compared to a normal Mage, Shang couldn't release large-scale destructive Spells that destroyed huge areas, revealing the enemy.
Shang had to get close and strike his opponent precisely.
Erel had most likely been the most difficult opponent for Shang to defeat, but due to his recklessness, Erel had ended up being the easiest opponent.
But the same thing wouldn't happen again.
Shang's Spirit Sense focused on his next opponent, the woman wearing purple robes, Cindy.
She had a Temperature Affinity.
However, compared to Erel, Cindy didn't have as much potential to win against Shang in his mind.
Erel had been Shang's counter, but Shang was Cindy's counter.
Rowan, with his Darkness Water Dual Affinity, would be in the middle for Shang. Shang would neither be at a disadvantage nor at an advantage.
Cindy looked back at Shang.
By now, her expression had changed.
Earlier, she had still taken Shang easy, just like Erel, but now, she had realized that Shang was actually truly dangerous.
However, none of these people were greenhouse flowers that had never seen the outside world.
All of them had gone through tons and tons of life-and-death battles, and they wouldn't crack under pressure.
To her, this was a deadly and difficult fight, but it wouldn't be her first deadly and difficult fight.
Shang was a powerful opponent, but she was used to battling someone like that.
"Shang, how long do you need to recover?" Lucin asked.
Shang's body had been injured by the power coursing through it, and he had also used up quite a bit of life energy and Mana to release so much power.
Even more, while his body would recover just as fast as always, due to his new body, his life energy would take multiple times longer to recover.
"Give me ten minutes," Shang said.
Lucin nodded. "The next duel will happen in ten minutes," he announced to everyone.
Chapter 724 724 – Cindy
Everyone talked with each other while waiting for the next duel to begin.
They had all come here to see the warrior get stomped out like a bug, but instead, the Mage had been stomped out.
However, the people also knew that quite a bit of luck was involved in the battle. If Erel had taken the situation more seriously, he would have most likely won.
But that was the crucial word of the sentence.
Likely.
The public sentiment had shifted from certain victory to likely victory.
Sure, there had been a lot of luck, but the warrior had still moved at incredible speeds, and he even managed to destroy a Mana Shield with a single attack.
These feats were very impressive, with or without luck.
Very few of the present people were conceited people that couldn't accept that they had been wrong after having been given proof.
However, Shang's power made the following duel even more interesting to them.
They wanted to see what would happen.
"Ten minutes are up," Lucin said. "Cloud Cindy, please enter the arena."
Cindy narrowed her eyes and floated into the arena.
Her mind was stalwart and focused.
She would treat this like a genuine life-and-death battle.
Cindy summoned her Focus, which was just as impressive as Erel's Focus.
Shang still carried his Addum and Subsis.
Lucin looked at the two combatants and saw that they were ready.
"Three…"
Cindy's Focus began to catch fire.
"Two…"
Cindy's body began to be covered in frost, and white mist came out of her.
"One…"
The white mist coming off Cindy's body floated down, curved to the side, and floated up towards her Focus.
At the same time, the flames coming from her Focus rose higher, curved to the side, and touched Cindy's hair.
"Go!"
WHOOOOOM!
Wind.
Impossibly powerful wind!
The entire arena fell into a chaotic storm as the extremely cold and extremely hot air interacted with each other.
All the Ice and Fire Mana coming from Cindy transformed into pure Wind Mana, and even more, the amount of Wind Mana was several times higher than what Cindy had used.
Cindy had created something that transformed all the Mana in her surroundings into Wind Mana, including her own Mana.
In a way, this could be considered as pseudo-Void Casting. She was making use of all the Mana in her surroundings, but instead of absorbing it and using it for a Spell, she was using a Spell to manipulate the Mana in the surroundings.
Just this ability alone was already more than impressive.
Cindy had created a way to use Void Casting without needing to comprehend Void Casting.
Only a true genius could come up with something like that.
When Shang realized that Cindy had transformed her fire and Ice Mana into Wind Mana, he realized that the fight wouldn't be as easy.
Shang could destroy the will of a Spell with his Subsis, but Shang could only truly make use of Mana that was either Neutral, Fire, Ice, Light, or Darkness.
Wind was not part of Shang's Affinities, which meant that absorbing Wind Mana would barely do anything. The effect would be so weak that it would barely matter.
Of course, that was only true for now. Shang estimated that he would be able to absorb all kinds of Mana as soon as he truly comprehended his own form of Void Casting.
But he didn't have that yet, which made things troublesome.
An impossibly powerful wall of wind hit Shang.
BOOOM!
Shang solidified his surroundings and used Comet, but the sheer power of the wind slowed him by over 90%!
90%!
Shang was still moving as fast as a Peak Archbeast, but compared to his usual speed, this was nothing.
A black streak appeared in front of Shang, and an instant later, he teleported forward with Ghost Step.
The wind couldn't stop Shang's Ghost Step.
Then, Shang used a second Ghost Step to arrive directly in front of Cindy.
SHING!
But Cindy used Mana Step and arrived on the other side of the arena.
In an instant, Shang turned around and used the direction of the wind to shoot toward Cindy.
This time, he was far faster than usual since the wind was also pushing him forward.
However, a genius like Cindy wouldn't overlook such an obvious thing.
She had already prepared her next Spells.
WHOOOOM!
An orange wall appeared in front of her.
If a normal person looked at this wall, they would think that this was a space filled with peaceful and warm air.
However, that wasn't the case.
This orange wall actually didn't exist.
It was just an image one would perceive since they wouldn't be perceptive enough to see the wall's true appearance.
Actually, there was not one wall, but hundreds of them stacked side by side.
Extreme heat, extreme cold, extreme heat, extreme cold, extreme heat…
The amount of Mana inside these walls wasn't very high, but due to how they were placed, the destructive effect was actually brutally strong.
Shang could control the temperature of his body with incredible accuracy and speed, but even he wouldn't be able to adapt his temperature this quickly.
If this wall hit Shang, he would turn to dust.
And then, the wall shot towards Shang like the wind didn't exist.
The wall was so wide that Shang couldn't even attempt to side-step it in a normal way.
SHING!
Shang was forced to use Ghost Step to evade to the side.
An instant later, Cindy's Focus began to burn brightly, but all the fire seemed to be swept away by the wind.
At that moment, Shang felt an incredibly powerful feeling of danger.
Shang could feel how beautiful little stars appeared around him.
They had appeared without him noticing, which should have been impossible.
After all, they were made of very dense Fire Mana, and Shang could feel Fire Mana very well.
What Shang didn't know was that Cindy had used a Spell that transformed the Fire Mana into Wind Mana, merged it with the storm around her, and transformed it back into destructive Fire Mana when it arrived at her target.
As soon as the tiny stars appeared, it was already nearly too late for Shang to react.
He couldn't evade.
He had to take it!
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
Chapter 725 725 – Split
A humongous explosion appeared in the middle of the arena.
The powerful storm inside the arena immediately destroyed all the smoke the explosion had created, revealing Shang.
Shang's body was nearly destroyed. His entire body was filled with cracks and burns.
Shang had offset the power of the explosion by cooling his body rapidly, but that process required more control than Shang had.
If Shang cooled his body a little too much, he would completely freeze, stopping the function of his body and his mind in an instant.
So, Shang had to err on the side of heat. It was better for parts of his body to burn away than to risk his brain freezing and being unable to think or act.
The damage inside Shang's body was severe, but he immediately used his life energy to heal himself.
He could heal himself just as fast as with his old body, but every bit of life energy was just that more valuable since it wouldn't recover nearly as fast.
In past fights, Shang always managed to recover 10% to 100% of his life energy just by staying alive, giving him more opportunities to heal himself.
Now, every bit of life energy wasted was permanent.
The time Shang needed to recover even 1% of life energy would be longer than this fight would take.
On top of that, Shang's maximum level of life energy was already at only 70% due to his new body, making it even more difficult.
These were the negative effects of Shang's new body.
But it was worth it.
Having the ability to have a mind as powerful as his body was too valuable for Shang.
But for now, Shang needed to heal himself.
He used 30% of his life energy, leaving only 40%, and it would not go above 40% during this battle.
It would only go down.
DING!
At that moment, something glittered in Shang's hand.
Shang's Subsis had transformed!
Instead of being a black stick, there was now a beautiful and long icy edge on it, and even more, there were tiny red things moving into it.
Shang had defended against the explosion, but he had also used his Subsis to absorb a lot of the Fire Mana.
All the absorbed Fire Mana traveled through Shang's body, being transformed in the process.
And then, Light Mana entered Shang's Addum.
Shang slashed horizontally.
BOOOOOOOM!
The arena shook!
The eyes of the onlookers opened in surprise.
All the wind had stopped!
Shang had transformed the Fire Mana into Light Mana on the extreme end of mass.
After that, he released the mass in the surroundings, making the surrounding space much denser and heavier.
The wind didn't have enough power to move that much, and since it had only been pushed by its own momentum, the wind very quickly lost its power.
There was nothing that actually pushed the wind forward.
It was just Wind Mana being Wind Mana.
Shang's body withered a bit, but he didn't use any life energy to heal himself yet.
As soon as the Wind Mana vanished, Shang shot at Cindy again.
With all the wind gone, Shang finally regained full control over his body, increasing his agility to its usual levels.
Cindy's eyes sparkled.
SHING!
Cindy used Mana Step just before Shang arrived.
Shang had expected something like that.
If he couldn't kill a Mage very quickly, it transformed into a battle of attrition.
Every use of Mana Step was an additional 10% to 20% of Mana wasted by his opponent.
Shang had fought hundreds of battles against powerful Mages inside his inner world, and he knew exactly how to handle them.
About two more uses of Mana Step and Cindy would be critically low on Mana.
Shang was currently in the arena on ground level, and Cindy had appeared in the middle at the very top, at the edge of the barrier surrounding the arena.
From several kilometers high, she looked at Shang with a serious expression.
Then, she took a deep breath.
At that moment, Shang felt an unreal amount of Mana gathering around Cindy.
It was difficult to believe that Cindy had access to that much Mana!
As soon as Shang saw that, he knew that Cindy wasn't planning on having a drawn-out battle.
She had managed to injure Shang once, but she hadn't managed to kill him.
On top of that, she had already used several Spells and two Mana Steps.
She knew that if things continued like this, there was a very real chance of her losing.
She felt that she wouldn't win in the long run.
Because of that, she had to end the fight immediately.
And she was planning on doing just that.
Cindy lightly touched her Focus.
SHING!
Her Focus vanished and reappeared at the bottom of the arena.
Cindy had used Mana Step on her Focus.
As soon as the Focus arrived, a fiery red wave shot out from it.
It was an extremely dense wave of Fire Mana!
However, when Shang felt the properties of this wave, he grew extremely shocked.
He had never seen anything like it!
Shang knew that this couldn't be anything good, but before he could do anything, Cindy was already unleashing an extremely dense storm of Ice Mana.
A storm of ice from the top.
A wave of fire from the bottom.
And they met in the middle.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZ!
An extremely loud noise akin to a powerful circular saw reverberated throughout the arena as an intense white wall appeared in the place the two kinds of Mana met.
The intense wave of Fire Mana filled the bottom half of the arena and completely buried Shang.
However, Shang didn't move or do anything.
The intense wave of fire seemed to encompass Shang like water, filling his entire body.
But it wasn't doing anything else.
Everything around Shang and even a lot of space inside Shang was filled with this kind of Fire Mana, but nothing was burning or exploding.
Since Shang knew the Concept of Addition and the Concept of Subtraction, he managed to see the Fire Mana's attributes early, and that was exactly what shocked him so much.
The Fire Mana was not truly Fire Mana.
In a way, it could be compared to the effect of mass Shang had released with his Light Affinity earlier.
Obviously, no one would consider a dense and heavy space to be light, and the same thing was true with the Fire Mana here.
The properties of explosion and heat had been removed from the Fire Mana!
Instead, it was filled with the properties of penetration from ice!
This meant that the Fire Mana had no destructive effect but could permeate everything.
Meanwhile, the Ice Mana at the top of the arena was the polar opposite.
The Ice Mana had the missing properties of the Fire Mana, making it extremely explosive.
However, since there was no heat inside the Ice Mana, the explosion was harmless.
The Fire Mana was harmless.
The Ice Mana was harmless.
But when the two of them met…
The power inside that tiny white space in the middle of the arena was extremely powerful.
Yet, that wasn't the true danger.
Shang's body was filled with the harmless Fire Mana.
And if he touched any of the harmless Ice Mana…
The Fire Mana inside of him would transform and explode.
Even more, all the Fire Mana was permeated with Cindy's will, and if Shang wanted to get rid of that, he would need to use his own Mana or body.
But since Cindy had used so much Mana, it would be nearly impossible for Shang to get rid of all of it while passing through the border.
She had him.
Shang's Spirit Sense focused on the Focus just two kilometers beside him.
It was unprotected, and Shang could destroy it with a simple hit without having to pass through the border.
That would stop the outpouring of Fire Mana.
Then, Shang focused on Cindy.
Cindy obviously wasn't stupid.
This was too easy to counter.
So, was she actually banking on the fact that Shang would destroy her Focus?
Was this a trap?
But what if she expected that Shang wouldn't underestimate her, and destroying the Focus was actually the correct thing to do?
Shang realized that this train of thought could continue indefinitely.
It was a 50/50.
Nevertheless, Shang had to make a decision now.
If he didn't do anything, either the Mana would become even denser, or Cindy would recover Mana, maybe both.
But what should Shang do?
Chapter 726 726 – Fire And Ice
Shang made his decision very quickly.
He shot over to the Focus and blew it apart with his Addum.
As soon as the Focus got destroyed, Cindy's eyes shone.
WHOOOOM!
Cindy released even more of the strange Ice Mana, and since there was no more new Fire Mana entering the arena, the white wall moved downward.
At this moment, the destructive white wall was coming closer and closer to Shang.
There was no escape.
Shang had to very quickly evaluate all his options and come up with a plan.
Ghost Step? Useless.
Comet? Useless.
Changing Temperatures? Useless.
Destroying the will? That would nearly kill Shang and use up all his life energy. He might survive, but getting through the wall didn't mean winning the fight. Cindy still had Mana left, and with Shang nearly dead, she would most likely win.
Absorbing the Mana? Impossible due to the will.
Reflecting the Spell? Not possible.
Refracting the Spell? Not possible.
Increase or decrease the mass in the surroundings? Won't work.
Release more Fire or Ice Mana to attack the border? That would just reshape the border, not get rid of it.
Destroy the Fire Mana around him? That would make the area smaller, speeding up the approach of the border.
Fill the surroundings with Fire Mana to change the density? The weird Fire Mana would adapt the properties of the normal Fire Mana, and everything around Shang, including himself, would explode.
Shang took a deep breath as the white border approached.
'Seems like I can't win without showing some powers of the Child of Calamity,' Shang thought.
'Several Mage Lords, and maybe even a Mage King, are watching the fight, which is why I didn't want to use any of these abilities. However, that's still better than dying.'
'If I don't use them, I will die. If I use them, I might still survive.'
'I only hope that the conclusion I have come to earlier isn't wrong.'
'People know of the Child of Calamity, but they don't know what the Child of Calamity can do.'
'If that's true, no one will suspect that I am the Child of Calamity.'
'Well, I don't really have a different choice anyway.'
Shang readied his swords and shot upward.
In an instant, he reached the border.
WHOOOOOOM!
And then, everything around Shang started to transform into nothingness.
Domain of Entropy!
Shang couldn't get rid of all the will or the Mana the normal way, but with the Domain of Entropy, this wasn't a problem.
The Domain of Entropy simply transformed everything into neutral Mana, including the border, and it wouldn't even consume a lot of Shang's body since he only had to get rid of the little bit of Mana that made up the border and not all the Mana in the arena.
Shang's Domain of Entropy worked very differently from the Concepts of Subtraction and Addition.
As soon as Shang reached the border, the white border just vanished.
At this moment, Shang was in the middle of the border, but there was a grey area around him, splitting the border in two.
And then, he passed the border.
ZZZZZZZZZ!
The area below Shang continued exploding, but Shang was unaffected.
His Domain of Entropy had also gotten rid of the Fire Mana inside his body.
As soon as Shang entered the space filled with Ice Mana, Shang pointed his Subsis towards Cindy, its tip exiting Shang's Domain of Entropy.
Cindy only watched Shang with shocked and terrified eyes.
How?!
And then, Shang's Subsis released a tiny bit of regular Frost Mana.
CRK!
All the strange properties of the surrounding Ice Mana vanished, and all the strange Ice Mana was transformed into regular Ice Mana.
In an instant, the entire space above the border froze.
Due to Shang's Domain of Entropy, none of the Ice Mana had been around him, and since it had also lost its explosive properties, Shang had felt zero impact from the Ice Mana's transformation.
However, the intense freezing effect of the Ice Mana would have put a huge strain on Cindy's Mana Shield.
Shang felt the surrounding Ice Mana, and he could feel that Cindy's will was still on it.
That meant that Cindy was still alive.
However, that wasn't a big problem.
A terrifying amount of Ice Mana shot out of Shang's body as his own body became hotter and hotter.
And then, Shang shot forward with his Subsis pointed forward.
The penetrating effect of Shang's Subsis cut the solid ice in front of him apart, and the temperature of Shang's body was kept at a healthy level.
This was not an attack shooting at Shang but Shang shooting forward. This meant that the speed at which Shang traveled through the ice was decided by him, making it extremely easy to manage his own temperature.
Shang shot through the ice at extreme speeds, and he arrived at the spot where Cindy had been earlier in nearly an instant.
Cindy wasn't there anymore, but Shang could feel the slight difference in the ice around him, which meant that Cindy had dug away and created a wall of ice behind her.
Mana Step couldn't be used to move through solid objects, and this ice was solid.
Even more, they also couldn't feel each other with their Spirit Senses for the same reason.
Shang kept charging forward, following the trail.
And then, Shang felt Cindy.
When they were only 50 meters apart, Shang could feel Cindy with his Spirit Sense. Sure, the solid matter made Spirit Senses nearly useless, but Shang could still see the 50 meters around him.
Cindy hadn't noticed him yet due to the difference in their Spirit Senses.
Shang pulled his Addum back and slashed forward.
BOOOOOOOOM!
Everything for 500 meters in front of Shang exploded!
Cindy's Mana Shield vibrated under stress.
BOOM!
Since all the ice was now gone, there was now nothing between Cindy and Shang.
How long would Shang need to travel 50 meters through the air without any obstruction?
Cindy couldn't even react.
Shang immediately arrived beside her, and he hit her Mana Shield with his Addum.
CRACK!
The Mana Shield exploded.
Cindy stopped thinking in horror.
The last thing she saw was Shang's Subsis moving toward her eyes.
SHING!
Shang's Subsis stabbed through Cindy's head, and an instant later, her body started to wither and decay as Shang's body recovered.
The fight was over.
Chapter 727 727 – Leaving
A moment after Shang killed Cindy, all the ice in the surroundings vanished as Lucin turned it back into Ice Mana.
"Winner: Cloud Shang," Lucin announced.
At the same time, the audience looked with shock at the picture in front of them.
The warrior held a dried-up corpse up with his sword.
He seemed uninjured.
After the battle had started, everyone had already realized that this warrior might really have the ability to rival the real Clouds, but when they saw Shang actually win, it confirmed it.
For the first time, the Mages felt a certain emotion.
Nervousness, but not just any nervousness.
The nervousness of seeing someone fundamentally belonging to a completely different class reaching one's level.
Yes, it was only one warrior, but all the Clouds were also "only one Mage".
Such incredible freaks with such insane talents were always seen separately from the masses. They were unique.
Yet, even though every Cloud was special, there was now someone else.
A warrior that was just as special.
Before Shang had arrived in the Hibye, the Mages were generally a bit interested in warriors.
Warriors were something interesting and unique. It was fun to watch them.
But now, this interesting thing had actually managed to reach a level where it could become a threat to them.
For the first time, this entertaining thing actually felt dangerous.
Of course, the Clouds reacted very differently to Shang.
Some of them were genuinely impressed by Shang's power and were interested in learning more about him. They weren't even truly thinking of him as just a warrior but just another Cloud.
Some of them saw Shang as a danger to their future positions, just like any other Cloud. Everyone here wanted to become a Mage King, and with this warrior, there was now one more contender.
Some of them feared Shang. Over half of the Clouds had unknown levels of Battle-Strength since they had never fought publicly. Because of that, no one knew how strong they actually were.
But now, Shang had shown his power, and by killing two Clouds, he had shown that he definitely didn't belong to the weaker half.
He was one of the more powerful Clouds, and by seeing him fighting, some of the weaker Clouds realized that their chances of winning against him in a fight were slim.
This made them fear and resent Shang.
He was standing between them and their goal.
And then, there were just a couple of Mages that saw themselves as Mages and Shang as a mere warrior. Warriors were trash, and it was a Mage's duty to put these warriors back into their place!
So, while there were a lot of different reactions, one thing had become clear.
Shang had become a target for a couple of Clouds.
But he had already expected that.
Now, what about the Domain of Entropy that Shang had used to pass by the white border?
What did the Clouds think about that?
Nothing.
Every Cloud had strange powers that nearly no one could explain. All the Clouds were innovators, creating completely new kinds of Spells and ways to use Mana. All their powers were extraordinary.
So, Shang's Domain of Entropy seemed just like any other extraordinary power.
As the strongest person watching, Lucin felt something strange from Shang's Domain of Entropy, but that feeling wasn't very strong.
Even more, Shang's identity as a warrior made the Domain of Entropy even less suspicious.
Nobody knew how warriors worked since they had essentially never come into contact with them. Because of that, they didn't have a reference as to what was normal for a warrior to do and what not.
Maybe every talented warrior could do that?
"Shang, how long do you need to recover?" Lucin asked.
"I need five minutes," Shang said. Cindy's life energy had healed Shang, but his life energy still needed to recover a bit.
Lucin nodded. "Then, the duel between Cloud Shang and Cloud Rowan will com-"
"Stop!"
Lucin furrowed his brows, and everyone looked over to someone in the audience.
It was Rowan, Shang's next opponent.
"Yes?" Lucin asked with a bit of annoyance.
Rowan closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"I know when I am outmatched," Rowan said, his voice sounding surprisingly calm and accepting of the circumstances.
Some of the Clouds raised an eyebrow while some of them sneered in disgust.
"You're leaving?" Lucin asked.
Rowan nodded. "Yes, I'm leaving."
"Are you sure about this? Once you've gone through with it, the only way to undo it is to get a fivefold Spirit Sense," Lucin said.
Rowan nodded again. "It's better than dying."
"Fine," Lucin said. "Then, your Focus, please."
Rowan summoned his Focus, and it slowly floated over to Lucin.
"Your Communication Crystal," Lucin said.
Rowan summoned his Communication Crystal, which also floated over to Lucin.
Lucin inspected everything and nodded. "The duels for today are over," he said.
The Clouds threw a couple more glances at Shang, but most of them started to leave.
A moment later, Rowan floated up towards Lucin, and Lucin looked over at Shang.
Then, he threw over a small piece of paper with insanely tiny writing.
Shang read through it.
"Convert everything," he said.
Lucin nodded. "You will get your prize in two days."
Shang also nodded and flew away.
"Follow me," Lucin said to Rowan.
Rowan threw one last glance at the leaving Clouds with longing.
He released one last sigh and flew after Lucin.
So, what exactly had happened just now?
Well, a Cloud had the ability to give up their status as a Cloud and become a Boltling.
Naturally, something like that wasn't something easy to do.
First of all, the Cloud had to hand over 100% of their belongings, including their Focus. The only thing they would get to keep was their clothes, and also only if they were worth less than a Grade Five Mana Crystal.
Second, they would need to get an SKP as a Boltling, making it a bit more difficult to train.
Third, since they were now a Boltling, they were not supposed to train forever before reaching the next Realm. They were supposed to become Mage Lords. This meant that the Cloud would be forced to reach the next Realm in a timely manner, no matter how much they comprehended.
Lastly, as Boltlings, they wouldn't even receive a tenth of the resources they had received as a Cloud.
In short, this meant that a Cloud would give up any ambition.
As for the way to become a Cloud again by getting a fivefold Spirit Sense?
If they couldn't do that as a Cloud, it would be impossible as a Boltling.
Naturally, Shang would receive everything Rowan had owned. It would be just like if Shang had killed him, just with him not dying.
To Shang and the other Clouds, Rowan leaving was akin to him dying.
They wouldn't see him again, and he wouldn't be a rival anymore.
Today, Shang had gotten rid of three Archmage Clouds, which represented around 3% of all Archmage Clouds.
And he also gained the wealth of three Clouds.
As a new Cloud, Shang had been the poorest since he had only received his one Grade Seven Mana Crystal.
People like Erel, Cindy, and Rowan had been Clouds for much longer, and they had earned a lot more resources.
And these resources belonged to Shang now.
Chapter 728 728 – Furnace Pills
Shang spent the next two days digesting the new experiences and information he had received by fighting Erel and Cindy.
Shang had fought a lot of powerful Mages with the Affinity Wheel in his inner world, but not even a single one had been comparable to Erel and Cindy.
The two of them had been on completely different levels.
By now, Shang could also tell how powerful the "powerful" Mages of the Affinity Wheel were.
A Mage deemed to be powerful was someone that could jump one level, which meant they had a 50/50 shot at winning against an average Mage one level above them.
How strong was that for an Empire?
It was strong enough to become a Spark.
It was not enough to become a Boltling.
As Shang thought about everything that had happened, his Spirit Sense threw a glance at the stone stele in the middle of his inner world.
He looked at Jerald's hand.
Jerald had been so powerful back then, but he would have only had a shot at becoming a Spark, and only if he became an Ancestral Mage and kept his Battle-Strength.
As for every other normal Mage in Area 23?
They wouldn't have been good enough to even become Sparks.
'I need to be more careful of these Clouds,' Shang thought. 'I expected Cindy to be an easy fight, but it wasn't easy at all. If I didn't use any of my abilities related to Entropy, I most likely wouldn't have won.'
'There are bound to be more powerful ones among them.'
Cindy had used two things that Shang hadn't expected to see.
She had transformed Fire and Ice Mana into Wind Mana, and she had manipulated the properties of Fire and Ice Mana.
Shang's fight against Cindy hadn't been a truly desperate one, but it had been a bit dangerous at times.
However, even such fights could help someone comprehend new things.
This was why so many Mages sought inspiration when they were stuck.
Two days later, Lucin arrived in front of Shang.
Right now, Shang was sitting in a random cave. It didn't really matter where he was since he was mostly focusing on his inner world.
By now, Shang could feel a bit of the outside world when he was in his inner world, which meant that he wasn't completely cut off anymore, but that ability only extended to roughly feeling the condition of his body.
When Lucin's Spirit Sense contacted Shang, Shang felt it, and he left his inner world.
Lucin had already arrived in front of Shang, and he held a purple sack in one of his hands.
"Here's your reward," Lucin said with a smile as he threw the sack over.
Shang took hold of it and inspected it with his Spirit Sense.
Even though Shang had expected that he had earned a lot of money, his insides still shook when he saw the contents.
Grade Seven Mana Crystals.
38 Grade Seven Mana Crystals.
"Most of that comes from Rowan," Lucin said. "He was one of the stronger Clouds, but I think he made the right choice."
Lucin didn't say it, but Shang knew what Lucin was referring to.
His fivefold Spirit Sense.
Rowan was strong, but someone with a fivefold Spirit Sense was still on a different level.
After all, there were still several abilities Shang hadn't used in his fight.
Shang hadn't used Sword's Entropy.
He hadn't used his own Entropy.
He hadn't used Silence.
And he had only used his Domain of Entropy for a short time.
Shang's true power was still quite a bit higher than what the Clouds had seen, and Lucin knew that.
Lucin didn't know the specifics of Shang's powers, but he knew that someone with a fivefold Spirit Sense had to be more powerful than just what Shang had shown.
"Are you going to spend it all on Furnace Pills again?" Lucin asked with a concerned raised eyebrow.
Shang only nodded.
Lucin sighed. "I would tell you to stop torturing yourself, but maybe that is exactly what allowed you to get a fivefold Spirit Sense in the first place."
Shang didn't answer Lucin and left the cave.
Lucin waited for a couple of seconds and started to leave.
A moment later, his Communication Crystal rang with a request for handing out resources.
2,000 Furnace Pills for five Grade Seven Mana Crystals.
Buyer: Cloud Shang.
Lucin sighed and approved the exchange.
Many kilometers away, Fleros nodded as he received Lucin's approval.
"I only have 100 for now. The other 1,900 will take about a month to be made," Fleros said as he handed over 100 Furnace Pills.
Shang wordlessly took them, nodded, and left.
When Shang left, Fleros took out his Communication Crystal and sent out a request for 2,000 Furnace Pills.
At the same time, a sheet of paper appeared on a desk in an office inside the Lightning Manor.
The piece of paper began to float, and a middle-aged Mage Lord looked at it.
He saw the secret sigil of the Contender Department and looked at the contents.
It was a request for 2,000 Furnace Pills.
The Mage Lord only shook his head in confusion.
Why would anyone use that many Furnace Pills?
He put his own sigil on the piece of paper and showed it to the embedded Communication Crystal on his desk.
The paper vanished.
Many kilometers away, a piece of paper shot out of a shining circle in a place that looked a bit like a shop.
A female Mage Lord looked at the piece of paper and furrowed her brows.
She put on some glasses and looked at a wall filled with several Magic Circles.
"We only have 47 left," she muttered.
After she said that, she hung the piece of paper on a different wall, where several other pieces of paper were also hung.
She took out her Communication Crystal and contacted someone. "I need 2,000 Furnace Pills for an order."
"2,000?" the person on the other end asked.
"Yes, 2,000," she confirmed.
"Some people these days," the other person answered. "Sure, I'll get on it."
The Mage Lord hung up.
Many kilometers away, a different Mage Lord contacted someone else with his Communication Crystal.
"Lord Vasttremor! It's a pleasure to hear from you!" the person on the other side spoke politely.
"We need 2,000 Furnace Pills," the Mage Lord said.
Silence.
"2,000 Furnace Pills?"
"Yes, 2,000 Furnace Pills."
"Of course, of course!" the other person said. "We'll get right to it. I'll have to make some adjustments to my staff, but it should work out. You can expect the wares in a bit less than a month."
"Thanks," the Mage Lord said.
"No, thank you!" the other person said.
The Mage Lord hung up, and a Peak Ancestral Mage was quickly rearranging all the work for his hundreds of Ancestral Mages.
"We got a priority order from the Lightning Manor!" he announced with a big smile.
The other Ancestral Mages only sighed.
This meant that they had to work even more.
This was the Grand Pill Pavilion, one of the leading companies dealing in pharmacy.
And for the next month, nearly all of the big members would do nothing but focus on Shang's order.
Chapter 729 729 – Mutating
After getting 100 Furnace Pills, Shang left.
He traveled for about a minute and arrived at a certain place within the Hibye, the center.
In the very center of the Hibye, there were several tall buildings. There were about 50 of them, and each one was over a hundred meters high and nearly half a kilometer wide.
All of these buildings were mansions.
And the people living here were the Mage Lords under Lucin and Lucin himself.
Naturally, each mansion had several expensive Magic Circles that enhanced someone's speed of comprehension, and a couple of Mage Lords were essentially always present.
The Bolts working under Lucin worked in shifts of 33. Each century, the shift would change.
This meant that a Bolt working under Lucin had to work for one century and then got two centuries off.
During these two centuries of free time, the Bolts either trained at their house, traveled the world, or went to different places to comprehend more Concepts.
But at least five were always at home.
As for Lucin, since he had effectively already reached the peak of his power, he worked all the time.
Most of the time, Lucin was inside his house or floating somewhere near it. The reason for that was the size of the Hibye and the location of Lucin's house.
Just like the Clouds, Lucin had a fourfold Spirit Sense, and since a normal Mage Lord had a Spirit Sense with a radius of 10,000 kilometers, Lucin had a Spirit Sense with a radius of 40,000 kilometers.
Since the Hibye was around 100,000 kilometers wide and long, this meant that Lucin could see nearly the entire thing as long as he was in the middle.
Lucin was the biggest reason why the Hibye was so safe from external threats.
Nearly all the clouds were under constant supervision by a Peak Mage Lord with a fourfold Spirit Sense.
Even the Clouds had it extremely difficult to hurt anyone without Lucin's permission.
And, sure enough, Lucin was above his house right now, looking at his Communication Crystal.
Shang stopped a couple of kilometers away from the mansions and sat down on a random hill.
Of course, Lucin had noticed that Shang had arrived, but he could already guess why he was there.
This was an obvious solution to Shang's problem.
Shang knew that several people might decide to target him, but since doing something like that was forbidden, the perpetrator would need to do it without anyone noticing them.
Therefore, the best way to deal with such a hidden threat was to stay in the most public and safest place, which was directly beside where all the Bolts and Lucin lived.
It was one thing to kill someone at the edge of Lucin's perception, but it was something completely different to kill someone just a small distance away from him.
After sitting down, Shang took out the bottle of Furnace Pills and grabbed one of the pills.
Lucin didn't look at Shang, but he still sighed.
Shang was quite close to Lucin's house, which kind of made it difficult for Lucin not to look at him. He didn't really want to see Shang eat a Furnace Pill, but there wasn't really anything he could do.
Surprisingly, there were no other Clouds near the mansions of the Bolts, even though this had to be the safest place.
The reason was the Bolts' and Lucin's annoyance.
Being close to the mansions was akin to someone sitting directly in front of someone else's house.
It was just weird, annoying, and awkward.
Because of that, all the Mage Lords that were in the mansions stared at Clouds that came here with their Spirit Senses.
You want to weird me out? I'm going to weird you out!
Since being looked at by several people was very distracting, comprehending Concepts or creating new Spells became very difficult at this place. After all, Mages needed focus and concentration.
Sure, they weren't forbidden from coming and training here, but they would barely make any progress under the constant distracting stares.
But Shang didn't care.
He didn't need any focus or concentration for his current training.
Without hesitation, Shang threw the Furnace Pill into his mouth and swallowed it.
A couple of seconds later, Shang began to grit his teeth and clench his fists.
This was painful, even for him.
SSSHHH!
Shang's skin began to turn red, and a white mist of Mana left his body.
Shang remained silent.
Some seconds later, a quiet noise of something tearing could be heard.
Shang's skin had torn in a place, revealing the flesh beneath.
The sounds happened more and more frequently, each one accompanied by another cut opening on Shang's skin.
After a minute, Shang's entire body had turned into essentially a mass of cuts.
Surprisingly, the cuts didn't bleed.
SNAP!
Then, a couple of Shang's blood vessels tore apart.
Yet, what came out wasn't blood but something else.
It was a bubbling red mass of flesh.
The red mass expanded and grew out of one of Shang's cuts, tearing it and the surrounding muscles apart.
As the muscles tore apart, they began to sizzle.
And then, they fused and solidified.
The same thing happened on more and more spots of Shang's body.
His body began to cramp all over, and his blood began to grow out of him uncontrollably.
After just three minutes, Shang looked barely human, and his entire body had been distorted into inhuman shapes.
Several parts of his body were being fused and then ripped apart again.
This was what a Furnace Pill did.
It was called a Furnace Pill because, just like a furnace, it changed the properties of everything that was put inside.
Originally, Furnace Pills had been designed to torture people. While the victim would be under unreal pain and fear, there was no life-threatening danger to them. A huge component of the Furnace Pills was a steady supply of life energy.
This meant that a Furnace Pill completely kept changing and mutating someone's body without killing them.
One Furnace Pill would do this to someone for two full weeks.
However, even though the original purpose of Furnace Pills was to torture someone, a different use for them had been found as well.
Training physical power and training willpower.
Most of the Furnace Pills were given to captured beasts to tame and train them.
Some very few Furnace Pills were also used by some crazy Mages that believed that they needed more willpower, which was why they were undergoing this kind of torture voluntarily. Naturally, these Mages were very few, and the effectiveness of increasing someone's willpower was also debatable.
As for Shang, the Furnace Pill put a lot of pressure all over his body, tearing everything apart.
Including his Mana Pathways.
The force that damaged the Mana Pathways was an increase of outward pressure inside of them. The Mana inside the Mana Pathways was expanding steadily and crazily until the pressure was just too much, and the Mana Pathways burst.
This was exactly what Shang needed.
By constantly expanding the Mana Pathways, they would become bigger and gain more elasticity.
After consuming about 100 of these Furnace Pills, Shang could enter the Isolation Chamber to compress his expanded Mana Pathways.
This was how Shang had trained for the last 20 years, and this was how he would continue training.
Chapter 730 730 – Fleshy Hill
The Bolts in their houses had become quite distracted in recent days, and they weren't exactly sure what they should do.
This new warrior had essentially sat down beside their houses and started to mutate into grotesque shapes.
The Bolts wanted to have some time for themselves in their own house, but they couldn't focus on anything they were doing since this guy just kept mutating and being gross on their front lawn.
Naturally, they had tried to get him to go away by constantly looking at him, but he didn't seem to care. He even seemed like he didn't even notice that they were looking.
So, when that didn't work, they tried to ignore him.
Sure, the warrior wasn't looking at them with his Spirit Sense, but he didn't need to.
He was distracting enough as it was.
The Bolts just couldn't stop themselves from throwing curious glances at him, which also stopped them from doing whatever they were doing.
They tried even harder to ignore him, but it was just impossible.
They felt bad for the warrior.
They were annoyed and wanted to hate him for interrupting their free time, but the sheer pain he must be under made it difficult for them to actually hate him.
No one deserved to go through something like that.
And that was the problem.
Shang was in so much pain that he distracted everyone.
If he weren't in as much pain, Mage Lords wouldn't have an issue since they could just ignore him.
What were they supposed to do?
Help him? He was doing this to himself, and helping him was literally not helping him.
Ignore him? Easier said than done.
Talk to him? He didn't seem like someone that could talk right now.
So, after the first two weeks were close to being up, the Bolts released a sigh of relief.
Finally, this guy would leave.
Shang's body stopped mutating.
CRK!
At that moment, Shang began to use his power to tear his own body apart.
He tore his Beast Core and his mind out of the fleshy monstrosity that was his body, and after he did so, he used his life energy to regrow his normal body.
Shang took a deep breath and analyzed his Mana Pathways.
He saw some progress.
And then, he took out another Furnace Pill and ate it.
When the Bolts saw that, they felt like their world was breaking down.
Another one?
Another two weeks of this?!
Fuck that!
Nearly all of them left.
It was nice to be at home, but they didn't need to be at home.
They could also just train somewhere else.
In the end, only two Bolts remained in their house.
These were the only two Bolts that didn't mind Shang at all.
The reason for that was that they had no feeling of Empathy.
They couldn't feel Empathy.
So, the mutating Shang was only an interesting show to them, and when they had their fill, they just stopped looking.
Five years later, the first Bolt returned, and when they arrived, their eyes widened in shock.
He was still at it?!
How was he still at it?!
The hill on which Shang "sat" had transformed into a fleshy forest with many bizarre fleshy structures standing on it.
In a way, it almost looked like art.
The Bolt left again.
Over the next couple of years, more and more Bolts returned, but they also left just as quickly.
About 15 years after Shang had consumed the first Furnace Pills, the Bolts finally had enough.
They went to Lucin and complained to him.
In the beginning, Lucin just said that Shang wasn't breaking any rules, but as more and more Bolts complained, he began to waver.
Eventually, Lucin decided to do something.
He flew over to Shang's hill and began to cast several complex Spells.
SHING!
An extremely complex Magic Circle appeared around the fleshy hill, and a couple of seconds later, a purple barrier appeared.
It was an Isolation Barrier.
No one could see or get through it except Lucin himself.
Lucin wasn't a fan of helping an individual Cloud over the others, but this was a special circumstance. Additionally, he wasn't really helping Shang grow more powerful. The only thing Lucin was helping Shang with was something that would only be helpful if someone actually broke the rules, in which case Lucin would be allowed to help either way.
If no one was planning on assassinating Shang, the barrier would be useless, and if someone tried to assassinate him, Lucin would be allowed to help anyway.
When the bolts saw that, they sighed in relief.
Finally, they didn't need to look at this stuff anymore.
More and more Bolts returned to their homes over the next couple of years, and the purple barrier became normal to them after a while.
Around 20 years after Shang had taken the first Furnace Pill, he took a break.
After healing his body, he didn't immediately take the next Furnace Pill.
That was because it was time for a trip to the Isolation Chamber.
Since Shang now had much more money, he decided to let his Mana Pathways grow more and for longer.
That might waste a couple of Furnace Pills, but it could result in a slightly higher efficiency.
Shang summoned the Isolation Chamber and put it in a random spot on the fleshy hill.
Then, he activated one of the Magic Circles around the Isolation Chamber and started to manipulate it.
Fleros had transformed Shang's Isolation Chamber and added several new functions.
Now, Shang didn't need a second person anymore.
He could input a set time, and the Magic Circle would keep the Isolation Chamber closed for that time, but that wasn't even everything.
After opening again, it also filled itself with healing water that would refill Shang's life energy.
Of course, during all of this, it also hid in an additional Isolation Barrier to keep itself hidden.
Shang manipulated the Magic Circle around the Isolation Chamber, and when he was done, he entered it.
Some seconds later, the Isolation Chamber closed itself.
And for the next two months, he wouldn't come out.