Chapter 542
"Finally done!" Shang said out loud as he fell onto his back.
‘That took sooo loooong!'' he thought as his mind rxed for the first time in a very long while.
However, Shang also just couldn''t stop looking at his finished work.
An intricate but very logicalwork of interconnected Mana pathways was now inside his body.
Inparison to the chaotic growth of natural Mana pathways, the new ones were very straight and very orderly.
Comparing the natural Mana pathways with the new ones would be likeparing the rootwork of a tree with a plumbing
network.
One was obviously much easier to understand and orderly than the other.
Additionally, the new Mana pathwaywork was designed to make easy changes in the future. Shang could simply remove one
and add one without needing to amend any other Mana pathways.
Of course, the oldwork of Mana pathways was still inside Shang''s body, and he was still using it for anything that wasn''t his
Great Sword State.
Sadly, needing to keep bothworks active at all times had weakened Shang''s reserves considerably.
Just like he had predicted, Shang now only had about 50% of his earlier power.
But that didn''t mean that he was weaker from a Battle-Strength perspective.
While his entire body moved slower and hit lighter, Shang''s ability to elerate and adapt to any kind of movement was insane.
Some of Shang''s movements had be so bizarre that one would even think that some fundamentalws of physics just
didn''t apply to him.
For example, Shang could swing with all his power to his right, but in the middle of the swing, his sword suddenly moved in the
opposite direction at the same speed.
It was like inertia straight up didn''t exist.
The way this worked was actually the sudden explosion of Mana.
If one imagined Shang swinging at an explosive, one wouldn''t be surprised when Shang''s sword suddenly shot in the opposite
direction after detonating the explosive.
But if one imagined the same movement without the explosive, it would seem very unnatural.
That was because the explosive force was inside Shang''s arm and invisible to the eye.
Even more, since Shang''s muscles didn''t need to sacrifice their own power in order to achieve the density of Mana necessary to
perform a powerful attack, Shang''s eleration was also insanely fast.
While the top speed of Shang''s attacks was slower than before, his attacks reached their top speed multiple times faster than
before.
As an example, a space rocket was faster than a bullet. If the rocket had to elerate from zero, it would take a couple of
seconds to travel a kilometer.
A bullet wouldn''t need that long.
But if the race went on for a thousand kilometers, and even if the bullet could travel that far, the bullet would lose the race with a
tremendous gap.
The space rocket was Shang''s old framework, while the bullet was his new one.
It wasn''t weaker or better.
It was just different.
But the important part was that this different aspect would only be like this for a limited time frame.
Eventually, when Shang reached the Fifth Realm, he would get rid of all the disadvantages of both frameworks and keep the
advantages of both.
But until then, Shang would need to fight with his current framework.
After a while of admiring his new Mana pathway framework, Shang stood up and concentrated on the final step.
‘Now, | need toprehend the very thing | stopped myself fromprehending earlier.’
Shang grabbed Sword and performed a couple of practice swings.
As he used his new Mana pathways, he felt the swings be as easy as never before.
There were no awkward movements.
It was like his body had specifically been created to perform these movements.
It was like he was born to attack like this.
Swinging his sword had never felt so good before.
It was almost magical.
It was almost like his sword was part of his body.
Shang had expected to be out of practice after not fighting for so long, but he had beenpletely mistaken.
In fact, it would be hard for Shang not to perform his attacks perfectly.
While he had to actively concentrate on performing his attacks perfectly before, the attacks nowunched perfectly on their own.
Shang only had to swing his sword in the mostfortable way, and that way was always the perfect way.
It was like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle clicking together.
It was like a square going in a square hole.
It was like a bottle cap going onto a bottle.
It just fit perfectly.
The attacks and Shang''s body were made for each other.
For the first time in a long while, the feeling of perfection returned to Shang.
Shang had felt that feeling when he hadpleted his True Path many years ago, and now he was feeling the same feeling
again.
It was just perfect.Text ? by N0ve/lDrama.Org.
It''s so easy,’ Shang thought as his sword moved almost on its own.
In fact, since Shang''s body was now weaker, his already heavy Great Sword should actually be even harder to swing.
However, it simply wasn''t.
In fact, it was very easy to swing.
Even more, Shang''s body actually wasn''t as slow as he had predicted.
Actually, was it even faster?
But that shouldn''t be possible, right?
His body was supposed to be weaker, and it definitely was weaker.
So, how could his attack be even faster?
As Shang continued swinging his sword in a trance of wonder, the world around him seemed to transform.
Shang slowly began to feel a certain aura appear in his surroundings.
It felt like... himself?
Yeah, it did.
As Shang swung his sword again, he felt his surroundings move with it.
After a couple more swings, Shang''s right eye widened.
‘I get it!’
Then, Shang stopped.
For a while, Shang closed his right eye and gathered his thoughts.
He hadprehended it.
He finally hadprehended the very thing a normal warrior would need to reach the Fifth Realm.
And with thatprehension also came the knowledge as to why his attacks were so fast.
If one consideredprehending a True Path as a level one Concept,prehending this thing that warriors needed to reach
the Fifth Realm would be considered a level two Concept.
A Peak High Mage that knew a level two Concept was far more powerful than a Peak High Mage that only knew a level one
Concept.
And the same thing was true in Shang''s case.
‘Perfecting my techniques represents perfecting its existence,’ Shang thought.
Shang''s left hand let go of his Great Sword, which was unusual.
Shang always used two hands in his Great Sword State.
Shang''s right eye closed, and he swung forward.
Swinging such a huge sword with only one arm would be awkward and cumbersome for Shang.
However, the world helped push Shang''s sword forward.
In the end, Shangpleted a smooth strike with only one hand.
"My perfect control over the attack allows me to borrow the power of the Mana in my surroundings.’
‘It''s like an additional hand pushing on my sword from behind.’
‘It can''t swing the sword on its own, but it can definitely make it stronger.’
Then, Shang smiled.
‘This is it, huh?"
‘This is the power of the normal Fifth Realm."
‘Not bad."
‘| don''t know if other warriors have alreadyprehended this thing in my absence, but I think | should still give it a name. Even
if it already has one.’
‘In a way, | am imposing my will on my surroundings, making my surroundings do my bidding.’
"So, | think I''ll call it Impose."