Shang's eyes widened in surprise.
He was already at the General Stage?
Shang looked at his body and clenched his fists a bit.
He did feel a bit more powerful, but it was difficult to assess his current power without properly testing it.
"When did that happen?" Shang asked.
"During the procedure," the Dean said. "The complete destruction of your body pushed you beyond the Soldier Stage, and you are now officially a warrior in the General Stage."
Shang looked around, and he now also knew why the room appeared brighter than before.
His eyesight had improved due to the increase in his Realm.
"So, that means I should have gained access to my second question and the separate space?" Shang asked.
"You should," the Dean said. "Try to remember your talk with the God."
Shang tried to remember his interaction with the God, and sure enough, after the first question and answer, Shang now found new information.
Back in his memory, Shang stood in front of the smirking God, who sat on his ridiculously huge throne.
"For my second question," the Shang in the memory sequence said.
"How do I make the best use of my three gifts?"
In the present, Shang's eyes shone.
'That's a great question!'
Back in his memories, the God only smirked.
And then, something confusing happened.
A second God appeared in front of Shang's memories.
It was incredibly weird.
It was like someone had paused a movie just to talk in front of a scene to explain something.
"Surprised?" the God asked with a wide smirk. "Wonder how that works, don't you?"
Shang, indeed, wondered what was going on.
"You see," the second God said, "due to my change of plans later down the line, I had to retroactively change my answers to your questions. Otherwise, the answers wouldn't perfectly conform with your new Affinity."
"So, don't be surprised when I am suddenly talking about things that shouldn't have happened yet. You don't need to understand that stuff. Time is complex and lots of fun!"
"Now, onward with the show," the second God said before stepping away from the "screen".
Then, the scene resumed.
"Quite a smart question, Shang," the God said with his constant smirk.
"The three gifts are the very key that allows you to become powerful. Knowing how to utilize them properly is important!"
The Shang in the memories didn't move. It was like his time had stopped.
"First, let's talk about your weapon," he said. "You want to upgrade that as soon as possible. To get the optimal power, you need to feed it with Element Specific ore for Fire, Ice, Light, and Darkness every Realm."
"Of course, it only has to happen every Realm, not every level. As long as it doesn't increase a level, it's fine if it only absorbs element-neutral ore."
"I'm going to show you an example."
"When you upgrade it to the General Stage, you want to feed it a balanced diet of Fire, Ice, Light, and Darkness Mana. Your next goal is to get it to the Peak General Stage, which you can do by simply feeding it normal ore. That's far cheaper."
"Then, when you want to upgrade it to the Commander Stage, you will want to give it Fire, Ice, Light, and Darkness ore again, and so on."
"Of course, at this point, you might have already realized that there is more to your Affinity than just these four things," the God said with a smirk.
"Yes, there is also a way to get your weapon to harness a part of your special Affinity's power. For that, you need special, rare ore."
"However, due to the peculiarity of your Affinity, unleashing the power of that ore doesn't come easily."
"If you use the power, your sword will become permanently weaker, and the only way to make it recover is to purchase more ore and re-upgrade it. You could say that it will fall by a level by using that power."
"But hey, it's a funky little trump card, isn't it?" the God said with his constant smirk. "You can't control anything, and at some point, someone much more powerful than you will target you, and that's when you want to have that ability."
"Also, you should communicate with your sword a lot. It is a reflection of your inner fighting instincts. You can look at it as a mirror that shows you your true self."
"And that's about it for the sword," the God said. "Now, onto the questions."
"The questions completely depend on your goal, but as you are now, you probably don't even have a goal. Additionally, when you remember this answer, it would already be too late to change your questions."
"You can only trust in your past self. Hope that your past self wasn't an idiot," the God said with a loud laugh.
"Imagine asking a worthless question and not even knowing that you asked a worthless question. You get all excited for your new answers and realize that you asked a stupid question in the past."
"That would be fucking great!" the God shouted with a laugh.
"Let's get to the last gift, the separate space," the God said. "When you remember this answer, you should have already gained access to it. It's not difficult to get there. Just wish to go to your own little world."
The God chuckled. "Of course, this question is about how to perfectly use your gifts."
"Your question is actually a bit funny since you will inevitably learn about the uses of your separate space. Not only will you meet someone that will tell you all about it, but I even put the rules and uses of the thing on a stone tablet in the middle of your own little space."
"In a way, this question is useless," the God said with a smirk.
Five seconds of tense silence passed.
"But I can't just let you go empty handed," the God shouted with a loud laugh.
"So, how about I tell you about a unique usage of your own space that nobody knows about?"
"Not even your predecessor knows of it."
"Be sure to tell him, okay? I want to see the regret in his eyes," the God said with a smirk.
