After talking with Jerald for a while, Shang left again.
From what Mervin had told him, the frequency of the assaults had decreased tremendously.
Shang and Mervin were in agreement that the Magic Purity Kingdom probably feared a counterattack from the Skythunder Kingdom with all their forces.
Luckily, they didn't know that what they had encountered today was basically all the available forces the Skythunder Kingdom possessed.
If the Magic Purity Kingdom knew of the civil war, they would have probably gathered the majority of their forces in one all-out attack.
That would have proven to be devastating for the Skythunder Kingdom.
Nevertheless, Shang remained on standby in case the Magic Purity Kingdom launched another assault.
But when three days passed with only some unimportant skirmishes happening, Shang decided that he no longer needed to remain on standby. After all, Sylvia was also ready to intervene.
Additionally, Jerald would soon return from the western Skythunder Kingdom.
Most of the citizens of the western Skythunder Kingdom had already evacuated to the central Skythunder Kingdom. They didn't do so willingly but because they had to.
The Magic Purity Kingdom was infamous for its hatred of impure people. Every citizen and Mage that lived together with warriors was an enemy to the Magic Purity Kingdom.
The Skythunder Kingdom became way more crowded, but there was still enough space for all the new citizens. They simply had to add one or two more towns per Zone, which wasn't that much.
Jerald's Inquisitors were working overtime, and they had already executed over a thousand True Mages in the past couple of days.
It was a bloodbath, and it weakened the Skythunder Kingdom.
However, this would ensure longtime prosperity and unity.
Jerald became extremely hated amongst the citizens, but there was nothing major they could do.
The most they could do was to emigrate to the Spirit Spring Kingdom, and quite a bit of the citizens did so, but that wasn't really that damaging to the Kingdom.
Yes, citizens brought in taxes and business, but gold and normal goods had nearly zero impact on a Kingdom's actual power.
The True Path Stage resources were the most important things for a Kingdom's power.
As Shang left his position, his mind wandered away from the war and entered training mode.
It had been quite a while since he had been able to train to his heart's content, and even more, he could now train wherever he wanted in the Skythunder Kingdom.
But before he actually started training, he had to think about a way to actually progress.
Shang had talked a lot with many different True Path Stage warriors about how they were progressing in level, and he could only furrow his brows when he heard how they progressed.
Or, more like, how they didn't progress.
The few Mid True Path Stage warriors had reached that level by strengthening their bodies.
That was it.
In the General Stage, the warriors had advanced by focusing on their Mana Manipulation, which culminated in the creation of their Domain.
Then, in the Commander Stage, they focused on refining their techniques and creating their Paths.
During all of this, the strengthening of their bodies was only secondary.
But now, the warriors were exclusively only strengthening their bodies by eating beast hearts.
And the reason for that was obvious.
No one knew what they should do to advance.
They had already created their Paths. How were they supposed to refine their techniques even more when their bodies had already perfectly adapted to their Paths?
They had already created incredibly powerful techniques by combining all their insights. They just couldn't imagine a way to increase their proficiency in their techniques even more.
Additionally, what would the creation of new techniques even bring? Sure, their Battle-Strength might increase by a bit, but their strength increased by way more if their body simply advanced another level.
Of course, every warrior knew that this method of training only worked until they reached the Peak True Path Stage.
After that, they would probably be stuck.
In comparison to the warriors, the Mages knew exactly what to do. They would comprehend more Concepts and combine them into more powerful Concepts.
The warriors had already thought about doing that as well, but how would that even work?
They had a Path that led to their chosen weapon.
Were they supposed to learn another weapon and create another Path?
And then what? Fuse the Paths?
How would that even work?
Additionally, their bodies wouldn't even undergo the transformation they had undergone when they reached the True Path Stage the first time.
Lastly, there should be a way to reach the next Realm without having to comprehend multiple weapons.
Shang was in a similar predicament.
He didn't know how to advance, but he also wasn't sure if he should increase the power of his body.
Increasing the power of the body definitely wouldn't be a bad thing for a normal warrior. After all, the minor breakthroughs were not nearly as important as the major breakthroughs between Realms.
A normal warrior could just increase their body to the peak and then focus on finding a way to the next Realm.
However, things were different for Shang.
Shang knew that he had to create something that transformed his being in a vastly more powerful way than normal warriors.
Maybe the keys to this particular transformation were the individual breakthroughs?
Sure, they weren't as important, but if Shang could transform himself a little bit per normal breakthrough, he might gain enough momentum to achieve a significant transformation when it was time to reach the Fifth Realm.
'A Path is just as the name suggests, a path,' Shang thought. 'It must lead somewhere. The warriors have established their Paths, and now, they only have to walk it to the end.'
'Just like with the Star Map for Mages, there must be something further along the Path that the warriors can comprehend.'
'Sadly, no one knows what this thing looks like or what it needs to get there.'
Shang imagined what it would look like to reach the next Realm for a normal warrior.
Someone with a longsword might gain new powers or some kind of mystical aura.
Maybe it would be similar to the condensation of a Domain?
The control over one's Mana was definitely important, but not nearly as important as for Mages.
Maybe there was also some kind of more refined control over the body?
What about control over the Mana in one's body?
There were so many ways.
Shang could work on the Mana pathways inside his body. Maybe he could change them, make them wider, build upon them, or refine them?
Shang could also work on his weapons. Just swing his swords a couple more times until he grew even more familiar with it?
Maybe he could work on the manipulation of his Mana in such a way that it increased its power even more?
Maybe he had to get more familiar with the Mana in his surroundings to gain some sort of ability to borrow the power of the latent Mana in the atmosphere?
Maybe he should concentrate on comprehending a Concept and integrating it into his Path?
Maybe he had to train to reach a certain state of mind that allowed a more intimate fusion with his weapon?
There were so many possibilities, and Shang was sure that several of them would work.
After all, the God had said that there were innumerable Paths to power, and depending on which method one used, one would tread a different Path.
Physical fighters were already split into barbarians and warriors. What if that would only continue?
A warrior that integrated Mage Concepts might become a Magic Warrior.
A warrior that focused on the Mana in the surroundings might become some kind of Domain Warlord.
A warrior that focused on creating more Paths for more weapons might become something like a Weapon Master.
It wasn't that there was no way to advance but that there were too many ways, with no one knowing what was possible and what the end result would be.
'What is it that I want to be?' Shang thought.
'What kind of warrior do I want to be?'
Shang thought about how he had trained in the past and how he fought in general.
His four weapons and four Affinities came to mind.
Then, he remembered the thought he had when coming up with the concept of his Path.
'In the future, there might be a way to fuse all of my weapons together and use all of them whenever I want.'
'Four weapons.'
'Four minor breakthroughs.'
'One major breakthrough.'
Then, a light appeared in Shang's eye.
'I think I know what I'm going to do.'
