As Shang continued thinking about his Path forward, everything seemed to click into place until one whole plan was created.
'There must be a way to further one's Path without needing to branch out into other weapons. Just like the Star Map, there must be a point beyond the Path where it can lead to, and that point represents the Fifth Realm.'
'Depending on the power of the warrior's Path, that point might create an even bigger divide in terms of power since it completely relies on what kind of Path a warrior has chosen to create.'
'It would be the natural progression. It's not as bad as only increasing the power of the warrior's body but also not very outstanding. It's just normal, like all the previous major breakthroughs.'
At that moment, Shang's right eye narrowed. 'However, that isn't enough for me. Just based on the width of my Path, I would need to push all four of my Paths even further. Additionally, my individual Paths are already far wider than the Paths of every other warrior.'
'Sure, my power would increase by a lot, but if I want to reach Godhood one day, there must be more.'
'The normal plan for warriors would be to advance with their bodies until they are at the Peak True Path Stage. Then, they would focus on increasing the power of their minds by a bit to allow them to learn things quicker. Lastly, they would focus on creating their advanced Path.'
'If I were to follow that plan, I would be at the Peak True Path Stage with no further advancement in my Path. After that, I would focus on furthering all four of my Paths at once.'
'In the end, I would have reached the next level of my four Paths and reach the Fifth Realm.'
'But that's not enough!'
Shang looked towards the south. In his mind, he was looking towards the Storm Eagle Zone.
This was the place where he had come up with his Path, and it had appeared like a monumental undertaking back then.
Now, he would undertake another monumental task.
If any other warrior heard of Shang's plan, they would believe him to be insane.
'It requires the furthering of one Path to reach the fifth Realm.'
'But I will make that the prerequisite for my small breakthroughs!'
'I will comprehend the necessary information to reach the Fifth Realm with one of my Paths in the Initial True Path Stage and use that comprehension to reach the Early True Path Stage.'
'After that, I will comprehend another one to reach the Mid True Path Stage.'
'Then, another one to reach the Late True Path Stage.'
'And one last one to reach the Peak True Path Stage.'
Shang's right eye shone with a light of ambition.
'And I will fuse my four Paths into one to reach the Fifth Realm!'
For a while, Shang only looked at the south.
He knew how insane this task would prove to be.
Other warriors would spend decades, if not centuries, to further only one Path to reach the Fifth Realm, but Shang would need to do that four times and then do something even more insane to actually reach the Fifth Realm.
When Shang had reached the True Path Stage, the 500 years of total longevity of people in the Fourth Realm felt like so long, but now, it felt so very short.
He only had a bit more than 400 years left to do five to six times as much work as other warriors would do in that timeframe.
As Shang thought about the monumental task ahead of him, his mind wandered to the victory celebration from a couple of days ago.
Shang took a deep breath.
He had enjoyed the celebration, and being surrounded by people that liked him felt great.
But now, Shang could only release a bitter laugh.
'What did I think?' he thought. 'I already knew that I wouldn't have time for others.'
'Why am I suddenly regretting it?'
A couple of days ago, Shang had received a glimpse of something he wasn't allowed to have.
That left a bittersweet taste in his mouth, but Shang's priorities were already set.
His power was the most important thing in the world.
If he had to sacrifice everything else in his life for power, he would do so.
'Over a thousand people in the world have worked just as hard as me, but that number drops significantly the further I advance.'
'That's because the others were invaded by complacency.'
'They managed to keep their discipline for a hundred years, but as soon as it went on for more centuries or even millennia, their discipline weakened, and complacency took hold.'
Shang's right hand formed a fist, and Shang looked at it with narrowed eyes.
'Never become complacent.'
'Always continue forward.'
'Never stop.'
'As more and more time passes, fewer and fewer people will be on my level, and eventually, only I will be left.'
'There definitely are more talented people out there than me, but talent without hard work is useless.'
'What's the point of learning things thrice as fast when you fight someone that trains five times as much as you?'
'Always continue!'
Shang looked towards the south again.
'Sharpening the axe doesn't take time away from cutting wood. If I want to achieve my goal, I need a plan.'
At that moment, something appeared in Shang's hands.
It was one of the books Relon had given to Jerald and Shang.
This was the guide for all the different resources and natural treasures.
Shang opened the book and read.
'There must be something in there that can help me in training.'
As Shang read through the book, he saw several resources that could be used to temporarily heighten the sensitivity towards specific Elemental Mana.
Shang remembered the several piles of resources that had been around Jerald when he had advanced to become a Peak High Mage.
He found a couple of these resources in the book.
'The God designed this world, and he wants variety. I don't think that he would have only made something like this for Mages. There must be something that can also be used by warriors.'
Yet, Shang didn't find any of these resources after going through 75% of the book.
Shang furrowed his brows but continued.
When he arrived at the last 10%, the layout of the book changed.
Before this spot, a lot of space had been dedicated to each resource, but now, there were only the names, a couple of descriptions, and one or two sentences about what the resource could be used for.
The first 90% were dedicated to valuable and useful resources, and the last 10% was just a dumping ground for random stuff nobody cared about.
And that was where Shang found vastly more interesting resources.
The Mages were only interested in resources useful to Mages, and since there were basically only Mages on that level, every resource not useful to Mages was essentially worthless. The level or rarity of these resources didn't matter.
'That's why these things are in the back. Of course the Mages don't care about resources useful for warriors.'
'But I do!'
