Shang spent the next couple of hours going to different Zones and harvesting resources. He had found a couple of interesting resources in the book, and he managed to collect a couple of them.
Sadly, not all the useful resources could be found within the Skythunder Kingdom.
After Shang collected all of that, he contacted Jerald and asked how he should consume them. Jerald was an experienced Mage, and he knew the basics of preparing such treasures.
"Well, we Mages mainly use Mana and Essence Gathering Magic Circles, but that doesn't necessarily increase the potency of the resources," Jerald said. "These Magic Circles act more as workarounds for our weaker bodies. After all, the resources we need are on a level that's several times higher than the levels of our bodies."
"I think you can just eat them with your strong body. I would advise you to consume one of them, train a bit, remember how you felt, and do the same thing for every other resource. After that, you can try to mix and match them, but keep in mind that some of the results might weaken the effects. You'll have to try and see what works for you."
"Okay, thanks," Shang answered before putting the Communication Crystal away.
In the west of the Skythunder Kingdom, Jerald looked at his deactivated Communication Crystal with interest.
'It's actually shocking to think that he has achieved his current power without ever consuming any of these treasures,' he thought. 'I wonder what he can achieve with them.'
Right now, Shang was back in the Caves inside the Storm Eagle Zone. He could go wherever he wanted, but he wanted to be in a safe and familiar location for the different tests he would be running.
Shang readied all the different treasures he had retrieved in the last couple of hours and put them in front of him.
Just like Jerald said, Shang would try one at a time and make an analysis based on how helpful they had been for his training.
The first thing Shang decided to try out was a Wind Blade Seed.
Sword had already returned to its Long Sword State since that conformed the most to the image of a normal sword.
There were also treasures that could increase the familiarity with blunt weapons and heavy weapons. Those were definitely more useful when it came to comprehending the Great Sword and Colossal Sword States.
Shang took one of the Wind Blade Seeds and put it in his mouth.
As his teeth touched the Wind Blade Seed, he felt like he was biting on metal.
CRK!
Shang bit down, and he felt like he was biting down on a stone.
However, due to his power, the Wind Blade Seed still broke apart.
CRKSH! CRKSH! CRKSH!
Shang kept chewing, and it definitely wasn't pleasant.
However, an unpleasant sensation or taste wasn't something that would stop Shang.
After a while of chewing, Shang swallowed the seed and closed his right eye.
Right now, he was focusing on the remains of the Wind Blade Seed in his stomach.
For a while, nothing happened, but then, Shang felt some form of Mana go past the sides of his stomach to enter his body.
The Mana felt a bit similar to Wind Mana, but it also was very different.
This could be compared to looking at the tomato sauce on a pizza. Yes, it was a bit like tomato, but it was also very different.
Shang continued watching the Mana for another five minutes, but nothing seemed to change.
The Mana was just going through his body without any noticeable effect.
'I guess that's what it looks like when the Wind Blade Seed shows its effect.'
'I should try it out.'
Shang grabbed his Long Sword and readied himself.
SHING!
He released a slash with the intent to kill, something he regularly did while training.
Cling!
As the slash finished, Shang heard an unfamiliar and unusual sound.
It was like he had returned to the Crater where he had found the Wind Blade Seeds.
Just now, he felt like he could hear them dance in the wind again.
Shang took note of that and released another slash.
Clenk!
Shang nearly winced when he heard that sound.
The previous sound had sounded like the Wind Blade Seeds dancing in the wind, but this sound sounded like one of the Wind Blade Seeds had hit a stone.
It was like the beautiful melody had been ruined.
Shang furrowed his brows and performed a couple more attacks.
Cling!
Clenk!
Cling!
CLIIIIIIIRRRR!
When Shang heard the newest sound, he paused.
That sounded way different!
The normal sound felt pleasant and harmonious.
The other sound felt bad and unfitting.
But this newest sound had some form of beautiful feel to it.
It was like the vibrations of the Wind Blade Seed had synchronized with the Mana in the surroundings, creating a beautiful resonance with the world.
'Is that how it works?' Shang thought.
'The worse my attack, the uglier the sound. In turn, the more beautiful the sound, the better the attack.'
Shang decided to do some more testing and slashed several more times.
After a hundred attacks, Shang got the good sound 27 times, the bad sound 72 times, and the beautiful sound appeared only once.
By this point, Shang realized how useful the Wind Blade Seeds actually were.
In fact, they were acting very similar to the Star Map, but instead of showing a concrete map, the Wind Blade Seed only gave Shang signals based on if the direction he was moving in was correct or not.
However, that also created a couple of questions.
'How does the Wind Blade Seed know what I want? Is it following some kind of overarching principle of the world? If so, its help might prove damaging.'
Shang had his own style of fighting, and he wanted to further that style.
Yet, if the Wind Blade Seed gave him directions towards a more generally liked battle style, it might result in Shang's battle style becoming good but ordinary.
But Shang wasn't okay with ordinary.
He wanted to reach Godhood!
"What do you think?" Shang asked Sword.
"Not sure yet," Sword answered. "Perform the same attack multiple times in slightly different ways. I have a suspicion."
Shang nodded and did just that.
He performed the same attack over a thousand times with slight variations.
About 80% of the time, he received the disgusting sound, and the other 20% were the good sound.
The beautiful sound didn't appear once.
"That helps a lot," Sword told Shang. "Do the same with another attack."
Shang followed Sword's instructions and did just that.
The disgusting sound appeared 70% of the time, but the beautiful one also didn't appear even once.
"Do one of the ones with the beautiful sound and put variations to the attack," Sword said.
Shang did just that.
During this specific set of attacks, Shang managed to create the beautiful sound about 10% of the time.
Surprisingly, the good sound appeared for the remaining 90%.
The bad sound didn't even appear once.
"I think I get it. Do the same with that one," Sword said as it transmitted the image of an attack to Shang's mind.
Shang nodded again and followed Sword's instructions.
This time, Shang got the disgusting sound for 70% of the time and the good one for 30%.
The beautiful sound didn't appear.
"Yep, I got it," Sword said.
