Shang focused on his body as the Mana in his surroundings violently entered his body like a flood.
He began to visualize his connection with the world as he tried to pull in more and more Mana.
Eventually, Shang felt the Mana interact with his body and change things.
At that point, Shang fully concentrated on stopping whatever the Mana was planning on doing.
The world wanted to reshape his body and advance him to the next Realm, but Shang wouldn't give the world free reign again.
He knew what he wanted, and he would force the Mana in the surroundings to follow his orders.
After some time, the Mana inside Shang's body stopped moving.
When that happened, Shang felt like he was about to explode.
Earlier, the Mana had gone through his body like water through a hose, but now, Shang was essentially holding down the end of the hose while more water began to push forward.
Then, Shang recited the Spell to reshape his Mana pathways. He had already done the calculations beforehand, and he only needed to recite it.
Instead of willing his own life energy and Mana to build the Beast Core, Shang used his connection with the world to use the foreign Mana inside his body instead.
It was difficult, but the Mana eventually followed the instructions of the Spell.
All the Mana began to gather at a spot a tiny bit below where Shang's collar bones met. It wasn't exactly inside the neck, but it was still close enough. There were several reasons for that position.
First of all, Shang wanted to create the Beast Core in a place where he would die either way if he got injured there. Shang had already been injured several times in the abdomen and lower chest, and if he put it there, those hits would prove to be fatal in the future. So, might as well put the Beast Core in a place where he would die either way if he got hit.
Another reason for that position was to hide the Beast Core. If he put it inside his neck, Shang's neck would seem unnaturally big to an experienced Mage. Sure, a normal person or a weaker Mage wouldn't notice the unnatural curvature of Shang's neck since it would be very subtle, but someone very powerful might be able to see it.
All the foreign Mana inside Shang began to gather on that spot and create a Mana pathway. However, this Mana pathway was just very short and took the form of a marble with several channels leading outside.
Usually, Mana pathways were so tiny that no normal person could see them, but the Beast Core would be visible to others. In fact, it would have about two centimeters in diameter when it was finished.
Two centimeters compared to something that couldn't be seen with the naked eye.
This was a humongous difference, and this also showed how difficult it would have been to create this Beast Core without the help of the world's Mana during advancement.
All the Mana inside the cave shot into Shang's body and immediately got converted into a humongous Mana pathway.
Shang fully focused on manipulating the Mana. He had never heard of anyone actively controlling the way the Mana of the world moved during a breakthrough, and he couldn't be sure what would happen.
All of this had only been theoretical since there hadn't been a precedence case.
After just a bit of time, even the Mana five kilometers around the cave started to flow towards it.
Weaker beings wouldn't notice the shift in Mana, but True Mages and more powerful would be able to notice it.
This was the telltale sign of someone breaking through.
The advancement process was very enticing to many beasts and even some humans since the person or beast advancing would be at their weakest. If someone interrupted the process, the person would have to fight with a half-finished body, weakening them immensely.
The first beasts became very interested and walked over.
However, most of them immediately stopped as soon as they actually saw the cave with their Spirit Senses.
That green-haired man in front of the cave felt way too dangerous!
Nearly all the beasts immediately turned around and left when they saw Desert Storm.
Of course, there were always some dumb or very powerful beasts.
But that didn't matter.
This was exactly why Desert Storm was here.
While Desert Storm was busy defending the cave from a couple of attacking beasts, Shang was starting to sweat.
Every second, more Mana than his entire body could store was flowing through his body and transforming into walls for Mana pathways.
The pressure all this Mana put on him was horrifying, and Shang felt his Mana pathways scream under stress.
Way too much Mana was moving through Shang's body, and the Mana was mostly moving along the Mana pathways.
At that moment, Shang remembered his minor advancements in the True Path Stage.
He had been using them to strengthen his Mana pathways. Back then, he hadn't been sure if there even was a use for that, but now, he knew.
Without the continued strengthening of his Mana pathways, they would have already ruptured in multiple spots, eventually ending in Shang's Mana pathway network being completely crippled.
Sure, he would probably be able to repair everything, but he would probably need to buy a lot of expensive materials while spending years on repairing them. All this time, he wouldn't be able to unleash even a third of his power.
Luckily, Shang had been careful and had actually used the minor advancements to strengthen his Mana pathways.
If other people had already walked down this path before Shang, everyone would have already known that it was imperative to strengthen the Mana pathways.
Yet, Shang was the first, and fortunately, he had made the right decision.
If anyone decided to follow Shang's path, Shang could tell them what they needed to look out for, making it much easier for them.
Of course, that won't happen.
Shang's path was unique, and it only belonged to him.
This was not a warrior's path or a Mage's path.
This was his path.
Shang didn't know how long it took, but the Beast Core eventually appeared near the top of his chest.
It had cost so incredibly much Mana to construct this Beast Core. It was absolutely unreal.
There was still some Mana left wandering throughout his body. So, Shang decided to shove all the Mana into his new Beast Core to fill it.
All the Mana inside Shang's body flowed into the Beast Core, and in an instant, it had been completely filled.
There were some scattered parts of foreign Mana left all over his body, and Shang simply shoved them into the walls of his Mana pathways to strengthen them a bit more.
And lastly, Shang was done.
His Beast Core was filled to the brim with liquid Mana, and it put immense pressure on Shang's Mana pathways.
That was a good thing!
After all, the very problem why Shang's body had been weaker than usual was this lack of pressure.
With the Beast Core putting so much pressure on the Mana pathways, Shang's Mana could fully concentrate on actually moving the body instead of moving itself.
Shang had done it.
He had reached the Fifth Realm.
The Fusion Realm.
