Shang took a deep breath and focused on his Spirit Sense.
As soon as the last piece of foreign Mana left his body, it was like a restriction was lifted from Shang's mind.
His perception instantly stretched to a distance of 20 kilometers, but it was just getting started.
In an instant, it already reached the size a normal Archmage would have, 50 kilometers.
And then, it easily blasted past that threshold as well.
It reached 100 kilometers.
150 kilometers.
200 kilometers.
And then, it stopped at 250 kilometers.
Shang's Spirit Sense had grown from a radius of 20 kilometers to a radius of 250 kilometers.
It couldn't be compared to before anymore.
This was on a completely different level. Shang's Spirit Sense had been four times as wide in one direction at the True Path Stage compared to a High Mage, but now, it was five times as wide in the Fusion Realm as compared to an Archmage.
The implication was obvious.
Shang's relative power to his Realm had not only not dropped, but it had become even stronger!
When Shang felt that, he felt that everything had been worth it.
All his sacrifices.
All the people he had killed.
All his pain.
Everything had been worth it.
This was exactly what he wanted his life to be.
He wanted to be the most powerful being in existence, and he was well on his way to that goal.
Seeing one's hard work pay off after decades in a big way felt beyond satisfying.
'I am so happy,' Shang thought.
Over the past 150 years, Shang's emotions had dried up completely.
There had been no happiness, sadness, anger, or anything similar.
Only the eternal path toward power had been on Shang's mind.
But now, for the first time in a long while, Shang was happy.
This was why he was advancing.
This was what he was living for.
This was his calling.
This was his goal in life.
This was who he wanted to be.
So what if people hated him?
So what if people thought he was an emotionless monster?
So what if the entire world rejected him?
So what if everyone around him died?
So what if his presence inflicted pain on every other living being around him?
All of that didn't matter.
This was his calling, and he wouldn't stop.
The opinion of the world didn't matter.
This was what he wanted, and he wouldn't allow anyone to push him off this path.
After basking in the rare feeling of satisfaction and happiness for a while, Shang focused on his memories.
Sure enough, the thing he was searching for had appeared.
In Shang's mind, a scene appeared.
A blonde and young Shang with a beer belly stood in front of the God, scratching his chin in thought.
From an outside perspective, the current Shang and the past Shang couldn't be any further apart.
If one knew that this white ghost-like figure with nearly no aura was what this healthy young man would turn into…
The feeling would be indescribable.
The change had just been too big.
How would someone even turn into something like that?
What had to happen to change someone this severely?
"For my fifth question," the young Shang slowly said as he looked at the God.
The God only smirked.
"I don't think that I can become truly powerful on my own. Humans are not made to work alone all the time. However, it is very difficult to find someone I can trust."
"So, for my fifth question, can you please tell me how I can discern if someone is trustworthy or not?" the young Shang asked.
The God only smirked. "Sure."
Then, the God went into a long lecture about what one should look out for regarding other people.
The entire scene just shot through Shang's head at insane speeds.
Eventually, it ended.
'I can't expect my old self to only ask smart questions,' Shang thought.
'There were bound to be some misses in my past questions. It was already impressive that there hadn't been any misses until now.'
'I don't think I can rely on these questions in the future. The further I advance, the more disconnected and useless my past questions become.'
'Honestly, I'm not even sure what kind of question I was hoping for.'
'If I could ask the God another question right now, I wouldn't even know what I would ask.'
'I know where to get resources.'
'I know what to train… somewhat.'
'I know where to get enemies.'
'Maybe asking more about how exactly the Mages advance could help since that would give me a reference, but it also wouldn't be that useful.'
'Seems like the questions have mostly lost their usefulness.'
'At least there's still something else that's useful.'
After thinking that, Shang entered his inner world and looked at the stone tablet.
"50 years, huh?" Shang uttered.
The stone tablet showed that Shang had to undertake the trial within the next 50 years.
"I presume you want me to reach the peak of my current level, just like last time, right?" Shang asked.
At that moment, a word appeared on the tablet.
"Yep."
"Same as last time, then," Shang said.
Then, several big pieces of ore flew over from one part of his inner world and entered Sword.
Sword quickly reached the Colossal Sword State again, and for just a second, Shang focused on Sword.
"Seems like fusing the Impulses was not the way to combine my four States into one, but I made some progress, at least."
Sword's States were still separate, but with Shang's connection to the world, the attacks from one State wouldn't be weakened as much while used in a different State.
Shang could theoretically use Shock in his Colossal Sword State without wasting all of his Mana. It wouldn't be as useful as in his Long Sword State, but it was usable enough.
Shang left his inner world and focused on the real world again.
With his Colossal Sword, he stood up.
Then, he walked out of the cave.
He had entered as a True Path Stage warrior.
But he exited as a Fusion Realm...
There was no word to describe what Shang was now.
He was not a Mage, but his level was also far higher than the level of a warrior.
He was simply his own thing.
And that was what Shang wanted.
