Shang's Spirit Sense returned, and he slowly sat back up again.
His body wasn't injured in any way, but the same thing couldn't be said for Sword.
Right now, Sword lay beside Shang.
It was only as big as a dagger.
Shang slowly took a deep breath as reality set in.
"I died," he said.
At that moment, the jester jumped down from the Affinity wheel and walked over to Shang while slowly applauding.
"Not bad, not bad," the jester said with a wide grin. "Honestly, when you reached the True Path Stage, I didn't expect you to become so powerful in the Fusion Realm. I expected that you would just comprehend your four Imposes and then breakthrough."
"But no, you actually went a step further."
"And, sure enough, your work wasn't for nothing," the jester said as he stopped in front of Shang.
Shang slowly stood up and fed Sword more ore. By now, Shang's storage of ores was running low.
Even worse, Shang was missing Entropy Ore.
Sword had just consumed its last piece of Entropy Ore, which meant it could only use its ability three more times.
He just hoped that all of this had been worth it.
"14 points in the beast category, but Dusk alone wasn't enough to kill the powerful Peak Archbeast."
"Eleven points in the Mage category, but the powerful Late Archmage managed to outlast you."
"25 points in total. You are nearly invincible in front of every beast in your Realm, and only Peak Archmages and a select few Late Archmages are a danger to you."
"Honestly, in terms of Battle-Strength for Archmages, you are probably in the top 10, which is quite impressive," the jester said with a smirk.
Shang didn't answer, but his head turned to the side.
Top 10 for his Realm.
This was obviously beyond impressive, but when compared to some other numbers, it wasn't as impressive as one might think.
There were ten Archmages that were as powerful as him in the world.
There might also be ten Ancestral Mages that were this powerful.
There were about a hundred Mage Kings in the world.
Yet, the longevity of these Mage Kings was probably ridiculous.
For how long could a Mage King live?
Ten thousand years?
A hundred thousand years?
If the Mage Kings lived for a hundred thousand years, and since there are a hundred of them, it meant that around one new Mage King would be born every thousand years.
This was exactly how long an Archmage could live.
This meant that only one of the top ten could theoretically become a Mage King in the future.
And not a single one of them would become a Mage Emperor.
Yet, Shang's goal was to become a God.
Yes, Shang was unfathomably powerful.
He was so powerful that normal Archmages couldn't even comprehend it.
Even many Ancestral Mages would have a hard time grasping how powerful Shang was for his Realm.
Yet, even that might not be enough to become a Mage King!
All of this hard work and sacrifice just for a shot at maybe becoming a Mage King!
Shang had comprehended World Connection before even reaching the Fusion Realm.
If there were nine other Archmages as powerful as him, it meant that there were nine Archmages that managed to comprehend a level three Concept before becoming Archmages.
The powerful Mages Shang had been fighting back in the True Path Stage had only known one or two level two Concepts. The truly powerful Peak High Mages might have known three.
And those powerful High Mages had been true geniuses!
Yet, there had been at least nine High Mages back then that had comprehended a level three Concept!
And probably only a single one of them actually had a shot at becoming a Mage King!
When Shang heard that he had reached the top ten, he hadn't been happy.
He only felt pressured.
He had already sacrificed so much, and he had already committed his entire life to nothing but his power, but there were still others on his level.
The competition was tough.
"Aren't you a sad lad?" the jester commented with a slight chuckle. "You reached the top 10, but you are even more demotivated than before."
"Do you think you aren't powerful enough because you haven't sacrificed enough?" the jester asked with a smirk.
Shang didn't answer.
"Are you unwilling to accept the obvious answer?" the jester asked.
Shang didn't answer.
"Let me confirm it for you," the jester said as he leaned on his toy hammer. "The biggest reason why you are not number one is not your personality."
"It also isn't the fact that you're not a Mage."
The jester chuckled.
"It's background and money."
Shang didn't answer, and he only seemed to look in a random direction.
"King Contenders," the jester said. "That's the title of the strongest Mage per Realm per Empire, starting at the High Mage Realm."
"Every 1,000 years, the nine Empires hold a tournament. Every Empire sends its strongest Mage Lord. Of course, the Judgment Palace gets to send two since they also have two Emperors."
"The ten strongest Mage Lords of the world fight for the position of Mage King. All ten of them are easily strong enough to become Mage Kings on their own, but due to the lack of Mana in the world, there just isn't enough Mana to support another Mage King."
"If the world had infinite Mana, we would probably have a hundred Mage Emperors and over a thousand Mage Kings. Sadly, there just isn't that much Mana left, which means that becoming a Mage King is only afforded to the most powerful Mage Lord in the world."
The jester chuckled again. "And no one can become a Mage Emperor."
"Right now, you are a King Contender."
At that point, the jester's smirk widened.
"However, you're not the strongest."
"There are at least two Archmages that will 100% beat you in a fight while at the same level as you."
"But how?" the jester said with an imitating voice. "How can they be so strong?"
"Money and status."
"These Mages are being personally taught by Mage Kings."
The jester spun his hammer around his arm as he marched back and forth.
"They are allowed to travel the entire world."
"They are allowed to fight whatever they want."
"They get whatever treasure they want, and they get as much of that treasure as they want."
"Mountains of Grade Seven Mana Crystals get poured into their bodies just to increase the Mana capacity of their minds by a single percent."
"Every time they try to comprehend Concepts, they are surrounded by the densest Mana with the most wondrous demonstrations of the very Concepts they want to comprehend."
"And then," the jester said as he stopped marching.
He grabbed his hammer and pointed it at Shang.
"There's you."
"You have to work for just a couple of Grade Six Mana Crystals."
"You don't have a teacher."
"You are restricted in choosing your location."
"You can't just train whatever you want in the open."
"Hell, you're not even a Mage."
"And you don't even know what you should do to reach the Sixth Realm."
The jester put the hammer on the ground again and leaned on it.
"No matter what you do, your background is infinitely weaker than theirs, as is your wealth."
"When the perfect mindset has to contend with the perfect mindset supported by the ultimate background, the winner is obvious."
Shang didn't say anything.
Several seconds passed.
"Are you done?" Shang asked emotionlessly.
The jester's smirk transformed into a grin.
"Then, show me my rewards," Shang added.
