After a while, Shang left the branch of the Temple of Blood to continue comprehending the Concept of Addition in front of the Yellow Sunbreaker.
'As long as I keep growing more powerful, huh?' Shang thought.
'I don't think things are that easy.'
'It might have been that easy for the Keeper, but it doesn't mean that it will be that easy for me.'
'The Temple is not investing resources into the creation of Sweepers. Sweepers are not important enough to invest in. That means that my talent and potential peak in the future must be, at least, at the Peak Sixth Realm. Additionally, they would probably even want me to be quite powerful in that Realm.'
'While I am certain that I will reach that power, other people might not.'
'It's also possible that they will take my current speed of growth as a representation and trade me to someone else for a lot of resources, believing that my rapid growth will stop soon.'
'Things definitely aren't as simple as just becoming more powerful.'
Sadly, there was nothing Shang could do about all of this right now.
He had already done his best to show his value, and now, he could only wait.
Whether he decided to put his everything into training or sleep for several years, his fate wouldn't change.
But just as always, Shang still put his everything into training.
Power.
Power was his existence, goal, motivation, worth, hobby, and love.
There were about nine other Archmages in the world that were about as powerful as him, and two of them were definitely more powerful than him.
The foundation of power for all of these people had already been built, and from now on, it all depended on how one built upon that foundation.
Every additional level will become more and more difficult.
Reaching the General Stage was easy. Shang even had to be careful not to reach it on accident.
Reaching the Commander Stage was hard. Comprehending a Domain took a lot of work and even a dangerous fight.
Reaching the True Path Stage had been agonizing. Shang had trained in isolation for around 50 years without pause or doing anything else.
Reaching the Fusion Realm had been even harder. Not only had Shang needed to fine-tune his Mana pathways, which had temporarily weakened his Battle-Strength, but he had also needed to create a Beast Core and even comprehend an Impose before even reaching the Early True Path Stage.
Then, he even needed tens of Grade Six Mana Crystals to comprehend World Connection.
Shang had reached the True Path Stage when he was a bit over 80 years old, but he reached the Fusion Realm only when he was about 310.
More than half of his life had passed.
In Earth terms, Shang would have been around 55 years old when he reached the Fusion Realm.
It was late.
And now, things would get even more difficult.
However, if Shang managed to complete it, his number of competitors would drop.
Even if Shang's Battle-Strength didn't grow anymore, by the sheer fact that every peer of his would drop one by one, he would eventually become the strongest one.
Sacrificing so much had been worth it.
By sacrificing everything he was and owned in order to gain more power, he had reached his current place.
Once more, Shang confirmed that the Path he had chosen was the correct one.
Without waiting for long, Shang threw a Mind Flow Pellet into his mouth and entered his inner world.
He needed to comprehend the Concept of Addition.
Shang didn't know how much time had passed.
After who knew how long, Shang had used up the entire box of Mind Flow Pellets, but he kept on going.
Shang comprehended quite a bit. The Concept of Addition was quite an interesting oddity, and it was very different from the level one Concepts of Light and Darkness.
In fact, the Concept of Addition was different from basically every other Concept Shang had heard of.
Subtraction and Addition were absolutely unique.
What made them so unique?
Well, the Concepts of Fire acted upon Fire Mana.
The Concepts of Time acted upon Time Mana.
The Mixed Concepts, like Summer Drizzle, acted upon several kinds of Elemental Mana.
And what kind of Mana did the Concept of Addition work on?
Based on how other Concepts worked, one would think that it worked on Light and Fire Mana.
But that was where it differed.
The Concept of Addition worked upon every kind of Mana.
Fire Mana, Light Mana, Darkness Mana, Ice Mana, Space Mana, Time Mana, Life Mana, Death Mana, and even Neutral Mana.
The Concept of Addition worked not upon all kinds of Mana, but upon the very principle of Mana itself.
'Addition and Subtraction can work on their own, but they are most powerful while supporting something else.'
'Addition, Subtraction, Temperature, and Twilight, huh?'
Shang was pretty sure that he was onto something, and he actually decided to forgo some of his physical training so that he could concentrate more on these connections.
For a long time, Shang only sat inside his inner world, not doing anything.
Eventually, Shang's focus went back to his inner world, and he took hold of his Colossal Sword.
He swung forward.
SHING!
Bright light illuminated Shang's inner world.
Then, Shang swung a second time.
Seemingly nothing happened.
There was no light whatsoever.
Yet, for the first time in forever, Shang actually smiled brightly.
It worked!
It actually worked!
He had searched for a way to use all of his four States at once for centuries.
Now, he saw the first success.
Shang put the Colossal Sword to the side and grabbed his Long Sword.
He fed it some ore, and the Long Sword became a Saber.
Shang swung forward.
Nothing seemed to happen.
There was no fire or light.
Shang only smirked and held his Saber.
Then, he slowly dropped it.
And it hit the ground.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
It was like Shang's entire inner world was shaken.
It was like something of unimaginable weight had just hit the ground.
'Light represents the addition of mass, but the power of light is scattered.'
'With the Concept of Addition, I can control in what way I want to add something.'
'Make it brighter without making it heavier.'
'Make it heavier without making it brighter.'
'Don't go 50/50 but 100/0 or 0/100.'
'With some more work, I'm sure that I can use my techniques for my Colossal Sword State in my Saber State.'
'I finally have a way I can combine my States!'
