"Sir, the person you've asked for has arrived."
"Thanks," Shang answered the town planner before flying over to a new person that had just entered his town.
"Welcome to my town," Shang spoke politely to the person floating in front of him.
The woman floating in front of Shang chuckled politely. "Thank you, Town Lord," she said. "I've heard that you are interested in buying several Isolation Chambers?"
The person in front of Shang was a woman with long and beautiful grey hair wearing expensive golden robes. She was an Early Ancestral Mage.
"Correct," Shang answered. "I've had some less-than-savory people skulking around my town, and since I am a follower of the mindfree doctrine, I can't just read their minds. That's why I want a couple of Isolation Chambers."
Reading one's mind was the most intrusive act one could possibly be, and there were several laws for exactly this act.
Depending on the Empire that ruled the land, the laws were a bit different.
In the Lightning Manor's territory, reading someone's mind was prohibited. Of course, the Areas were different since they were isolated.
The mind was something sacred, and if one wanted to read someone else's mind, one would need to get permission from the Lightning Manor, which wasn't easy.
Shang lived in the Twilight Dusk Family's territory, and their rules were a bit different.
The Twilight Dusk Family was more open to reading minds, but they also weren't completely open.
Reading someone's mind was essentially the same as killing someone in the Twilight Dusk Family's territory.
If you had a very good reason and justification for reading someone's mind, it was fine, but just randomly doing it when hiring someone, for example, was a no-go.
Of course, as a Town Lord, Shang couldn't just do whatever he wanted. His town was part of the Twilight Dusk Family, and he had to follow the general laws of the Empire.
If he wanted to kill someone or read someone's mind, he had to have an actual reason.
He couldn't just do it because he wanted to.
The mindfree doctrine that Shang had talked about earlier was a specific ideology that followed the Lightning Manor's philosophy.
A follower of the mindfree doctrine believed that minds shouldn't be read, no matter what.
If there truly were sketchy people skulking around Shang's town, he couldn't just kill them or read their minds. However, he could keep them in jail for a couple of months for investigation.
Also, a mind read wasn't the only thing that would allow one to find the truth of a matter.
And the person floating in front of Shang was a specialist in one of these methods.
The woman just smiled. "I completely understand. A big part of our clients also follow the mindfree doctrine, and we're quite thankful," she said as she laughed politely. "After all, we wouldn't be where we are today without our valued clients."
"Do you know how our Isolation Chambers work?"
"Vaguely," Shang said.
The woman nodded. "Well, let me explain it in more detail. We will be using special materials and Magic Circles to completely isolate someone from the outside world. The inside and the outside of the chamber are completely cut off from each other."
"That means no Mana can enter or exit, and it is impossible to look inside or out. The isolation puts a significant strain on someone's mind, and the lack of new Mana only intensifies that feeling."
"After some time, the person inside the Isolation Chamber will slowly start losing Mana and life energy, which creates an agonizing feeling of approaching death. If we were talking about normal humans, you could view it as slowly asphyxiating someone over three months."
"Of course, depending on how it is used, an Isolation Chamber can also help calm someone's mind."
The woman explained all the details of the Isolation Chamber for the next couple of minutes, and Shang just nodded along.
"That sounds great. I would like to commission three of them whole and one more as individual pieces of metal in case the other three receive some damage," Shang said.
The woman's smile widened. "No problem. How strong do you wish for them to be?"
"I want it to be absolutely impossible for an Archmage to escape and nearly impossible for an Initial Ancestral Mage to escape," Shang said.
The woman nodded. "How big should they be? How do you want them to be accessed?"
Shang answered a couple more questions.
After a while, the woman nodded and handed over a sheet of paper she had created.
It was the bill with all the details.
25 Grade Six Mana Crystals.
Shang signed the bill and summoned 25 Grade Six Mana Crystals.
The woman smiled brightly, created a copy, handed the copy to Shang, and pocketed the Mana Crystals.
After that, Shang led her to his castle, and they entered the basement.
Shang's mind dug three huge rectangular holes and motioned for the woman to proceed.
SHING!
Three huge, black, and rectangular objects appeared inside the hole, and the woman summoned several more materials.
The Magic Circles of the town were shining with complex runes as the additional Magic Circles were integrated.
After about an hour, she was done.
"And that should be it," she said with a smile. "The three Isolation Chambers share the same energy source as your town's barrier."
Shang nodded.
After that, the woman summoned several huge black stones and put them beside Shang. "These are the replacement pieces that you ordered."
Then, she explained how Shang could swap out destroyed or defective parts of his Isolation Chambers.
"And that should cover everything," she said.
Shang nodded. "Thank you. Everything's to my liking."
After that, she said her goodbyes and left the town.
Shang continued flying in the sky for a while and then went back to his basement.
He activated the Magic Circles to isolate his castle from the town and walked over to one of the huge black stones.
Shang's hand touched it, and after a while, Shang smirked.
SHING!
Shang summoned both bodies of Sword and stabbed them into the black ore. "Eat up."
What material could completely isolate all kinds of Mana?
Entropy ore.
How strong would the Entropy ore need to be to resist an Initial Ancestral Mage?
At least in the Initial Sixth Realm.
After a while, Sword had filled up with Entropy ore again, and Shang put the stones away.
Shang had expected that it would be harder to find Entropy ore, but surprisingly, it wasn't difficult at all.
Where there was a need, there was money to be made.
