Shang had already expected something like this.
This was essentially the best-case scenario for him.
Lucin could have just killed him.
Lucin could have also just said that they would support him, but that would be worse than him asking his superior.
How was it worse?
Because the actual rise of a Warrior King would definitely need the approval of at least several Mage Kings, if not one of the Mage Emperors.
Lucin would have obviously known that.
So, the only reason why he wouldn't have asked his superior would be that he was certain that Shang would never become so powerful.
Which would be a bad thing for Shang.
Luckily, he decided to ask his superior.
This meant that Shang's chances were genuine.
The two of them continued traveling for nearly an hour, which was quite surprising to Shang.
By now, they had probably traveled across over half of the Lightning Manor's territories.
They had probably traveled for over four million kilometers in total, which was insane.
The further north they got, the colder everything became.
The general climate had always been the same to Shang, just temperate, but that wasn't because all of Aterium was like that.
It was just that Shang had barely moved enough to notice a change in the climate. He had always stayed in the southern parts of the northern third of the world.
Now, they were entering the northern parts of the northern third of the world.
The short instances Shang managed to glimpse at his surroundings showed him a completely different world from what he was used to.
Everything was extremely cold. There was ice and snow wherever he looked, and the number of Ice Affinity beasts also shot up.
However, that was only on the ground.
The sky had darkened considerably, and it only became darker the further north they traveled.
The sky was completely covered by black clouds, which were constantly crackling with explosions of lightning.
While there were plenty of Ice Affinity beasts on the ground, there were even more Lightning Affinity beasts in the skies.
Even more, the Lightning Affinity beasts felt much more dangerous and powerful to Shang than the Ice Affinity beasts.
It was almost like the Ice Affinity beasts were the prey of the Lightning Affinity beasts in the sky.
After a while, the two of them began to fly higher and higher.
They broke through the gigantic clouds, after which Shang's Spirit Sense didn't work correctly anymore.
The power of all the lightning in the clouds had reached monumental levels.
Shang guessed that a stray bolt could probably turn an Ancestral Beast into ashes.
"Only Mage Lords and people escorted by them can pass through the Lightning Sea," Lucin told Shang. "Everyone else turns to dust."
The Lightning Sea was thousands of kilometers thick, and the two of them were still ascending.
Shang had never been so high up before.
"It is said that the Lightning Sea exists because of the Ancestor," Lucin said.
Shang was inclined to believe Lucin.
The winds close to the Storm Eagle had been powerful enough to severely injure Commander Stage beasts and maybe even kill them. Only True Path Stage beasts had been able to come close.
The levels of power here would be similar, just scaled up massively.
Eventually, the two of them completely broke past the impossibly thick layer of clouds.
Shang's Spirit Sense began to work again, and he could finally see the world again.
The sky above Shang was cloudless and black.
At least, he assumed it was black.
Sadly, Shang couldn't perceive the stars with his Spirit Sense. So, he didn't know if there were any.
Below Shang, there was just an infinite cacophony of nothing but destruction.
The power of the lightning was absurd.
And then, there was one other thing.
A humongous purple castle was sitting on top of the destructive Lightning Sea.
Surprisingly, Shang couldn't feel any living being in the castle.
"Impressive, isn't it?" Lucin asked.
Shang could only nod.
"We use Magic Circles to isolate the Spirit Sense of everyone. It's hard to work when everyone is looking at everyone else all the time. Because of that, walls and doors block Spirit Senses in the castle," Lucin explained.
"Is this the Lightning Manor?" Shang asked.
"Correct," Lucin said. "The Lightning Manor is the name of the Empire, but it also refers to this castle right here."
"This is the Lightning Manor, the place where the Ancestor and the seven Mage Kings reside. Naturally, there are also quite some Mage Lords. Most of the Thunders run their Departments from here, and there are also a couple of Bolts that do the busywork of the Thunders."
"Additionally, since almost all of the Force Department and most of the Reconnaissance Department don't have much to do, they also stay here most of the time."
While Lucin explained everything, the two of them touched down at the grand entrance of the Lightning Manor.
"Only the Kings are allowed to fly in here, so we have to walk," Lucin said as he stepped forward.
Funnily enough, even though Lucin said walk, he was actually moving at nearly a kilometer per second. Every step he was taking just seemed to shrink the space between him and his destination.
Naturally, Shang didn't have any problems keeping up. He might not be nearly as powerful as Lucin, but his body was still extremely powerful.
The two of them stepped past the huge gate and entered.
There were several huge purple flags hanging on the walls, and the interior of the castle looked expensive but simple. Instead of filling every free space with decorations, the Lightning Manor preferred a minimalistic approach.
When Shang stepped past the gates, his Spirit Sense expanded forward, filling the entire network of hallways like water.
Nearly all the doors leading into rooms were closed, which blocked Shang's Spirit Sense.
As soon as Shang's Spirit Sense filled the hallway, he felt nearly 20 extremely powerful Spirit Senses look at him.
These were the Spirit Senses of some random people that were just walking through the hallway.
Yet, every random person in here was a powerful Mage Lord, at least.
Shang was very good at estimating someone's power by looking at them with his Spirit Sense, but there wasn't a single person in here whose power he could estimate.
They all felt as powerful as the Temple of Blood's Territory Lord to Shang, if not more powerful.
Naturally, the Mage Lords were also interested in Shang.
Why was someone with the mind of a Peak High Mage here?
It was exceedingly unusual to have anyone weaker than a Mage Lord here.
But the Mage Lords didn't bother Shang. They just sent him a couple of curious glances.
Nevertheless, getting inspected by around 20 Spirit Senses with such power was still quite intimidating.
"I'm working under Queen Primordium," Lucin said. "She's responsible for the Reinforcement Department. My Contender Department is part of the Reinforcement Department, which means I also fall under her supervision."
Shang wasn't surprised that Lucin was suddenly telling him the things he wasn't allowed to learn earlier.
Shang was already inside the Lightning Manor itself.
He would either join or die.
There was no more reason to keep these things secret.
"Queen Primordium is amongst the twenty most powerful Mage Kings in the world, and she might even reach the top ten. So, you should know that she is very outstanding, even amongst the already outstanding Mage Kings," Lucin said.
"What about the Starlight Queen?" Shang asked.
"The Starlight Queen has once stated that she is the fifth most powerful Mage King in the Lightning Manor. So, if we expand this to every Empire, she would probably be in the fifties," Lucin explained.
"Is Queen Primordium the strongest Mage King of the Lightning Manor?" Shang asked.
"No," Lucin answered. "The Custodian, the Mage King of the Administration Department, is the strongest. He's not the strongest Mage King in the world, but he's very close. I'm not entirely sure, but he should be somewhere within the top five."
"Who's the strongest Mage King in the world?" Shang asked.
Shang usually didn't talk much, but he couldn't help himself right now.
He wanted to know who the strongest people in the world were, aside from the Mage Emperors.
Lucin sighed.
"You know, if the Custodian had been born earlier or later, he might have been the most powerful Mage King. Sadly, there is a Mage King currently alive whose power is not normal, even for Mage Kings."
"In fact, he is so powerful that the Emperors had even stated that he might have been able to fight the Mage God back when he had still been a Mage King, but the Emperors are divided in that opinion."
"His title is King Sanctified Death, and there might be a chance that the Emperors will allow him to become an Emperor."
