Shang didn't react in any special way to Wester's words.
"I would prefer the second way," Shang said.
Silence.
Shang couldn't see it, but Queen Primordium was looking at him with furrowed brows.
When the Custodian talked about severe pain, he was probably talking about some very serious pain, and to top it all off, Shang would have this pain for the rest of his life.
Yet, Shang didn't even ask the Custodian about the pain.
This didn't make Shang appear like someone that could resist a lot of pain but like someone that was hopelessly overestimating themselves.
However, Shang had a fivefold Spirit Sense. So, maybe he actually knew what he was talking about.
"You don't care about the pain?" Wester asked with a smile.
"It doesn't matter," Shang answered.
Silence.
The two Mage Kings waited for Shang to elaborate, but Shang had already said everything he wanted to say.
"Alright," Wester said. "Let me explain what is happening in your body right now and how we will change things."
"Your soul is connected to your body via a tether. You could look at it like a thread connecting the two things."
"The part on your body that connects to the tether is called the soul core."
"The tether is made up of multiple connections."
"The part of your soul that connects to the tether is called the soul center."
"The closest thing to the soul is the mind since your soul core is in your brain. Because of that, your mind will become more powerful as your soul grows more powerful and vice versa."
"The primary connection is the biggest connection within the tether that connects your body to your soul. This is the connection responsible for transferring your power back and forth."
"With a damaged primary connection, it is nearly impossible to strengthen your soul since there is simply no connection, which also means that it is nearly impossible to strengthen your mind."
"To strengthen your mind, you need to absorb Mana with your mind and push that Mana into your soul, which will then grow more powerful, which, in turn, will also increase the power of your mind."
"And since there is no primary connection, this process doesn't happen."
"In your case, your soul only becomes stronger by gaining Mana via the much smaller connections, which means that you have to be many times more powerful to strengthen your mind just by a little bit."
"However, the tradeoff is that the Mana in your body is always in an over-full state since it can't escape into your mind and soul as easily. That makes your Mana very volatile and prone to sudden transformations."
"That is how you can transform your Mana into life energy in the blink of an eye."
"The normal way to solve this issue would be to repair the primary connection. Your Mana would find a way to escape into your soul, which would strengthen your mind."
"In turn, your body wouldn't be over-filled with Mana, making it more time-consuming to transform your Mana into life energy. You could imagine it as a kingdom waging war against one or two enemies."
"If they only have one enemy, they will put all their forces near the frontlines, ready to react in an instant, but if they are threatened by two kingdoms on two opposite borders, it takes a long while for the forces to react since they would be stationed in the middle of the kingdom."
Shang listened intently.
"Now, the way that I am proposing to solve your issue would be to re-establish the primary connection, but on a different spot."
"If you think back to the kingdom analogy I used, what I would be doing would be to take one of the two enemies and place them behind the other enemy. Your forces would now only need to stand on one border."
"In biological terms, I'm going to connect the tether to your center of life energy."
"However, the soul isn't meant to grow by absorbing life energy. Theoretically, it's possible, but it takes more effort. Additionally, the soul doesn't stop pulling Mana, which means that it will keep absorbing your life energy at a high rate."
"The lower your life energy, the more life energy your body produces out of instinct. Your survival instincts kick in, you become awake, you become attentive, and your emotions go haywire. In that state, you will produce more life energy."
"But outside an actively dangerous situation, this state only happens when your life energy is at about 70% of its maximum."
"This means that your soul will keep absorbing your life energy until it reaches 70%, at which point you will experience said symptoms perpetually for the remainder of your life."
"It will be impossible for you to calm down."
"Your mind will always go wild, and you will feel like you're in the middle of a battle every second of your life."
"Additionally, the loss of great amounts of life energy feels like you are about to die."
"Forever."
Silence.
"Are you sure you want that?" Wester asked.
"How does it compare to being in an Isolation Chamber?" Shang asked.
Wester raised an eyebrow in surprise. "The loss of life energy is anxiety-inducing, but it can't compare to being locked in an environment without Mana."
Shang nodded. "Then, I'm fine with it."
"Are you sure?" Wester asked. "This will stay with you for the rest of your life."
"I'm sure," Shang said.
Wester rubbed his chin as he looked at Shang.
He wanted to ask why Shang was so sure, but he remembered what the Lightning Emperor had said.
This person would sacrifice everything for his power.
Even himself, his happiness, his loved ones, his health…
"Alright," Wester said. "Then, as a new member of the Lightning Manor, look at this as my welcome present to you."
"I hope that you will become the pride of the Lightning Manor."
"I will," Shang answered. "Thank you."
Wester nodded.
And then, he put his finger on Shang's forehead.
