The Bolts in their houses had become quite distracted in recent days, and they weren't exactly sure what they should do.
This new warrior had essentially sat down beside their houses and started to mutate into grotesque shapes.
The Bolts wanted to have some time for themselves in their own house, but they couldn't focus on anything they were doing since this guy just kept mutating and being gross on their front lawn.
Naturally, they had tried to get him to go away by constantly looking at him, but he didn't seem to care. He even seemed like he didn't even notice that they were looking.
So, when that didn't work, they tried to ignore him.
Sure, the warrior wasn't looking at them with his Spirit Sense, but he didn't need to.
He was distracting enough as it was.
The Bolts just couldn't stop themselves from throwing curious glances at him, which also stopped them from doing whatever they were doing.
They tried even harder to ignore him, but it was just impossible.
They felt bad for the warrior.
They were annoyed and wanted to hate him for interrupting their free time, but the sheer pain he must be under made it difficult for them to actually hate him.
No one deserved to go through something like that.
And that was the problem.
Shang was in so much pain that he distracted everyone.
If he weren't in as much pain, Mage Lords wouldn't have an issue since they could just ignore him.
What were they supposed to do?
Help him? He was doing this to himself, and helping him was literally not helping him.
Ignore him? Easier said than done.
Talk to him? He didn't seem like someone that could talk right now.
So, after the first two weeks were close to being up, the Bolts released a sigh of relief.
Finally, this guy would leave.
Shang's body stopped mutating.
CRK!
At that moment, Shang began to use his power to tear his own body apart.
He tore his Beast Core and his mind out of the fleshy monstrosity that was his body, and after he did so, he used his life energy to regrow his normal body.
Shang took a deep breath and analyzed his Mana Pathways.
He saw some progress.
And then, he took out another Furnace Pill and ate it.
When the Bolts saw that, they felt like their world was breaking down.
Another one?
Another two weeks of this?!
Fuck that!
Nearly all of them left.
It was nice to be at home, but they didn't need to be at home.
They could also just train somewhere else.
In the end, only two Bolts remained in their house.
These were the only two Bolts that didn't mind Shang at all.
The reason for that was that they had no feeling of Empathy.
They couldn't feel Empathy.
So, the mutating Shang was only an interesting show to them, and when they had their fill, they just stopped looking.
Five years later, the first Bolt returned, and when they arrived, their eyes widened in shock.
He was still at it?!
How was he still at it?!
The hill on which Shang "sat" had transformed into a fleshy forest with many bizarre fleshy structures standing on it.
In a way, it almost looked like art.
The Bolt left again.
Over the next couple of years, more and more Bolts returned, but they also left just as quickly.
About 15 years after Shang had consumed the first Furnace Pills, the Bolts finally had enough.
They went to Lucin and complained to him.
In the beginning, Lucin just said that Shang wasn't breaking any rules, but as more and more Bolts complained, he began to waver.
Eventually, Lucin decided to do something.
He flew over to Shang's hill and began to cast several complex Spells.
SHING!
An extremely complex Magic Circle appeared around the fleshy hill, and a couple of seconds later, a purple barrier appeared.
It was an Isolation Barrier.
No one could see or get through it except Lucin himself.
Lucin wasn't a fan of helping an individual Cloud over the others, but this was a special circumstance. Additionally, he wasn't really helping Shang grow more powerful. The only thing Lucin was helping Shang with was something that would only be helpful if someone actually broke the rules, in which case Lucin would be allowed to help either way.
If no one was planning on assassinating Shang, the barrier would be useless, and if someone tried to assassinate him, Lucin would be allowed to help anyway.
When the bolts saw that, they sighed in relief.
Finally, they didn't need to look at this stuff anymore.
More and more Bolts returned to their homes over the next couple of years, and the purple barrier became normal to them after a while.
Around 20 years after Shang had taken the first Furnace Pill, he took a break.
After healing his body, he didn't immediately take the next Furnace Pill.
That was because it was time for a trip to the Isolation Chamber.
Since Shang now had much more money, he decided to let his Mana Pathways grow more and for longer.
That might waste a couple of Furnace Pills, but it could result in a slightly higher efficiency.
Shang summoned the Isolation Chamber and put it in a random spot on the fleshy hill.
Then, he activated one of the Magic Circles around the Isolation Chamber and started to manipulate it.
Fleros had transformed Shang's Isolation Chamber and added several new functions.
Now, Shang didn't need a second person anymore.
He could input a set time, and the Magic Circle would keep the Isolation Chamber closed for that time, but that wasn't even everything.
After opening again, it also filled itself with healing water that would refill Shang's life energy.
Of course, during all of this, it also hid in an additional Isolation Barrier to keep itself hidden.
Shang manipulated the Magic Circle around the Isolation Chamber, and when he was done, he entered it.
Some seconds later, the Isolation Chamber closed itself.
And for the next two months, he wouldn't come out.
