Shang wasn't quite sure why there was a fountain of blood in the middle of the hall, but his question got answered rather quickly as letters appeared in the air.
"Put a drop of your blood in the fountain."
Shang walked over to the fountain and cut his finger.
A small stream of blood flowed down Shang's finger since he wasn't really careful with the depth of the cut.
As the first drops of blood hit the fountain, one of the doors at the edges of the hall opened, and Shang walked through.
The door closed behind him, and Shang's Spirit Sense could no longer see the fountain.
Shang found himself in an old hallway, but he didn't really care about it a whole lot as he just continued walking.
Shang walked slightly downward for several minutes. He wasn't moving at his top speed, but he was still moving at quite a brisk pace.
Shang had probably moved around 200,000 kilometers deep into the ground, which was quite surprising.
Why would anyone need such a long hallway?
Eventually, Shang reached another door and opened it.
He was greeted by a dark room with a floating transparent cube in the middle.
Shang could see a small inscription in the middle of the cube.
"Banish the darkness with light."
Shang looked around his new surroundings.
His Spirit Sense was severely suppressed, only allowing him to view a couple of meters of his surroundings. Additionally, Shang could feel very dense Darkness Mana around him.
Even more, the Darkness Mana had a will on it, which seemed to be impossible. After all, how could a dead person imprint their will on Mana?
However, Shang knew that these rules had only remained true for the people he had been fighting against.
Mage Kings and Mage Emperors might have ways to mimic wills with Magic Circles.
Nevertheless, the will was a problem since this meant that Shang couldn't control the Darkness Mana or move it. So, he actually had to do this small challenge the intended way.
Shang walked over to the cube and put his hand on it.
A moment later, he infused it with Light Mana.
The darkness receded, revealing the surrounding five meters to Shang.
Then, Shang used his level one Concept of Illumination to increase the brightness of the light. One had to remember that lower-level Concepts also increased in power as one understood more Concepts of an Affinity. That was the very reason why Concepts very often became more difficult to understand later.
So, even though the Concept of Illumination was only technically a level one Concept, it had the power of a level three Concept.
Very quickly, the light extended even more, revealing the surrounding 15 meters.
However, Shang couldn't see anything of note in the darkness, which probably meant that he needed to create even more light.
So, Shang used his Concepts of Twilight and Addition to move the Light Mana to extreme brightness.
In an instant, the entire room brightened.
The opposite wall with the door had only been about 20 meters away.
'T'm quite sure I could have illuminated 40 meters,' Shang thought.
The Concepts of Twilight and Addition were the ones that had the biggest impact by far.
If Shang had only had the level two Concept of Light, Particle, Shang would have illuminated about 30 meters.
If he only had had the Concept of Illumination, he would have barely illuminated the entire room.
'So, in order to pass this trial, you either have to know the level four Concept Light, Dawn, or the level one Concept of Light paired with the Concepts of Twilight and Addition,' Shang thought.
'If the Trial of Want has been created by Lucius for his successor, I can guess what kind of trials will await me next," Shang thought.
Shang walked over to the door, opened it, and walked through it.
The hallway was just as long as previously, and it kept going diagonally into the ground.
Shang guessed that he was about 350,000 kilometers to the north of the Hibye at a depth of about 70,000 kilometers.
Shang arrived at the next door and opened it, and for once, he was glad that he didn't have any eyes.
It was very bright.
Just as before, there was a transparent cube levitating in the middle of the room.
"Consume the light with darkness."
Just like with the previous cube, there was an inscription.
Shang walked over and infused the cube with Darkness Mana.
Five meters.
Level two Concept of Darkness, Blindness, strengthened by the level three Concept of Darkness, Consumption.
15 meters.
Then, Shang used the Concept of Twilight and Subtraction.
The entire room was revealed. Just like the last one, it was about 20 meters to the other side.
'Interesting,' Shang thought. 'In comparison to the Light Affinity, the first Concept of the Darkness Affinity that pushes Darkness Mana to an extreme of darkness is the level two Concept, Blindness. The level one Concept of Shadow isn't pushing it that hard."
'So, just knowing the level one Concept of Darkness actually wouldn't be enough to advance, even if someone knew the Concepts of Twilight and Subtraction.'
'Although, Concepts aren't really stronger or weaker than other Concepts. It's just how we classify them based on how difficult they are to comprehend.'
'Someone could theoretically comprehend the Concept of Blindness first. It might be unusual, but it's possible."
'I wonder, is Lucius simply testing someone on how many Concepts they know, or does he search for specific Concepts?"
Shang exited the hall and entered the next hallway, which was just as long as the previous two.
Eventually, Shang reached the next room.
Sure enough, there was another transparent cube.
This time, everything in the room was on fire.
Shang could sense the absolutely apocalyptic heat, but the heat was so concentrated that it barely affected anything a couple of centimeters to the side.
"Banish the fire with ice," the inscription read.
After trying a bit, Shang realized that this trial either needed the level four Concept of Ice, Zero, or the level two Concept of Ice, Freeze, together with the Concepts of Temperature and Subtraction.
Once more, Shang exited the hall, entered another long hallway, and reached another room with a cube.
This time, Shang could feel extreme coldness around him.
Shang did the same thing again.
One either needed the level four Concept of Fire, Explosion, to proceed, or the level two Concept of Fire, Heat, and the Concepts of Addition and Temperatures.
Shang walked over to the next door and opened it.
'I think the trial would most likely adapt to the power of a person. If a Mage Lord showed up in this trial, they would probably need to know even stronger Concepts,' Shang thought.
'Right now, for a Peak Ancestral Mage, this trial either wants someone to know the first four Concepts of Entropy with some basic Concepts of the four Affinities or a very talented Mage that perfectly fits what Entropy wants and needs."
'Four level four Concepts would already guarantee someone a fourfold Spirit Sense as a Mage Lord, but these four Concepts also have to perfectly fit.'
'Maybe Lucius assumed that it's possible that someone that isn't the Child of Calamity could comprehend powers belonging to the Child of Calamity?"
By now, Shang was certain that this was a specific trial designed for the Child of Calamity.
The trials were simply too specific.
Of course, that was a good thing.
Shang had failed to comprehend the level five Concept of Entropy, and he knew that he could most likely not comprehend it as a Peak Ancestral Mage.
He just hoped that the Trial of Want would help him comprehend the Concept.
That was all he wanted.
