"I want to create a new Sword Path with the Concept of Transformation as a basis," Shang said. "If everything turns out well, my missing arm might not even be an issue."
The Lightning Emperor nodded. "Do you need anything?" he asked.
"I need a Spell that makes it seem like I still have my arm," Shang said.
The Lightning Emperor nodded.
He didn't need to ask why Shang wanted that.
It was already strange that Shang was missing his eyes, but if he now also missed his arms, the enemies would ask even more questions, and maybe, they would even be able to connect Shang to Lucius.
At that point, they might even guess that Shang was the Lightning Manor's true trump card.
"Anything else?" he asked.
"In about a century, I need strong opponents. The best way to train is to fight. Due to the God's present, I have enough opponents up to the Early Mage Lord Realm, but I need Mid Mage Lords and Peak Beast Lords as opponents."
"Since my new Path is currently still in its infancy, these opponents are still too powerful for me, but in a century, I need a lot of them. Additionally, my opponents will notice that I won't be using my left arm in a fight, which will create questions. Naturally, I can't allow the secret of my missing arm to be leaked like this."
"That should be everything," Shang said.
The Lightning Emperor furrowed his brows as he tried to think of a way to handle all of this.
Usually, he would have just told Wester to deal with it, but the Lightning Emperor also didn't want to inform Wester about Shang's missing arm.
"I will try my best," the Lightning Emperor said.
"What about the contract?" Shang asked.
"The war one?"
"Yes."
"It's very robust," the Lightning Emperor said. "I'm barely halfway there, but some others are probably already ahead of me. For now, things are still fine, but in a thousand years or so, the war might become more intense."
Naturally, the Lightning Emperor couldn't directly say that he intended to break the contract.
Shang nodded.
The next moment, the Lightning Emperor spoke a long and complicated Spell.
A moment later, the image of an arm appeared on Shang's left side, which then solidified into a seemingly real arm.
Shang was surprised when he realized that he could move it around.
However, he also realized that the movement was slower, not as fine, and the arm was very weak.
"This is a fake arm," the Lightning Emperor said. "I used the Concept of Change to create something that looks and works like an arm, but its strength is weak, and I can't accurately connect it to your soul. It is only interpreting the signals from your nerves, which is vastly inferior to controlling your body with your soul."
"You can use it for very basic things, but you can't fight with it or lift heavy things. Additionally, you have to be careful that you don't destroy it. There is a small connection inside the bone that pulls life energy from your torso into the arm, which allows it to regenerate, but you have to be careful! If you break the connection, the arm will necrose and die, and you will need a new one."
"So, please don't use it for anything more than scratching your head or lifting a small boulder," the Lightning Emperor said.
Shang looked at his arm as he slowly moved it around.
Then, he grabbed his lower arm with his right hand and pulled the muscle off.
Shang noticed that he felt a slight bit of pain, and he also saw the arm regenerating.
"What did I just say?!" the Lightning Emperor shouted.
"You said it's fine as long as I don't destroy the connection," Shang said. "I had to see how strong it actually was."
The Lightning Emperor only looked at Shang with a dissatisfied expression, but in the end, he just sighed.
'It's about as strong as my body has been when I was somewhere in the True Path Stage,' Shang thought.
"Thanks," Shang said absentmindedly.
The Lightning Emperor only nodded, but he didn't say anything.
He was currently thinking about a couple of things.
The Lightning Emperor saw Shang as his friend, but he also knew that Shang was very different from Lucius.
Lucius was a nice guy that wanted to help everyone.
And Shang… well…
Shang was different.
After the Lightning Emperor had seen that Shang had undergone two Transformations, he actually started to think about the future.
Right now, Shang was much weaker than him.
But what when Shang actually became as strong as him?
Sure, the Lightning Emperor was willing to sacrifice a huge part of the world to go on more adventures, but he didn't want to destroy the entire thing, and he also didn't want to die himself.
When Shang had all the power in the world, what would he do?
What would happen to the world?
And then there was this other thing.
Maybe Shang was…
But then…
The Lightning Emperor didn't like it.
He hated having these feelings.
He just wanted the world to be simple and uncomplicated.
In the end, he could only sigh.
"Shang," the Lightning Emperor said slowly.
"Yes?" Shang asked back.
"Shang," the Lightning Emperor repeated, "assuming you reach the Ninth Realm and you become the strongest being in this world, what then?"
"When you kill the other Emperors and become a God, and after you have killed the current God, what then?"
"What happens to the world?" the Lightning Emperor asked. "What will you do?"
Silence.
"I will leave," Shang said. "I want to be the strongest, and if there is more out there, I want to become stronger than that as well."
"What if there is nothing?" the Lightning Emperor asked. "What if this world is all there is? What if you are already the strongest being at that point? What if you are stuck here, just like the current God?"
Silence.
"There must be existence for my power to matter," Shang said after a while. "Being the strongest is my goal, but being the strongest in an infinite void of nothingness is not something I want."
"So, I would try to get rid of the Abominations either way."
"Maybe I can somehow increase the Mana in the world, elevating its existence."
"I want power, but I don't want to be the only one that's powerful."
"I need enemies. I need life around me."
The Lightning Emperor looked at Shang for a while.
"What if you can't leave, there is no way to stop the Abominations, and there is no way to increase the Mana?"
"What then?"
