Shang thought a bit about his Weapon Infusion and if he should do more with it.
Weapon Infusion was a combination of a kind of Elemental Mana with Sword Mana. The result would stabilize the Sword Mana and give it the properties of the Elemental Mana.
This also explained why Shang's attack had been so powerful.
Shang had infused his sword with Death Mana using the Concept of Weakness, creating a blade with the properties of the Concept of Weakness.
Naturally, it was possible to also infuse it with other Elements. For example, Shang could also infuse his Sword Mana with the level three Concept of Incineration, which would create an intensely hot blade that could burn through whatever it hit.
However, just because someone could do something didn't mean that doing it was the most optimal thing to do.
According to the book, there were many applications for different Elements, but due to how Weapon Infusion worked, some Elements were better than others.
For example, infusing Sword Mana with Ice Mana barely made any sense. Yes, the blade would become very cold, but the actual damage it could deal was even worse than just using Sword Mana and Ice Mana simultaneously without combining them.
The same thing was true for Lightning Mana.
But there were still many Elements that were useful.
Especially the Metal Element.
The level one Concept of Metal was Sharpness, and infusing Sword Mana with the Concept of Sharpness was already very strong.
It straight-up just made the sword sharper without any side effects.
The book said that the level five Concept of Metal, Destruction, was the holy grail for warriors.
If a warrior were born with a Metal Affinity and managed to comprehend Weapon Infusion and the Concept of Destruction, they would become a fearsome opponent.
The level five Concept of Light, Laser, was also great.
Someone that had comprehended Weapon Infusion was most likely already a Warrior Lord, and a Peak Warrior Lord could already attempt to comprehend level five Concepts.
This was why level four and level five Concepts were all the rage when it came to Weapon Infusion.
Naturally, the book didn't even mention Life or Death Affinities. They were so rare and unknown that the author basically knew nothing about them.
However, Shang could tell that the level four Concept of Death was insanely useful for Weapon Infusion since it increased the power of the Concept of Weakness to insane lengths.
In a way, the Concept of Weakness could be considered a brother to the Concept of Sharpness. The Concept of Sharpness increased the power of a weapon, while the Concept of Weakness decreased the power of the target.
Sadly, infusing more than one Element wasn't possible with Weapon Infusion, but the book also said that it wasn't impossible.
The book just said that this was something for Warrior Kings, which probably meant that infusing more than one Element into Weapon Mana was a non-essential Destination for Warrior Kings.
Shang decided that it would be a waste of time to acclimate his other Elements to his Sword Mana.
Apparently, acclimating more Elements to Weapon Mana took, on average, about half as long as doing it with the first Element.
So, Shang would probably need like 70 years or something like that to acclimate one of his other Elements.
For what?
It wasn't like he couldn't use his other Elements any more.
Weapon Infusion simply increased the power of his weapon. He could still use all his other attacks while Weapon Infusion was active.
And the Concept of Weakness was undoubtedly the best option in almost every case.
Shang wouldn't spend his time on something like that.
Especially when there were a couple of other things Shang had seen in there.
When the book talked about the bad Affinities for Weapon Infusion, like Ice and Lightning, it also talked about a non-essential Destination where those two excelled at.
It was called Weapon Transformation, but the book didn't talk about it a lot.
However, the book had two comments about Weapon Transformation.
First, Weapon Transformation could increase the power of Weapon Infusion and vice versa.
Second, learning Weapon Transformation made it easier to comprehend the essential Destination for Warrior Kings.
Shang closed the book and turned to the Lightning Emperor. "I want to learn about Weapon Transformation."
The Lightning Emperor raised an eyebrow. "I thought you wanted to comprehend everything yourself."
"I never said that," Shang said.
Silence.
The Lightning Emperor blinked a couple of times in surprise.
"The Custodian said he didn't want to influence my Path, which was why he didn't tell me anything," Shang said. "On top of that, there is nobody I could have asked. Lastly, I already knew what I wanted to comprehend most of the time."
"This time, I want to comprehend Weapon Transformation."
"After consuming my momentum, I can feel that I now need even more momentum to reach the next level. With just Void Break, comprehending Sword Mana and Sword Infusion would have been enough to reach the Seventh Realm."
"But now, after using up the momentum after comprehending the Concept of Transformation, I can feel that I am still missing momentum."
"I need a third level four Concept or something similar, and Weapon Transformation sounds like the best way."
"Huh," the Lightning Emperor uttered. "That makes sense, actually."
Then, the Lightning Emperor actually scratched his chin as he fell into thought.
"Say, Shang," the Lightning Emperor said after a while. "How long did you take to learn Weapon Mana and Weapon Infusion?"
"About 150 years or so. I should have something like 500 years of longevity left," Shang said.
"Two non-essential Destinations for Warrior Lords in 150 years," the Lightning Emperor said. "That's really fast. It's like a Peak Ancestral Mage comprehending two level four Concepts in 150 years. It's basically unheard of."
"What if you comprehend Weapon Transformation in 100 years? Then, you have another 400 years left."
"If you can essentially comprehend three level four Concepts in 250 years or so, wouldn't it be possible for you to comprehend a level five Concept in 400 years?"
"After you get Weapon Transformation, you should have enough momentum for the next Realm. At that point, you're not in danger anymore."
"So, why not try it?"
Shang remained silent.
Comprehending something as complex as a level five Concept in 500 years…
That sounded impossible.
And yet…
Hadn't Shang already achieved similar feats?
