Shang thought for a long time about everything that had happened in his life.
He got a couple of ideas, but he wasn't quite sure which one he should pick.
Some of them aimed to combine all of Shang's powers to create a single unified ability, but Shang didn't like that idea.
He felt like there were still many things he could learn, and combining them now might make it difficult to combine powers he will comprehend in the future.
Shang's next thought was about combining his states, but that also wasn't possible since he had already combined all the states he had ever used.
For Shang, this wasn't about finding a way forward. After all, he had already done that so many times that it wasn't a problem anymore.
It was choice.
Choice was the problem.
Shang knew what he could do, but he wasn't sure which Path the best one was for him.
After thinking up several possibilities, Shang decided to resume physical training, and he summoned several Abomination Lords.
For starters, Shang only fought about 15 of them at the same time.
Void Break and Sword Focus made it rather easy for Shang to defend from their attacks. After all, his body was even more powerful and faster than theirs.
If there weren't so many enemies, Shang wouldn't even need to use any finesse or techniques.
Shang only had some problems when he was fighting 20 of them simultaneously, but it only became really troublesome at 25.
Shang decided to push himself and settled for fighting 28 Peak Abomination Lords.
28 Abomination Lords were already more than was buried inside the Lightning Manor.
The battle became more and more intense, and Shang quickly noticed where his bottleneck was now.
In the beginning, it had been speed.
Then, it had been his Spirit Sense.
And now, it was agility.
Shang's speed was pushed to the absolute peak. Just a little more speed from the enemies and Shang would get hit.
Shang's mind could keep up with all the Abomination Lords without issues, and Shang also had to use World Fusion to slow down several of the attacks.
The enemies were too fast for Sword Heart, but since World Fusion was instantaneous and since it strengthened World Connection, Shang could use it to slow and delay several of the Abomination Lords.
While Shang was moving his sword as quickly as possible with his arm, his mind was blocking and slowing over ten Abominations for every physical attack he blocked with his sword.
His sword always only barely arrived in time to block, and most of the time, Shang very awkwardly used his sword to block since it wasn't fast enough to assume an actually stable and fitting position.
Most of the time, his sword was still in the process of slashing forward when it hit the enemy's attack. The sword essentially didn't even get a real attack off and had to block attacks while its own attack was still in its preparatory phase.
This was like someone punching something that was only ten centimeters away from their chest.
It was like the Abominations hit the weak spots in Shang's blocks and attacks.
This made things extremely awkward and troublesome.
Due to the greater reach of Shang's sword, it took more time to reorient. As a comparison, swinging an outstretched arm from side to front took longer than just swinging a wrist.
BANG!
Suddenly, Shang's sword vanished, and he just punched the Abomination's claw with his fist.
His sword wouldn't have been fast enough to block the attack.
Due to Sword Focus and Void Break, Shang's body was stronger than the Abomination's body, and Shang managed to push it away.
Shang did the same thing with the next three attacks, and he suddenly noticed that he had more time than usual for the next block.
At that moment, Shang felt like he was getting closer to what he wanted, and he started to think about the fight while his instincts were automatically defending.
'Using my arm in a sword fight,' Shang thought. 'I haven't done that in a long time.'
Beginners only used the sword in a battle since they only considered their sword as a weapon.
More experienced swordfighters also used their legs and arms. A kick to the torso or legs could be devastating when the weapons were clashing.
When Shang became stronger, he returned to only using his sword again since his body wasn't useful anymore.
The enemies he was fighting could only be hurt by Shang's sword, and if he blocked their attacks with his body, he would be vaporized.
Additionally, Shang had plenty of defensive techniques.
So, in essence, Shang's body had become useless because it wasn't strong or hard enough. It could only be used to increase his speed.
But now, his body was actually useful again.
Shang's body had become strong enough to be of use again, and Shang's arm was undoubtedly more agile than his sword.
Sadly, Shang only had a single arm. If he had a second arm and legs, he could defend far more efficiently.
'Agility,' Shang thought. 'My sword is superior in everything except agility.'
'If I can improve my sword's agility, I can improve my swordsmanship even more.'
'But that's easier said than done. I can see only two ways. Either my sword needs to teleport or become liquid. Teleportation requires the level five Concept of Tearing, and it will probably also consume a lot of Mana.'
'And turning my sword into a liquid isn't possible. If I could turn it into a liquid, I wouldn't need to use all of these Concepts and techniques to combine my original four states.'
'Sure, I could transform my sword into just a handle and create a blade out of ice, darkness, fire, and light, but that will also destroy the advantage of my sword. A blade of ice can never become as hard as my sword. My sword uses materials several levels higher than my own, and I can't bridge that gap.'
'Increasing the agility of my sword won't be possible as long as it is a sword.'
"Stop!" Shang ordered, and the Abominations stopped attacking.
Shang remained silent for a while.
Just now, Shang had gotten an interesting idea, and he had to consider it.
Maybe…
Just maybe…
He could actually advance the condensation of his states an additional step.
