Sword God in a World of Magic

Shang continued fighting against the beasts, and he climbed the rankings.

Sword Transformation helped Shang against the beasts focusing on ranged attacks, but that wasn't all.

By no longer needing to focus on not killing his opponents, Shang could also fight much more aggressively.

Even more, Sword Transformation also helped Shang with a couple of faster opponents since it could also swirl around Shang for a moment.

As the years passed, Shang's mastery over Sword Transformation increased even more.

Sword Transformation held longer and flowed with more flexibility.

Nevertheless, using Sword Transformation still used up all of the Sword Mana Shang had gathered.

Every time Shang used Sword Transformation, he needed to reload his Death Mana and Sword Mana.

Sword Infusion and Sword Transformation were both stronger than just pure Sword Mana, but they were equal to each other.

Sword Infusion increased sharpness and reduced Mana spent.

Sword Transformation increased the range and flexibility.

Both were useful for something.

If both were used at the same time, it would increase the sharpness, range, and flexibility.

Sadly, it would use up all the Mana again.

With Shang's increased mastery of Sword Transformation, he began to win more battles.

Increasing one's power as a Peak Beast Lord was very difficult and took a very long time, and Shang's speed of growth was blazing compared to the growth of the beasts he was fighting.

After 100 years, Shang was already fighting against the 30 strongest Peak Beast Lords.

But then, Shang's speed of growth slowed down again.

The initial improvements were always faster than later improvements.

Another 100 years later, Shang was fighting against the top 25.

Another 100 years later, he was fighting places 22 and 21.

Shang was learning a lot about fighting with Sword Mana, and his Sword Transformation still continued to improve.

Yet, Shang was still unsure about how to comprehend the next level.

Shang's Sword Transformation held even longer, and Shang could even slightly change its trajectory after he had already fired it.

Shang knew exactly what he had to comprehend, but he felt that his progress was still very slow.

As things currently stood, Shang estimated that he would only arrive at his goal in about 600 years or so, and he had already trained for about 300 years.

This meant that all in all, Shang would have needed to train for 900 years to learn the essential Destination for Warrior Kings.

900 years was already brutally and shockingly fast. After all, Shang had a total longevity of 5,000 years. 900 years for that was nothing compared to what it meant to comprehend something on the level of a level five Concept.

It was definitely extremely fast.

And yet, it wasn't enough.

Shang only had 150 years left, and he needed about 600 if he continued advancing at this rate.

No matter how hard Shang tried, it just wasn't possible.

Training with the sword was the best way to become better at wielding a sword, and Shang was already doing that.

50 years later, Shang could see a way to reach the next level, but it only reduced his estimates to 500 years instead of the 550 they would have been now.

Shang saw the fundamentals of the next Destination, and he could finally tell how it worked in general.

Yet, figuring out how something worked wasn't the important part of training with a weapon.

Figuring out how something worked was for Mages and Concepts.

Fighting with a weapon required feeling and practice on top of knowing how something worked.

Nevertheless, Shang continued.

Another 50 years later, Shang could feel even clearer how the next Destination worked.

In a way, Shang could already use it in a very basic and rudimentary way.

That increased Shang's power by a bit more, and he was now fighting places 18 and 17.

Nevertheless, Shang was now about 4,950 years old, and he only had 50 years left.

Shang knew better than anyone else how it felt to reach one's maximum longevity.

At that point, training would become impossible.

'Guess there's not much I can do,' Shang thought as he fought his opponent. 'Seems like I have to break through soon.'

Even though Shang was disappointed that he couldn't comprehend what he wanted, he would still survive.

Additionally, he had undergone a huge Transformation thanks to the Concept of Transformation.

The quality of his existence had increased even more, and he was well on his way to becoming the strongest being in Aterium.

He had already set plenty of world-shattering new records.

'Transformation,' Shang thought.

'The Concept of Transformation?'

As Shang thought about the Concept of Transformation, he also thought about what he wanted to comprehend.

'In a way, that is also a transformation.'

'Everything from this point on in the warrior's Path revolves around Sword Mana, and Sword Blood isn't any different.'

Sword Blood was the essential Destination for Warrior Kings, the next level of Sword Mana.

Sword Blood allowed the warrior to create even more Sword Mana, and the warrior's body would gain the power to store the Sword Mana in the body.

This would eventually result in the circulation of Sword Mana in one's body, changing the Sword Mana and allowing the warrior to control it even better while it was outside their body.

'I can try the Concept of Transformation,' Shang thought.

Shang stopped the duel and left the Isolation Barrier.

A moment later, he stopped on top of a mountain and focused on his body and Sword Mana.

Then, he used the Concept of Transformation on the Mana in his body.

It was extremely difficult, but Shang noticed that he could motivate his own Mana to transform into Sword Mana.

The Concept of Transformation wasn't made to create something like Sword Mana, but by changing the way Shang was using it, he could use it in this way.

However, Shang's pathways were breaking under the Sword Mana since they were not made to withstand such a powerful and sharp form of Mana.

After some years, Shang noticed that his pathways had become better at resisting Sword Mana.

That was when Shang realized that it was actually possible.

For the next decades, Shang created more and more Sword Mana in his body.

This worked much better than just training with his sword, and it was all thanks to the Concept of Transformation!

And then, 40 years later.

At 4,990 years old.

Shang did it.

Sword Blood!