Sword God in a World of Magic

"Finally done!" Shang said out loud as he fell onto his back.

'That took sooo loooong!' he thought as his mind relaxed for the first time in a very long while.

However, Shang also just couldn't stop looking at his finished work.

An intricate but very logical network of interconnected Mana pathways was now inside his body.

In comparison to the chaotic growth of natural Mana pathways, the new ones were very straight and very orderly.

Comparing the natural Mana pathways with the new ones would be like comparing the root network of a tree with a plumbing network.

One was obviously much easier to understand and orderly than the other.

Additionally, the new Mana pathway network was designed to make easy changes in the future. Shang could simply remove one and add one without needing to amend any other Mana pathways.

Of course, the old network of Mana pathways was still inside Shang's body, and he was still using it for anything that wasn't his Great Sword State.

Sadly, needing to keep both networks active at all times had weakened Shang's reserves considerably.

Just like he had predicted, Shang now only had about 50% of his earlier power.

But that didn't mean that he was weaker from a Battle-Strength perspective.

While his entire body moved slower and hit lighter, Shang's ability to accelerate and adapt to any kind of movement was insane.

Some of Shang's movements had become so bizarre that one would even think that some fundamental laws of physics just didn't apply to him.

For example, Shang could swing with all his power to his right, but in the middle of the swing, his sword suddenly moved in the opposite direction at the same speed.

It was like inertia straight up didn't exist.

The way this worked was actually the sudden explosion of Mana.

If one imagined Shang swinging at an explosive, one wouldn't be surprised when Shang's sword suddenly shot in the opposite direction after detonating the explosive.

But if one imagined the same movement without the explosive, it would seem very unnatural.

That was because the explosive force was inside Shang's arm and invisible to the eye.

Even more, since Shang's muscles didn't need to sacrifice their own power in order to achieve the density of Mana necessary to perform a powerful attack, Shang's acceleration was also insanely fast.

While the top speed of Shang's attacks was slower than before, his attacks reached their top speed multiple times faster than before.

As an example, a space rocket was faster than a bullet. If the rocket had to accelerate from zero, it would take a couple of seconds to travel a kilometer.

A bullet wouldn't need that long.

went on for a thousand kilometers, and even if the bullet could travel that far,

rocket was Shang's old framework, while the bullet

wasn't weaker

It was just different.

aspect would only be like this for

rid of all the disadvantages of both frameworks

Shang would need to fight with his

framework, Shang stood

comprehend the very thing I stopped myself from

and performed

he felt the swings become

no awkward

his body had specifically been created to perform

he was born to

sword had never

It was almost magical.

sword was part of his

out of practice after not fighting for so long, but

hard for Shang not to perform

his attacks perfectly before, the

to swing his sword in the most

two pieces of

square

was like a bottle cap going

It just fit perfectly.

body were made

first time in a long while,

had completed his True Path

It was just perfect.

easy,' Shang thought as his sword

since Shang's body was now weaker, his already heavy Great Sword should actually be

However, it simply wasn't.

it was very

more, Shang's body actually wasn't as slow

was it

shouldn't be

was supposed to be weaker, and

how could his attack be

his sword in a trance of wonder, the world around him seemed

a certain aura appear

It felt like… himself?

Yeah, it did.

Shang swung his sword again, he felt his surroundings move with