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.

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

rocket was Shang's old framework, while the bullet

weaker

It was just different.

part was that this different aspect would only be like

when Shang reached the Fifth Realm, he would get rid of all the disadvantages of both frameworks and keep the advantages

need to

a while of admiring his new Mana pathway framework, Shang stood up and concentrated on the

need to comprehend the very thing I stopped myself from

grabbed Sword and performed a couple of practice

Mana pathways, he felt the swings become as easy as

no awkward

like his body had specifically been

like he was born to attack

had never

It was almost magical.

was almost like his sword

not fighting for so

would be hard for Shang not

on performing his attacks perfectly before,

sword in the most comfortable way, and that way

pieces of a jigsaw

like a square

bottle cap going onto a

It just fit perfectly.

body were made for

first time in a long while, the feeling of perfection returned

had completed his True Path many years ago, and now

It was just perfect.

thought as his sword moved

was now weaker, his already heavy

However, it simply wasn't.

fact, it was very

body actually wasn't as slow as

was it even

that shouldn't

be weaker,

how could his attack be even

his sword in a trance of wonder, the

began to feel a certain aura appear

It felt like… himself?

Yeah, it did.

swung his sword again, he felt his