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.

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

framework, while the bullet was his

wasn't weaker or

It was just different.

part was that this different aspect would

Shang reached the Fifth Realm, he would get rid of

would need to fight

of admiring his new Mana pathway framework, Shang stood up and concentrated

very thing I stopped myself from

and performed a

used his new Mana pathways, he felt the swings become as easy

no awkward

specifically

like he was

sword had never felt

It was almost magical.

like his sword was part

had expected to be out of practice after not fighting for so long,

hard for Shang not to perform his

his attacks perfectly before, the attacks now launched perfectly on their

in the most comfortable way, and that

like two pieces of

a square going in

was like a bottle cap going onto a

It just fit perfectly.

and Shang's body

the first time in a long while, the feeling of

felt that feeling when he had completed his True Path many years ago, and now he was feeling the same feeling

It was just perfect.

Shang thought as his sword

already heavy Great

However, it simply wasn't.

was

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

was it even

shouldn't

supposed to be weaker, and

could his attack

in a trance of wonder,

began to feel a certain aura

It felt like… himself?

Yeah, it did.

again, he felt his surroundings move