Sword God in a World of Magic

"Increase the temperature inside the furnace as much as possible while using as little Fire Mana as possible," Shang read.

'Interesting. This is a trial that tests someone's mastery over the Fire Affinity. Hotter fire is more destructive, and by using as little Fire Mana as possible, this trial is testing the quality of someone's Concepts and mastery over fire.'

'The level four Concept of Fire is Explosion, which can probably produce extremely hot flames. Even the level three Concept Incineration can create powerful flames, but for a Cloud that found this place, this is probably the bare minimum.'

'However, this is also just the first trial. I would expect it to be easy.'

'I guess it needs the level three Concept of Fire, Incineration to complete it. I guess a Cloud that knows a lot about temperatures would have comprehended that Concept.'

'Sadly, I don't have that Concept.'

Shang walked over to the glass furnace and flew to its top.

Then, he extended his right hand.

A moment later, the space below his hand seemed to distort with some invisible waves.

After some time, the air in the entire furnace seemed to warp and wave in a strange manner. It was almost like the world inside the furnace was about to break down.

Ding!

At that moment, the door leading out of the room opened as the barrier vanished.

Shang had fulfilled the requirements.

He might not have the Concept of Incineration, but he had the Concept of Addition.

Light had two aspects, which were mass and brightness.

Fire also had two aspects, which were heat and brightness.

Shang had converted all the brightness in the fire into heat, which was why the fire he had just dropped in the furnace had been nearly invisible to the eye.

Naturally, this kind of fire was far hotter than normal fire since all of its power was focused on heat.

And that had been enough for Shang to get past the first trial.

Shang landed in front of the exit and walked through it.

Some seconds later, Shang opened the door to the second trial.

This time, there was a blue cube in the middle of the room.

Shang looked to the side at an emblem and read the instructions.

Ice Mana. Make it as cold

opposite of

of Ice is Blizzard, which doesn't seem to decrease the temperature by a

the level four Concept of Ice, Zero, would decrease

an Early Ancestral Mage to know the Concept of Zero

the difficulty rating wouldn't just be a two. Sure, they could expect that from Peak Ancestral Mage Clouds, but not from Early

the level three Concept

also don't have

over to the cube and put his hand

later, the cube began to

Ding!

opened, and

through that trial

light, ice and darkness also had two properties each, which could be manipulated with the Concept of

absorption and void, void meaning the absence

had cold and

his Ice Mana to the extreme

to the extreme of heat transformed into invisible

extreme of coldness transformed into something that

about the other

was where the connection

of brightness would produce the same thing as what pushing light

Very bright light.

where these two Affinities

was true for ice that was pushed to the

would just become a very

to the extreme of absorption did just what it

beginning to end, one could envision a

brightness to light mass to darkness absorption to darkness void to ice void to ice coldness to

makers of this trial probably envisioned the contestant to use the pure Concepts of Fire and Ice to

course, everything involving the Clouds was special, and the Bolts that had designed the trials probably also expected the Clouds to get through the trials in ways

of the trials were important,

left the blue cube behind and exited

some seconds, he reached the third trial, and as soon as he saw it, he realized

CRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

SSSSSSSHHH!

consumed by a sea of terrifyingly hot flames one instant before being flooded with

times per second, and the extremes of temperatures

kill an

top of that, there was something else that

Spirit Sense, which probably meant that the