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.

can only hold a limited amount of Ice

the opposite of the first

decrease the temperature by a lot more than just the level

four Concept of Ice, Zero, would decrease the

they expect an Early Ancestral Mage to know the

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

it probably needs the level three Concept

also don't have

cube

later, the cube began to shine in a blue

Ding!

opened, and the barrier

got through that trial

like fire and light, ice and darkness also had two properties each, which could be manipulated

and void, void meaning the absence of light

cold and

Mana to

extreme of

to the extreme of coldness transformed into something that

about the other

where the connection between the Affinities

produce the same thing as what pushing light to the

Very bright light.

was where these two

was true for ice that was pushed to the extreme

just become a very dark

was pushed to the extreme of absorption did just what it

one could envision a line of

to light brightness to light mass to darkness absorption to darkness void to ice void to ice coldness to fire heat and

of Fire and Ice to get through the trials, but the Concepts of Subtraction and Addition worked

everything involving the Clouds was special, and the Bolts that had designed the trials probably also expected the Clouds

only the results of the trials were important,

blue cube behind

and as soon as he saw it,

CRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

SSSSSSSHHH!

space in front of Shang was consumed by a sea of terrifyingly hot flames one instant before being flooded with extremely

changing several times per second,

definitely kill an

there was something else that

the room with his Spirit Sense, which probably meant