Chapter 595-Sapience

The Sky Lantern turned its head and looked at Shang.

At that moment, Shang felt like the eyes of the Sky Lantern were staring into his own, even though he didn't have any.

It was a weird sensation.

As Shang's Spirit Sense looked at the Sky Lantern, he felt its Spirit Sense investigate him.

There were many beasts around this place, but the Sky Lantern didn't focus on any of them.

It only looked at him.

A moment later, Shang's body began to levitate on its own.

The Sweeper looked at Shang with a bit of nervousness. If the Sky Lantern decided to do something to White Ghost, she wouldn't be able to do anything. However, she also wouldn't receive payment for her job.

She could only wait. At least the Sky Lantern wasn't known for killing humans or beasts without any reason.

Shang felt himself being pulled upward, closer to the Sky Lantern.

Yet, even though the Sky Lantern was moving Shang against his will, he felt like he could escape the grasp.

But that was only because the Sky Lantern gave him the option.

If it wanted, it could paralyze Shang indefinitely with just its mind.

The minds of beasts were far weaker than the minds of Mages, but the Sky Lantern was so much more powerful than Shang that it didn't matter that its mind was comparatively weaker.

After a couple of seconds, Shang stopped in front of the second sun in the sky.

There was only a canvas of white in front of Shang, but in Shang's Spirit Sense, he saw the majestic white bird looking at him.

And then, Shang felt the Sky Lantern's feelings.

Curiosity.

That was the main emotion the Sky Lantern felt.

It had seen many humans in its life, but this one felt very different from all the other ones.

First of all, this human's mind was very weak for someone in the Fifth Realm.

Second, this human's body was very powerful for someone in the Fifth Realm.

Third, this human didn't have any eyes.

Fourth, the Sky Lantern could feel the human's Twilight Affinity, which was supremely rare.

Fifth, and most importantly, this human could use the World Connection that only Ancestral Beasts could use.

Not only was this the first time a human could even use that, but exactly that human could also use it in the Fifth Realm.

To the Sky Lantern, this human didn't feel like a human.

However, he also didn't feel like a beast.

It was very strange.

From this distance, Shang could also study the Sky Lantern's power better.

By now, he could feel something that was very different from an Ancestral Beast.

An Ancestral Beast consumed the Mana in its surroundings and converted it to Elemental Mana of its Element. That was the effect of the World Connection, and even Shang could do it.

However, the Mana around the Sky Lantern was different.

Instead of being expelled subconsciously, it was more like the Sky Lantern was expelling it in a controlled manner.

It was like the Sky Lantern was telling its Mana how to behave after it left its body. So, instead of just creating an area filled with light and wind, the Sky Lantern actually created this complex storm of wind and light consciously.

It was almost like the Sky Lantern had designed its own territory.

Its surroundings were doing what it wanted them to do. 

'It is different from the normal World Connection,' Shang thought. 'However, I could do something similar. I would just need to dedicate a bit of focus on my surroundings.'

'So, that can't be the secret.'

The Sky Lantern looked at Shang for several minutes.

For some reason, Shang didn't feel nervous. 

He felt no feeling of enmity coming from the Sky Lantern. 

If this were the past, Shang would be afraid of the Sky Lantern killing him due to him resembling an Abomination, but with Humanity, that was no longer a problem.

Lucius had claimed that not even a Mage Emperor could see through his Spell.

Eventually, the Sky Lantern focused on Shang's eye sockets.

It closed its eyes, and the light around it became brighter as its focus gathered.

Shang didn't have much hope.

In his mind, he knew that the Sky Lantern probably couldn't do anything about his eyes.

But maybe.

Just maybe.

A small glimmer of hope still appeared in Shang's mind.

What if it actually could?

What if it actually managed to regrow Shang's eyes?

Shang's heartbeat sped up a little.

Maybe he was underestimating the Sky Lantern?

It was a being of the Seventh Realm with a Light Affinity.

If the Sky Lantern couldn't regrow Shang's eyes, only the Mage Kings and Mage Emperors with Light or Water Affinities would be left.

However, would they even be able to do anything about this?

In terms of raw power, as a Beast Lord, the Sky Lantern probably belonged to the top 100,000 strongest beings in the entire world.

On top of that, it had a Light Affinity.

It was already truly powerful.

So, maybe, it could actually do it?

More and more Light Mana gathered around the Sky Lantern.

Shang's eyes didn't regrow.

Eventually, the Light Mana dispersed a little.

WHOOOM!

Then, it gathered again, but this time, it was moving in incredibly complex ways.

Shang was shocked when he noticed that the Sky Lantern had summoned a humongous Magic Circle!

A Magic Circle!

This beast was actively using a Magic Circle!

But how?!

This wasn't like that one centipede that just used the Magic Circle inside its DNA.

No, the Sky Lantern was actually consciously creating a Magic Circle, which meant that it was casting a Spell!

This beast was actually casting a real Spell!

Theoretically, beasts could cast Spells. The problem was that their minds were too primitive to retain all the information necessary to create a complex Magic Circle. Additionally, it required many calculations and logic to create something like that.

Only a human with an intelligent consciousness and mind could achieve something like that.

And that's when Shang's mouth opened in shock.

He understood.

A couple of seconds later, the light around Shang vanished.

His eye sockets were still empty.

The Sky Lantern looked at Shang.

"I can't regrow your eyes, human," it transmitted.

Shang understood.

The thing that made a Beast Lord superior to an Ancestral Beast.

It was intelligence.

It gained sapience.

And Shang knew…

'I can't use that to reach the Sixth Realm.'

'I already have sapience!'