Why was it underwhelming?
Well, just as said previously, it was like opening a preheated oven. A preheated oven often had 200°C hot air coming out of it, double the temperature of boiling water.
In a way, this was insanely hot.
However, the only thing a human did when confronted with such a blast was to feel discomfort and maybe protect their face.
That was it.
And in return, Shang's arm nearly got frozen.
In short, this ability was supremely useless. It would only be useful as a way to cool Shang's arm after unleashing the Ice Mana from his arm, and maybe also to use it as a way to move around with the backdraft.
'Well, now that I think about it. It's actually not as useless as I've thought. I can use my ability more, and being able to move around in the air can give me far more flexibility. There's certainly something I can do with this,' Shang thought.
Shang pointed towards the wall again to heat his arm to a comfortable temperature, but two things happened that he hadn't expected.
First of all, Shang's arm suddenly felt like it had been thrown into fire, even though Shang had only heated it to a comfortable 20°C.
The second thing was that quite a strong wind had appeared in the room.
When Shang saw that, his eyebrows furrowed. 'I can create wind by unleashing cold and hot air. However, my left arm gets damaged during the process. Cooling something hot down in an instant isn't so bad since it's simply hardening something flexible.'
'However, heating something cold will result in tissue being torn at certain places. I mean, my arm is still usable, but it definitely isn't comfortable. Additionally, the temperature hasn't fluctuated as much.'
Shang looked at his left arm.
'If I unleash a powerful gust of hot air to shoot myself at an opponent with the draft, I could cool my arm to a terrifyingly low temperature, which allows me to unleash a horrifyingly cold explosion of cold wind.'
Shang narrowed his eyes.
'However, such an action will most likely tear my entire arm apart. It might even explode into a bloody shower. At that point, my left arm would be useless.'
"You don't seem to realize the true potential of your Affinity," the dean suddenly said.
Shang looked over at the dean with furrowed brows. "What do you mean?"
"Do you have problems with coming into contact with light?" the dean asked.
Shang wasn't certain why the dean asked such a question. "No?" he asked skeptically.
"What about a laser?"
For a second, Shang wasn't certain what the dean meant, but his eyes widened when he made the connection.
Concentration!
"Can I do that?" he asked absentmindedly as his mind fell into thought.
"It should be possible," the dean said. "The amount of Ice and Fire Mana you can release is a lot, but it's spread over a huge area. If you can spread it over a smaller area, you can intensify the effect."
"Additionally, the power of the Temperature Affinity only unveils its true strength later down the line."
"What do you mean?" Shang asked.
The dean pointed at Shang's arm. "Your body," he said. "The more powerful your body, the heavier it gets. The heavier your left arm, the more power is needed to cool or heat it. The more power is needed to cool or heat it, the more power you can unleash with your ability."
Shang's eyes widened as several images shot through his head.
Shang imagined himself pointing his arm backward, unleashing a powerful wind of cold air.
Then, Shang arrived in front of his opponent with a steaming arm and pointed at their head.
BANG!
A concentrated laser was unleashed, burning a hole through their skull.
Now, Shang could definitely see the potential of his Affinity.
pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Shang looked at his left arm with shining eyes. 'My Affinity is not that useless after all.'
"If you're done dreaming, try the remaining Mana Sources," the dean said.
Shang looked at the dean with confusion. "Why?"
"As I've said previously, I doubt that the God gave you something as simple as a Temperature Affinity. Temperature is probably only a component or a base concept of your Affinity," the dean explained.
Shang's brows furrowed again, but he still decided to go through with it.
The first ethereal spire Shang touched was the one for lightning, and after a couple of seconds, it also left his body.
Lightning wasn't the way to go.
Then, Shang touched the Mana Source for metal. Shang felt a bit uncomfortable when touching the Mana Source. For some reason, the Mana Source for metal felt very dangerous to Shang.
However, Shang had worried for nothing. The Mana Source exited Shang's body just like the previous one.
Shang went to the next Mana Source, the one for light.
Suddenly, Shang's eyes widened.
What was going on!?
Shang felt the Mana Source for light enter his left arm and remain there.
'What? Why?!' Shang thought to himself in confusion.
All of Shang's previous dreams were thrown out of the window after this development.
Light?
Shang couldn't imagine how light could be related to temperature.
Did it have something to do with a star, maybe? After all, the sun was hot and bright, right?
But then what did that have to do with ice and cold?!
After the Mana Source for light entered Shang's left arm, it simply shone on the other two Mana Sources.
However, something very surprising was that the other two Mana Sources reacted the same way. Shang had expected the light to strengthen fire since the two of them were related, but it didn't only strengthen the fire but also the ice.
As Shang looked at his left arm in shock, the dean looked at Shang with narrowed eyes.
It was just as he expected. Shang's Affinity wasn't as simple as just an Affinity for temperatures.
"Try the darkness one," the dean said. "I have a feeling that you can also absorb that one."
Shang looked over, and he looked at the Mana Source for darkness.
Then, he touched it.
And sure enough, it got absorbed.