Noah felt his environment slow down immensely, as ideas on what to do next flowed into his mind. Although he remained rtively far from Cudgel''s edge he could still be seen by his sudden visitors.


    A series of ideas rushed into his mind, as he couldn''t suddenly shrink Cudgel''s structure to escape. Or rather he didn''t want to do so. And needed an alternative.


    ''I guess a few lies won''t hurt,'' Noah thought still perceiving his surroundings in slow motion.


    That great skill happened toe in handy more frequently than before.


    In the span of an instant, Noah had formted a series of exnations that even he found convincing. However, that didn''t stop worry from piling up in his mind.


    Pretending to not notice their multiple figures. Noah felt the need to act a bit out of character at least to his standards.


    The group of six climbed onto the staff''s golden surface to arrive at the scene of a seemingly unconscious Noah.


    Surprisingly, Ariana dashed towards him, only to suddenly stop in front of his figure, wondering what she wanted to do.


    The others witnessed this scene but were too busy trying to bnce themselves since the goldenndmass had experienced a violent tremble.


    Fear built up in their already tense mind when they confirmed that sooner orter that ce would be underwater.


    Noah suddenly sprung up at that point, his face pale but he looked alright.


    ''''What are you guys doing here?''''Noah voiced a question, sitting up.


    At this point, his story had been finalized inside his mind. All that remained was for it to be dished out.


    ''''We should ask you the same,'''' one of the three men presents spoke walking towards Noah''s figure menacingly.


    ''He''s trying to act tough,'' Noah giggled inwardly, but his answer remained as close to the truth as possible.


    ''''I found this ce while being washed away by the water beneath us,'''' he exined not flinching at the man''s sudden closeness to his face.


    Honestly, he only felt slightly annoyed by the whole charade.


    Realization dawned on the mid?thirties looking man, and he quickly backed away when Ariana''s re pierced his back to remind him of who the leader of that impromptu group was.


    From the amount of power each individual in that team seemed to hold, Ariana radiated almost double.


    Which was why Noah only had confidence in pinning her down for a few short seconds.


    ''''There''s no point in questioning each other, I''m sure we all arrived here due to the same circumstance,'''' Ariana dered, wearing a face that radiated sternness.


    ''''All we have to do is figure out a safe way out of here,'''' she added crouching a bit to gain her bnce on the sinkingndmass.


    Noah could only feel relieved at those words, but he expected as much.


    There wasn''t any need to ask about the origin of the goldenndmass, they were in a realm almost simr to Cregar, but the things it featured weren''t like their home. Meaning such weird sights had to be considered.


    ''''I''ve only been here for around thirty minutes at best, but it had started sinking only after the first ten minutes or so,'''' Noah lied through his teeth remaining cross?legged while the whole ce tilted left and right.


    Worry appeared on the faces of the still tense experts, but there wasn''t much they could do in that situation.


    Silence reigned amid the now seven experts. Most wondered what would happen next or wished that particr environmental hazard would switch to something milder.<novelnext></novelnext>


    While the others wondered how a mere lower-stage could survive a situation they watched tens of their mates quit in front. Or outright got disqualified due to their low health points.


    ''''We''ll eventually need to move,'''' Noah stated the obvious. In truth, he felt insecure about their presence on his weapon. He could easily remove it from their feet, but even he would suffer from that action.


    Noah''s words met no response, but that didn''t change the fact that they all agreed with him. They simply weren''t confident enough to return to the water.


    Cudgel continued to sink, but no one put too much attention to that since worry wouldn''t change their situation.


    "I guess we''ll have to utilize the method we used before getting here," Ariana sighed sitting on the golden ground.


    "What method?" Noah promptly asked casually allowing his body to get healthier right in front of the dumbfounded experts.


    Ariana saw this but limited herself to staring while she opened her mouth to exin.


    "Well, we created a bubble of sorts using our water affinity. This allowed us to float about mostly safe," she exined. "Mostly."


    "Due to the water''s annoying current, materials were usually thrown our way. But the others don''t have anything that''s useful underwater, and wouldn''tpromise our bubble. Don''t forget our limit to only five skills. Most have already reached that mark," she exined Inspecting Noah''s figure.


    She had never seen a human heal themselves that quickly.


    Although she knew it remained possible since there were rumors about Deviants with such abilities, the sight remained fascinating nheless since the person before her didn''t seem to be one.


    Noah found Ariana''s gaze as one of the serious versions of her.


    "So in short, you were able to ride the wave rtively safely, but were still at the mercy of the water current," Noah stated casually walking towards Cudgel''s edge.


    "Are we going to take him?" The same person that tried to act big before Noah,ined.


    "Yes," Ariana stated, shaking her head at the experts she found herself surrounded with.


    "Won''t he be additional weight," the man added shooting a re at Noah''s smiling face.


    "I doubt he''d be as heavy as you think. And there are two of us don''t forget," Ariana calmly exined without bothering to look at the said man.


    The expert couldn''t do much at that point, but that didn''t stop him from directing a question at Noah.


    "What will you contribute to the group," the man asked, managing to get Ariana''s attention and the others.


    Noah watched this scene with mild amusement. He found witnessing the envy of the stronger experts interesting and satisfying, and his next word managed to satisfy him even more.


    "I''m a Lightning affinity holder. I can create an array to protect us from the outside world. Lightning is very flexible, and it still retains its power even inside water," Noah announced.


    Needless to say, his words ced everyone in a state of shock. Not even Ariana''s seemingly calm demeanor could withstand the shock Noah''s words brought.


    Understanding soon dawned on their minds as to why he was there.


    ''He''s a frigging rare affinity holder,'' most of the experts thought Inwardly. Their respective minds being soiled by their now overflowing envy.


    However, all that Noah managed to make out on their faces was shock.


    Being seasoned experts, they had long learned how to sever their erratic emotions from their expressions.